Want to know if a memory card is good? Read this!
Overfocused
Registered Users Posts: 1,068 Major grins
Ever wondered what really makes a CF card good? I didn't till I recently decided to just bite the bullet and buy the best damn card I could get. Even if you don't care about technical stuff, if you're really into photography, you will care after reading this. If you want to know more about CF cards and what makes 'em good, make sure you have some spare time and read on!
I recently got tired of false write speed ratings and performance claims. Now I want to make good of the research I did and make it easier for everyone! I also didn't want to just go out and buy the most expensive card "Because its always been good and the brand is well known." I wanted to know WHY a brand was good. After much comparison and research, I finally discovered (aside manufacturing standards) that it's because I've been buying multi-level cell CF cards, and not single-level cell cards. In tech sheets and manufacturer jargon, it is labeled as MLC and SLC (It is a way the data is physically arranged and stored inside the card) I never REALLY knew why some fry within a year, and why some are dinosaurs that just refuse to die. This is why!
Single level cell cards are: Faster to write, are rated to last 10x (ten times) longer than multi-cell cards, have less errors especially in high performance situations, work in a broader temperature range and consume less power.
Multi Level Cell cards are: Half the cost, and allow for higher capacity. That's it. Half the cost for 1/10th the life expectancy and only double the capacity. That doesn't sound worth it to me.
I am NOT saying because a manufacturer says they use SLC means their chip will perform well. For example: A-Data uses SLC, but still they are cheap atrocities that snail and fail left and right. If you want the best, make sure you know a brand is good, then find out what type of chips they offer. Another example: Transcend 300x cards are SLC and cost about double their 400x MLC cards. The 600x cards are also MLC. For me as a professional, even though they're fast the MLC chips fall short especially in stability for video and rapid data-consuming applications, and it has become very apparent for me, recently and literally, with a stuttering Transcend 32GB 400x MLC card that was slower than a 300x Lexar. (just returned it with pleasure!)
I am not trying to advertise and push brands, but I am passionate about photography, as much the art as the technical side of it. I will push to inform people who care about it. So I researched the 2 "Top" card brands known for quality. Lexar and Sandisk. Guess what? Lexar uses SLC chips in their 300x and 600x professional cards (Didn't ask about the rest.) This I expected. Sandisk, for their BEST, the Extreme Pro CF.... doesn't? Sandisk customer support told me their Extreme Pro CF cards are MLC. What the heck? Some companies call cards "Industrial grade" cards and separate them from the "pro" cards. I thought the word professional meant the same thing. Professional certainly doesn't mean CONSUMER so why make a 'professional' card with consumer grade materials? I am very surprised SanDisk sells a MLC chip for the same price and capacity as the Lexar with the SLC chip. Why the hell would I pay $300 for a 32GB Sandisk chip that is expected to last 1/10th the life of the Lexar 32GB chip, both the same price and performance? This sounds like a pretty good way to make money off of a name and not off of quality! Don't get me wrong, Sandisk DOES have some SLC cards but not exactly the one's I'd want. I'd want a 90MB/second card for $300 to be really damn durable and stable to handle all that bandwidth!
I looked at numerous places but the best info I found were these 4 things. I hope people will get a lot out of this since this topic really isn't discussed commonly. Here's some sources:
http://sportsphotoguy.com/all-about-cf/
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-10043-10255
http://www.ramsan.com/podandvid/slc_vs_mlc.htm
http://www.supertalent.com/datasheets/SLC_vs_MLC%20whitepaper.pdf
Also, for those who have cards and want to test and verify them:
http://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/h2testw-14-gold-standard-in-detecting-usb-counterfeit-drives/
I am now fully moved into camp Lexar. lol.
I recently got tired of false write speed ratings and performance claims. Now I want to make good of the research I did and make it easier for everyone! I also didn't want to just go out and buy the most expensive card "Because its always been good and the brand is well known." I wanted to know WHY a brand was good. After much comparison and research, I finally discovered (aside manufacturing standards) that it's because I've been buying multi-level cell CF cards, and not single-level cell cards. In tech sheets and manufacturer jargon, it is labeled as MLC and SLC (It is a way the data is physically arranged and stored inside the card) I never REALLY knew why some fry within a year, and why some are dinosaurs that just refuse to die. This is why!
Single level cell cards are: Faster to write, are rated to last 10x (ten times) longer than multi-cell cards, have less errors especially in high performance situations, work in a broader temperature range and consume less power.
Multi Level Cell cards are: Half the cost, and allow for higher capacity. That's it. Half the cost for 1/10th the life expectancy and only double the capacity. That doesn't sound worth it to me.
I am NOT saying because a manufacturer says they use SLC means their chip will perform well. For example: A-Data uses SLC, but still they are cheap atrocities that snail and fail left and right. If you want the best, make sure you know a brand is good, then find out what type of chips they offer. Another example: Transcend 300x cards are SLC and cost about double their 400x MLC cards. The 600x cards are also MLC. For me as a professional, even though they're fast the MLC chips fall short especially in stability for video and rapid data-consuming applications, and it has become very apparent for me, recently and literally, with a stuttering Transcend 32GB 400x MLC card that was slower than a 300x Lexar. (just returned it with pleasure!)
I am not trying to advertise and push brands, but I am passionate about photography, as much the art as the technical side of it. I will push to inform people who care about it. So I researched the 2 "Top" card brands known for quality. Lexar and Sandisk. Guess what? Lexar uses SLC chips in their 300x and 600x professional cards (Didn't ask about the rest.) This I expected. Sandisk, for their BEST, the Extreme Pro CF.... doesn't? Sandisk customer support told me their Extreme Pro CF cards are MLC. What the heck? Some companies call cards "Industrial grade" cards and separate them from the "pro" cards. I thought the word professional meant the same thing. Professional certainly doesn't mean CONSUMER so why make a 'professional' card with consumer grade materials? I am very surprised SanDisk sells a MLC chip for the same price and capacity as the Lexar with the SLC chip. Why the hell would I pay $300 for a 32GB Sandisk chip that is expected to last 1/10th the life of the Lexar 32GB chip, both the same price and performance? This sounds like a pretty good way to make money off of a name and not off of quality! Don't get me wrong, Sandisk DOES have some SLC cards but not exactly the one's I'd want. I'd want a 90MB/second card for $300 to be really damn durable and stable to handle all that bandwidth!
I looked at numerous places but the best info I found were these 4 things. I hope people will get a lot out of this since this topic really isn't discussed commonly. Here's some sources:
http://sportsphotoguy.com/all-about-cf/
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-10043-10255
http://www.ramsan.com/podandvid/slc_vs_mlc.htm
http://www.supertalent.com/datasheets/SLC_vs_MLC%20whitepaper.pdf
Also, for those who have cards and want to test and verify them:
http://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/h2testw-14-gold-standard-in-detecting-usb-counterfeit-drives/
I am now fully moved into camp Lexar. lol.
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Thanks for the info! I'll definitely be taking this into consideration as I begin to replace old cards...
=Matt=
My SmugMug Portfolio • My Astro-Landscape Photo Blog • Dgrin Weddings Forum
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Does anyone happen to know what type(SLC or MLC) of card the Kensington Elite Pro 32g CF is? So far it has been a good card.
On a side note.... if I could afford any cards I wanted.... they would surely be Lexar Pro.
The failures come more with heavy usage like constantly filling the card. If you ever got a HD camcorder or if you have a business and are going to use it every day then this is where the risk is much higher
@ Matthew
Delkin Combat Flash got some really good benchmarks and reviews... not sure which type they are either.
Also, thanks for the research, this is very interesting!!
John
Yeah you typically need to e-mail them. I found random brands like Transcend have info more available without asking, but I found brands like Lexar and Sandisk didn't really have any out there without personally e-mailing them. I think it should be a standard part of the specs of a card's description no matter what brand it is.
Either way, I don't hear of a rash of these things going bad. Sure, the risk may be higher with heavier use--this applies to almost any product--but that doesn't mean it's going to fail.
Not trying to be a jerk here, I just, honestly, haven't heard of many cards going bad from pros, amateurs, etc. I shoot for money but I can't justify spending so much more for these cards unless I know it's likely the cards I've been using (without incident) are the ticking time bombs they are being made out to be here. I just don't see these cards fail all that often. I hear of more camera/lens/flash failures than I do of CF card failures.
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Well, coming soon is another tutorial on piecing together a CF reader/writer equivalent or faster than major brand Firewire 800 readers... for less than $30. I figure I may as well finish the path of craziness and help people use their awesomely fast cards awesomely fast on the computer as well!
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I have always bought SanDisk. They are the most widely stocked in stores here. You diss them, but where's the horror stories? I have been pleased with them, and I have yet to find someone who is not, apart from yourself, but then you are not basing your assessment of them on experience but on specs. I think you get what you pay for, and SanDisk are not cheap, and in such a competitive market they would be if they could be! They aren't because they are good.
Neil
http://www.behance.net/brosepix
Natural selection is responsible for every living thing that exists.
D3s, D500, D5300, and way more glass than the wife knows about.
I'm not dissing them I'm stating facts. Yes they're very good and well made, but they still use the consumer class memory structure in their pro line cards, which makes me think 'Ok so they're well made MLC... but... if you could buy a legit well made SLC chip for the exact same cost I don't know why anyone wouldn't jump on it.' That's all I'm saying. I think there's an equal amount of horror stories for any good card manufacturer. Although one bad thing with SanDisk is that it is hands down the most counterfeited card brand in the world and there's a lot of horror stories there. Don't try to score a deal unless you're buying from a reputable seller. It would still happen, but would stop most of those stories. I've met a couple sellers that got screwed on a whole shipment of 'Sandisk' cards they ordered, lol.
That's what the card verifier is for
Anyway I'm not trying to make it bash-session here I'm just an informant
And speaking of all these card manufacturers... I really wish I could get a bunch and benchmark the snot out of them. That'd be fun. Anyway, I will be having a 600x Lexar in the mail and I will post that $30 eSATA card reader thing I was talking about earlier after I benchmark that and another 133x card
Look forward to your continued sleuthing on this topic, very useful, I think. I have never bought anything on eBay and the like, and don't think I ever will, for obvious reasons. As for SanDisk, I don't think I see users of cards as either amateur or professional, as you do, either way the same things are wanted and needed of memory cards by everyone, and they must happen or the card is useless to whoever is using it, not like a lens, for example, which might be designed for consumer level or professional level. You say SLC is more "professional" then MLC, but I repeat where are the professionals complaining about SanDisk cards? However, you have prompted me to investigate Lexar, though I don't think I would want anything super big. Fast in the camera, yes!
Neil
http://www.behance.net/brosepix
Wait, are you saying there are consumer and professional lenses, but not cards? Not true!
Anyway, I'm not classifying the actual user, I'm classifying the cards and the keywords companies use in advertising them to imply their quality. MLC is 'consumer grade' and SLC is usually implied by the words 'industrial' or 'professional.' It implies what kind of usage and abuse its designed to handle. Although they don't label the MLC cards 'consumer cards' cause that would sound bad
*edit* And speaking of sleuthing, I am ordering the 600x card today. Will benchmark it when it gets here.
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=173287