Best Compact Flash

mugsytodd · January 24, 2006

Hi there... My first DSLR arrived, the D200, and I was wondering if anyone had advise on CompactFlash / microdrive brands? I am pretty active on shoots, but not throwing my bag around (too much, that is.) I also don't shhot sports, so SUPER-fast isn't needed... Any ideas?

Andrew

ScottMcLeod · January 24, 2006

mugsytodd wrote:

Hi there... My first DSLR arrived, the D200, and I was wondering if anyone had advise on CompactFlash / microdrive brands? I am pretty active on shoots, but not throwing my bag around (too much, that is.) I also don't shhot sports, so SUPER-fast isn't needed... Any ideas?

Andrew

Sandisk = reliable, and *invented* the CF standard
Lexar = (I've had problems with, but mostly reliable)
Kingston = I saw fail a lot about 4 months ago, but haven't really seen any dead cards since
Other brands = crapshoot. (your risk)

Angelo · January 24, 2006

I don't know about micro-drives but I'd recommend Lexar compact flash cards.

I just bought a new one:

1GB high speed professional - 80x with write accelleration (WA). $99 at Amazon

The Pro series cards come with a free copy of Image Rescue and a trial version of Photo Mechanic.

ScottMcLeod · January 24, 2006

Angelo wrote:

I don't know about micro-drives but I'd recommend Lexar compact flash cards.

I just bought a new one:

1GB high speed professional - 80x with write accelleration (WA). $99 at Amazon

The Pro series cards come with a free copy of Image Rescue and a trial version of Photo Mechanic.

See, i've gone through 2 of those 1GB w/ the 80x. (and a 512 w/ 40x).

I don't trust them. Want to buy me a sandisk extreme III and i'll trade you?

DJ-S1 · January 24, 2006

I got a 2GB Kingston Elite Pro (50x) for $90-ish from Buy.com a while back (haven't seen it that cheap since) and it's been good to me so far. I also have a SanDisk 1GB Ultra 2 but it doesn't get used much anymore as the Kingston is faster and larger.

I haven't had any problems with either one, YMMV.

David_S85 · January 24, 2006

mugsytodd wrote:

Hi there... My first DSLR arrived, the D200, and I was wondering if anyone had advise on CompactFlash / microdrive brands? I am pretty active on shoots, but not throwing my bag around (too much, that is.) I also don't shhot sports, so SUPER-fast isn't needed... Any ideas?

Andrew

Hey Andrew. You might want to navigate over to the Rob Golbraith site and click onto his CF database > then look up your camera. You may discover that the high speed cards aren't all that high speed in a given camera (I know you didn't want the fastest). But you sure don't want to save too much $$ either if whatever you buy will hold back your current or next camera body's potential.

Example... The Sandisk Extreme III is supposedly twice as fast as an Ultra II, but in the cam I shoot with, the Ultra II is faster than the III, and for 2/3rds the price. So that's why his timing charts are important to look through. They'll also list more cards than you may have ever thought were available. Lots there I had never heard of.

erich6 · January 25, 2006

Check out http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/index.asp

digismile · January 25, 2006

I went cheap early in my digital life and paid the price ... Lost half the photos from a family trip (was able to recover a few with a recovery utility).

I have had Sandisk Extreme (and now a couple Extreme III) and have never even had a hint of a problem. They're as rock solid as they come. One even survived a washing/drying.

Pick a top brand and you won't regret the investment. Remember the TV Show "Weakest Link"? You can figure out the connection

Brad

ian408 · January 25, 2006

Kingston has been a leader in memory products for many, many years.
SanDisk and Lexar are two leaders in the field (along with Kingston). microdrives
are fairly new ana reliable (albiet slow in comparison to CF).

I have lexar, sandisk and hitachi (microdrive) and am happy with them all.

ian

Angelo · January 25, 2006

ScottMcLeod wrote:

See, i've gone through 2 of those 1GB w/ the 80x. (and a 512 w/ 40x).

I don't trust them. Want to buy me a sandisk extreme III and i'll trade you?

Please explain.

wholenewlight · January 25, 2006

My D70s loves my SanDisk Ultra II cards. I've got 2 512mb and 2 1gb cards and have had no problems.

BTW, not necessarily related, but I also have 2 SanDisk SD cards for my PDA and a Kingston SD card in my phone. All have been flawless.

I've stayed with the brand names.

Angelo · January 25, 2006

erich6 wrote:

Check out http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/index.asp

excellent info. Thanks for the link Erich

wxwax · January 25, 2006

David_S85 wrote:

Example... The Sandisk Extreme III is supposedly twice as fast as an Ultra II, but in the cam I shoot with, the Ultra II is faster than the III, and for 2/3rds the price. So that's why his timing charts are important to look through.

Is that a personal observation, or from their charts?

Art Scott · January 25, 2006

In my small arsenal of CF cards...I have a 512 Kinsgton, 1 gb PNY (would never buy them again...no write or read speed stated and dang slow in my cameras), and 2 Lexar 2gb 80X WA....the Lexars are excellent I had one that crapped out in the begining, however it was my fault and lexar did not quibble...by my fault the instructions stated to NOT remove the card while camera was turned on as this may damage the card...OOOPs....as I said I called LExar and they shipped me a new one....I guess that lifetime warrany is worth something,

I figure if a person stays with the top 3, Kingston, San Disk and Lexar, they should be in good shape......and I might even stretch out to Transcend as they have had some impressive test results also.....

Microdrives....unless it is a NEW Hitachi....I would not even consider it.....all microdrive patents and hardware...everything IBM had from design up was sold to Hitachi and I wonder how seagate and some others are able to build now or are they building on the old design that patents have run out on......or did they buy some of the IBM/Hitavhi cards abd open them up and try to clone them as the world of PC cloners did back inthe 1970's......

The new Hitachi's have some impressive spec tho.......

Well that is my 1 Krouna worth.

ScottMcLeod · January 25, 2006

Angelo wrote:

Please explain.

Exactly what I said.

2 of these have died on me. One time I only lost a few shots (shots were unrecoverable), so I had the card swapped out, and sure enough, about 2 months later, (just the other week), I was shooting photos for a small theatre company for a new piece they were premiering, and BAM! Card corrupted again. Lost 137 shots, and 3 hours of work. Not cool. Went back, got another one (thank god for lifetime warranties), and here I am again, waiting for the next time the damn card is going to fail on me.

Unfortunately, my Sandisk cards are too small to be using for many situations, so I have to rely on my bigger cards. I got a real deal on the Lexar's, but I really should've just stuck with what I trust. (also, a fellow camera salesman at another store read somewhere that lexar 80x cards don't play nice with 10D's, but I have yet to find that reference, other than my own personal experience.)

RE: The person who called Lexar: You don't even have to call lexar. Just go back to a camera store and have them RMA your card, and swap you one out of their inventory. They'll get a new one a week or so later to top up their stock.

So, anyone wanna trade me a 1GB Ultra II or Extreme or Extreme III for my Lexar 80x 1GB ?

Art Scott · January 25, 2006

ScottMcLeod wrote:

Exactly what I said.

2 of these have died on me. One time I only lost a few shots (shots were unrecoverable), so I had the card swapped out, and sure enough, about 2 months later, (just the other week), I was shooting photos for a small theatre company for a new piece they were premiering, and BAM! Card corrupted again. Lost 137 shots, and 3 hours of work. Not cool. Went back, got another one (thank god for lifetime warranties), and here I am again, waiting for the next time the damn card is going to fail on me.

Unfortunately, my Sandisk cards are too small to be using for many situations, so I have to rely on my bigger cards. I got a real deal on the Lexar's, but I really should've just stuck with what I trust. (also, a fellow camera salesman at another store read somewhere that lexar 80x cards don't play nice with 10D's, but I have yet to find that reference, other than my own personal experience.)

RE: The person who called Lexar: You don't even have to call lexar. Just go back to a camera store and have them RMA your card, and swap you one out of their inventory. They'll get a new one a week or so later to top up their stock.

So, anyone wanna trade me a 1GB Ultra II or Extreme or Extreme III for my Lexar 80x 1GB ?

Scott the reason I called lexar was simply because none of the electronics or camera store in the area I live in carry anything except the slowest of the slow and for that reason I buy on line exclusively..so rather than call ZIPZOOMFLY (whom I purchased the Lexar cards from , i went to the mfg)......standard cards (1X or so) i can buy locally but that is it...so for me it was easier to call lexar and they overnited it to me and also supplied a return label for ups at their cost for return.....I have been using the 2 lexars for over 1.5 years daily and not had a prob......so eveidently you got a couple of bad cards....I had to ship 3 HP computers back with in 45 days of original purchase also..but I still think HP is one of the best built PC on the market....of course I also spent 13 yrs working for a Mfg of PC's so I have a little insight into the Mfg'ing process of such things.....

If I could find it I would trade my PNY 1 gb for your lexar 1gb....but for me 1gb is almost too small.....I prefer the 2gb and up.....

nillaismydog · January 25, 2006

I have a 2 GB sandisk ultra II that I bought brand new for about $150 on ebay 6 months ago. It's been an awesome card giving me around 500 shots. No problems and it's always kept up with my camera. I would stay away from microdrives... files can be currupted very easily on them and they're very slow. I have a 4gb microdrive for my pda and that's great, but would never trust it in any camera.

ScottMcLeod · January 25, 2006

Art Scott wrote:

Scott the reason I called lexar was simply because none of the electronics or camera store in the area I live in carry anything except the slowest of the slow and for that reason I buy on line exclusively..so rather than call ZIPZOOMFLY...

Ah, see, that I didn't know. I live within distance of about 7 stores (doesn't matter which I go to) that carry sandisk/lexar/both.

-Scott

erich6 · January 26, 2006

Angelo wrote:

excellent info. Thanks for the link Erich

You are welcome!

David_S85 · January 26, 2006

Originally Posted by David_S85
Example... The Sandisk Extreme III is supposedly twice as fast as an Ultra II, but in the cam I shoot with, the Ultra II is faster than the III, and for 2/3rds the price. So that's why his timing charts are important to look through.

wxwax wrote:

Is that a personal observation, or from their charts?

From R.G. chart, 20D.

Write speeds (per their big group of full size shots), write .JPG's; and write RAWs + JPG's
Extreme III... 5.024 seconds; 5.923 seconds
Ultra II... 4.917 seconds; 5.472 seconds

The 20D, and most cameras, can only write to file so fast, and no faster no matter how much faster the card is. Any more is a waste of money. 9MB/sec. write seems to be where the 20D tops out.

photobug · January 27, 2006

My expericence is based on shooting CF cards over about 4 years -- originally a Canon Powershot G2, then a 10D, and now mostly a 20D.

I have used several Viking Components CF cards, which have worked flawlessly. Their only downside is that at "8x", they're not the fastest game in town. Amazon sells 'em by the boxload.

I also had a Sandisk Ultra II -- the only card that I ever had a problem with. After using photo recovery software to get the photos off of it, I reformatted it in the camera and it worked fine ever since.

In addition to Viking and Sandisk cards, I currently have a Kingston Elite Pro 2GB CF card (about 50x), which I got on a heckuva deal from one of the web-order places a few months ago (maybe the same buy.com deal the other poster mentioned). It has been in my 20D 90% of the time ever since then, and has been working great.

I had a Hitachi 2GB microdrive for about a year and it worked well, no problems. I just sold it last week and today my shiny new 4GB Seagate microdrive arrived, to beef up my memory pool in preparation for a vacation this summer. Can't speak to the Seagate microdrive's reliability yet, although Seagate has an excellent reputation for reliability in its computer hard drives.

A last vendor I'll mention is "ATP". I got a tour through its U.S. headquarters recently (which are a block from my office). Very impressive. ATP concentrates on the faster-speed parts (60x, 80x, 133x, 150x right now) and they are nuts about quality, too. The VP I was talking with says that most brands of flash cards are from marketing companies that don't build their own cards (but ATP does). He said that even SanDisk approached ATP to buy flash memory from ATP (he didn't reveal if that deal actually happened or not). I would not hesitate for a second to buy ATP if I wanted high-end flash cards -- so far, I just haven't needed anything that fast yet, so wasn't ready to pay the slight premium.

= Dave

Art Scott · August 31, 2006

Well I just made a jump to a faster and bigger card.....I have been told good stuff about TRANSCEND and since I found a sale on the 8gb 120X..I bought one for $159 + s/h ($4 something for ups ground got it in 2 days)....
I took some available light pics indoors at night and tried to time the write speed from camera to card.....shooting in raw it was around 1.5 to 2 seconds with my fantastic timex wrist watch timer.

Now if the card holds up I will be happy and may even buy a couple of their 8gb Industrial series cards (comparable to San Disk Extremes).

My other cards are both Lexar 80X Pro 2gb and I had always thought that 2 gb (217 raw pics) would be plenty big enuff.....

However I went out riding a few weeks ago and ran smack dab into a RC Boat Regatta....now setting the camera into Shutter Priority and on consecutive shooting (normally I set came for single frame shooting, cause of my heavy trigger finger

), I found that I could fill 2 - 2gb cards in just a couple of minutes and also those races are a challenge to keep boat framed and in focus

....

So now I have a larger card and will be out shooting on sundays as long as they are on the lake or until I tire of little boats....

This card should also give me the space need for getting back into shooting concerts....( 8gb = 880 Raw pics)......

Best Compact Flash

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