CF, SD, Both?....oh my.....

Photogbiker

Just breaking in my new-to-me Canon 1D Mark III and realizing a new card (or two) is probably in order. Currently using a 4 gb Sandisk Extreme (4 or 5 years old) and never had a blip from it on my 20D. A couple older 2GB cards also in case.

Now that I step up to the 1D I have two slots, CF and SD. I've read posts extolling the virtues of each design but little fact other than good write speed tests sites. Buying SD would allow two cards at a time, but would I really use that? Not shooting pro so backing up in camera every shot is not critical to me, although might use in future. I usually shoot RAW and JPG, occasionally RAW only, so I have the flexibility afterwards in post. Then I'll save one or the other in JPG format, and usually save the RAW separately. If just snapshots and fun I'll dump the RAW after processing.

Questions that are card and camera related:

--Should I get an SD card in 8GB to complement my older 4GB CF card, or get a newer/faster 8 gb CF card? (or two) Thus ignoring the SD slot.

--My computer has a CF and SD card reader built in so that is my usual transfer method. Once transferred is it good to re-format in camera every time, or just erase all images? or delete files while still in the computer?

--I see the dual slots can be used for back up of each shot, or JPG on one and RAW on the other. Any other use that would be beneficial to having one of each card type?

--Write speed while in camera is more important than when in computer, if that matters. Rarely on a deadline, but have caught up to the in-camera write speed and had to wait with my 20D.


Read earlier posts and will heed Matt's advice to buy from reputable dealer to avoid counterfeit Sandisk.

Any other thoughts are appreciated.

Art Scott

Photogbiker wrote: »

Just breaking in my new-to-me Canon 1D Mark III and realizing a new card (or two) is probably in order. Currently using a 4 gb Sandisk Extreme (4 or 5 years old) and never had a blip from it on my 20D. A couple older 2GB cards also in case.

Now that I step up to the 1D I have two slots, CF and SD. I've read posts extolling the virtues of each design but little fact other than good write speed tests sites. Buying SD would allow two cards at a time, but would I really use that? Not shooting pro so backing up in camera every shot is not critical to me, although might use in future. I usually shoot RAW and JPG, occasionally RAW only, so I have the flexibility afterwards in post. Then I'll save one or the other in JPG format, and usually save the RAW separately. If just snapshots and fun I'll dump the RAW after processing.

Questions that are card and camera related:

--Should I get an SD card in 8GB to complement my older 4GB CF card, or get a newer/faster 8 gb CF card? (or two) Thus ignoring the SD slot.

--My computer has a CF and SD card reader built in so that is my usual transfer method. Once transferred is it good to re-format in camera every time, or just erase all images? or delete files while still in the computer?

--I see the dual slots can be used for back up of each shot, or JPG on one and RAW on the other. Any other use that would be beneficial to having one of each card type?

--Write speed while in camera is more important than when in computer, if that matters. Rarely on a deadline, but have caught up to the in-camera write speed and had to wait with my 20D.


Read earlier posts and will heed Matt's advice to buy from reputable dealer to avoid counterfeit Sandisk.

Any other thoughts are appreciated.

Even if I were simply a hobbyist, I wold still be worried about a card corrupting and would like in camera back ups...... with the adobe codec that allows raw / dng viewing in windows viewer I NO longer shoot raw & Jpg, as I know I am not gonna bother working on camera generated jps since I can get much better results by processing raws .....I would save card space and quit shooting the combo and just go raw only.....so personally I would recommend a minimum of at least 2ea. 16 gb CF / SD combos

CF or SD .... I still CF for one main reason only ....size of the card .....to me card size matters, as I have to change cards out wearing gloves a lot of times and I cannot get a grip on SD cards...they are just too small for me to use as my only card but.....if I wind up with a camera that has both then I would use both: .so personally I would recommend a minimum of at least 2ea. 8 or 16 gb CF / SD combos


I am now a transcend card user and have owned Lexar, San Disk, Patriot and a few others and I have had every brand corrupt and I stayed with Transcend due to price and customer Service.

I do in camera formatting after every download, but I also do a full format in computer about once a month ... then I reformat in camera just as a safety precaution ... In camera formatting has been the recommended way of "erasing" cards since the begining ... that way card is alwaus formatted to the OS of the camera.

ziggy53

I tended to purchase cards of the same capacity/speed for redundant safety in sports/action photography and wedding/event photography.

For general shooting I'll use whatever I have available.

I believe that Eye-Fi cards are largely compatible with the Canon 1D MKIII, so a possible use is a large capacity CF card for RAWs and a smaller capacity Eye-Fi SD card for JPGs.

http://support.eye.fi/cameras/canon/eos-1d_mark_iii

Photogbiker

Thanks Art, I've been coming to same realization of shooting RAW only since I process everything and then convert to JPG. You pushed that decision over the hurdle for me.

I like the CF size also. I haven't been backing up in camera, but for the cost of a few cards probably should be.

Ziggy--I like the Eye-fi idea. Been reading more on them just recently.

Time to go get a couple, probably 8gb since I don't shoot the volume you guys do at one time. I'll get one of each and have the 4gb as back up.

Thanks again,

Simo70

I had the same dilemma when I got my D300s, then I decided to use the CF card as primary and the SD card as back-up. I still shoot both RAW + Jpeg but I get the point now because as all of you said at the end one processes only the RAW.

If this can help I just got this two cards that are on sale on Amazon and B&H:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/815984-REG/Lexar_LCF16GCTBNA600_16GB_Professional_600x_Compact.html

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005VDRCS4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=A17MC6HOH9AVE6

I got both at 90MB/s although I am not sure if it makes any difference in the camera.

Good luck.

photogreen

indestructible SD
I personally prefer SD cards (especially these days with the new breed of indestructible SD cards around)

Matthew Saville

What I plan on doing when I finally get a dual card slot camera body is, getting a massive 32 GB or 64 GB card for one slot, and then just 4 GB cards for the other slot. I shoot weddings so 16-32 GB is about normal for a single job. It'd be awesome to have a singular backup at the end of the day that I can tuck away somewhere safe during the drive home, or send home with the 2nd shooter or something.

Which card format I use for which would simply depend on price and card speed. I'd trust SD and CF equally, although I am partial to CF because I've got big clumsy fingers that don't do well with smaller SD cards...

=Matt=

puzzledpaul

Been using a 1D3 for 2yrs come Feb - also bt used, btw. Use 8Gb cards in each slot, shoot raw to both, use (fill) the SD card first, then change it for a new one, keeping the CF 'in reserve' as I prefer the connection system used by SD over CF (less chance of bending pins - which happened once - cold hands, muck in CF hole or summat.) Accept / agree that form factor / size of CF easier to handle than SD ... but sorting bent pins once is one time too many for me
All recently purchased cards have been class 10 Transcend - no problems with these or other makes, format in camera after d/l unless atypical circumstances dictate otherwise.
Too many images to lose on a couple of 16Gb cards for my liking ... also mark / number cards and cycle them, rather than use same one each time.
Will typically get 900+ images in total - never taken 1k in a day ... nearly but not quite.
Not a pro so have some salt handy

pp