One Darn Fantastic Deal 16gb Cf $79

Art Scott

Transcend 16gb CF card 133x

LINKY...............

DavidTO

Art Scott wrote:

Transcend 16gb CF card 133x

LINKY...............

Dang, just bought some 4GBs.

James S

Slightly cheaper at Newegg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820208337

A link to all Transcend cards:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000068&Description=transcend&name=Flash+Memory

Transcend is the only brand I use. I own 3 4GB cards and have never had any issues.

Art Scott

rex wrote:

Slightly cheaper at Newegg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820208337

A link to all Transcend cards:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000068&Description=transcend&name=Flash+Memory

Transcend is the only brand I use. I own 3 4GB cards and have never had any issues.

these are great prices......I haven't been to NewEgg in over a week and at that time the 16gb were almost $200 and that really isn't too bad either....but atthis time I cannot use anything over 8gb, whhich I have 2 of....Transcend has been a very good brand, every bit as good as my 2 lexars..............

SavedByZero

Art Scott wrote:

Transcend has been a very good brand, every bit as good as my 2 lexars..............

That is what needs to stated first and foremost. I'm a non believer in those too good to be true deals which this seems to be.

SloYerRoll

Hope you don't see this as a hijack Art..
I've been using SanDisk exclusively for a while now. WHat other brands are out there right now that are solid performers w/o breaking the bank?

I don't care much about upload speeds to my PC since I usually just plop the card in and walk away while Lr does it's thing anyway. I can be convinced otherwise if there's some blinding speed cards out there.

Also, what is considered a fast write speed nowdays? That way when I'm shopping around, I can tell the men from the boys..

SavedByZero

266x seems to be the fastest read/write speed.

anwmn1

SavedByZero wrote:

266x seems to be the fastest read/write speed.

How does this translate to SanDisk 10MB, 20MB, or 40MB speeds

I am in need of some good cards myself.

James S

Not sure about the speeds but remember if you are not a sports shooter then 133X should be fast enough for about anything.

I also wanna state that I almost never bought the Transcend cards I have. I was leary of the deal but a pro photographer stated that is all he uses and swears by the brand Transcend.

GBZee

Art Scott wrote:

Transcend 16gb CF card 133x

LINKY...............

I had a 2 GB Transcend and it performed well. But, I'd be concerned about having all my images on a single card......could make for a really bad day. I use 4 GB max and would rather spread the images out over 4 cards than on a single card.

Speed wise, I'm not a sports shooter and don't need bursts of more than about 5 images anyway so the buffer takes care of slower cards. I'm not a pro, so "time is money" doesn't apply and a 2 minute upload vs a 4 minute upload is not a problem.

SloYerRoll

GBZee wrote:

II'd be concerned about having all my images on a single card......could make for a really bad day. I use 4 GB max and would rather spread the images out over 4 cards than on a single card..

It's all relative. A 16GB card will hold around 1000 shots on a D200 and I'm sure quite a bit less on a D300.
So if your quite prolific, you can go through two or three of those cards.

Shudderz

This thread has links to San Disk Manufacturer Rebates at adorama. They are also offering free shipping on some of the.

The rebate is also valid at other retailers and the amount of rebate goes up with buying multiples....so if I buy 3 SanDisk 4 GB Extreme III Compact Flash Memory Card at adorama....normal price would be 179.85, but I'm going to get an 80.00 rebate, so 3 cards will run me 99.85 after rebate and free shipping.

adorama also has a pdf of the rebate form it lists the participating retailers on it. I know that B&H is on the list as well.

You have a choice of a gift check made out to the retailer that you bought it from or a preloaded visa in the amount of the rebate. Adorama is adding 10% to the value of the gift check if you buy the items from them and choose the gift check.

Scott_Quier

Shudderz wrote:

This thread has links to San Disk Manufacturer Rebates at adorama. They are also offering free shipping on some of the.

The rebate is also valid at other retailers and the amount of rebate goes up with buying multiples....so if I buy 3 SanDisk 4 GB Extreme III Compact Flash Memory Card at adorama....normal price would be 179.85, but I'm going to get an 80.00 rebate, so 3 cards will run me 99.85 after rebate and free shipping.

adorama also has a pdf of the rebate form it lists the participating retailers on it. I know that B&H is on the list as well.

You have a choice of a gift check made out to the retailer that you bought it from or a preloaded visa in the amount of the rebate. Adorama is adding 10% to the value of the gift check if you buy the items from them and choose the gift check.

Heather,

Take a look at this thread (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=82996) and also at the thread indicated by Alex (post #2 of referenced thread). There's some real eye opening info there.

photobug

Higher speeds wasted on most dSLRs

SavedByZero wrote:

266x seems to be the fastest read/write speed.

And probably most cameras don't support 266x (40 MB/sec) write speed. You can put a 266x card in a "regular" dSLR and probably only get 80x to 133x write speeds out of it.

For the person who asked about conversion factor, "1x" for flash cards is 150 KBytes per second (KB/sec). So 133x = 150KB/s x 133 = 20 MB/s.

[Why the seemingly odd 150 KB/sec number? Probably because it's a leftover from CD-R/RW transfer speeds a decade or more ago. IIRC, Lexar chose that as a "speed standard" in its marketing years ago, and it "stuck".]

Icebear

Just as a test of camera/card performance, I stuck an 80x Lexar card in my d200 and held the shutter button down with the mode dial set to 4 fps. The camera never slowed down, and I finally got tired of holding the button down. I'd imagine a 133x card might make a difference at 5+ fps, but the ole slow 80x card was fine at 4 fps.

The primary advantage to the faster cards is in downloading to your computer, not in in-camera performance.

photobug

Flash card *brand* usually unimportant

I've been using SanDisk exclusively for a while now. WHat other brands are out there right now that are solid performers w/o breaking the bank?

I'm sure this topic is controversial, as there are no doubt those who are "religious" about particular brands. But in my experience, all brands of CF and SD cards have been equally reliable. In fact, the *only* one I ever had fail was a Sandisk ... and it was OK after reformatting (I suspect the failure was not a card failure, but a FAT filesystem problem due to erasing files on the card in the card reader attached to my PC, then not reformatting it in my camera before using it).

I've used Sandisk, Viking, Transcend, Canon, PQi, Lexar, ATP, and others. Every one has worked fine. The *only* difference I've noticed is with write speed, but that's independent of brand -- each has multiple speed grades. Probably the main difference is that the leading brands will likely be out first with the highest-end speed grades, and of course they will offer better customer support.

Right now I'm mostly using Transcend cards (for which Newegg often has the best prices). 80x-133x seems plenty fast for any shooting I do (with a 40D, always in RAW+JPG mode ... although I rarely use continuous-shooting mode).

So my point is, shop around and get the best prices, with little regard for brand -- unless the customer-service aspect is important to you. If you're shooting important events, I could understand wanting to stick with the most reputable brands (whether or not it really makes a difference, but perhaps for greater peace of mind/confidence), e.g. Sandisk or Lexar. Or if you have a really high-end dSLR body, you might want a high-end card to match -- e.g. if you have a new body that supports UDMA, you might want a new UDMA card.

photobug

Icebear wrote:

Just as a test of camera/card performance, I stuck an 80x Lexar card in my d200 and held the shutter button down with the mode dial set to 4 fps. The camera never slowed down... I'd imagine a 133x card might make a difference at 5+ fps, but the ole slow 80x card was fine at 4 fps.

You don't say if you were shooting RAW or JPG. I'm guessing that this test was with JPG-only files. RAW files are 3-4x larger, hence are likely to stess write speed a lot more.

A faster card could also matter with a higher-megapixel camera, which generates larger files (both RAW and JPG). I suspect one would want a fairly fast card in a 21mp 1D MkIII ;-).


For really interesting speed comparisons, visit Rob Galbraith's page:

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007

Use the drop-down menu box near the top of the page to select your camera, to see how various cards perform in your camera. These are based on real measurements, not specs from datasheets. Remember, it's not just the card speed, but the combination of card speed and camera write capabilities that determine how fast writes occur.

Icebear

Nope, RAW only. Good point though.

mr peas

I've bought and currently use Transcend cards all 2GB each. Haven't had a problem ever. Great quality stuff.

I suppose the 266x speed is best for burst-shooters who shoot at RAW in parallel w/ JPEG. You can imagine 10+ meg files being written on a card and doing it with several frames per second, those would come in very handy. Otherwise, if you're a normal shooter, almost any speed is perfect as long as it is not 1x.

I'm going to try and pick up some 4gb cards (I prefer having to change cards than use one large card just in case that larger card goes ka-poot), but I'm a little hesitant on whether to purchase CF cards anymore due to the increase use of SD cards on new dSLRs. I'd hate to buy an arsenal of CF cards and find out my next body in mind can only use SD cards.

But yeah, Transcend is a great brand. Another brand I use is PQI. I have more of those than I do w/ Transcend, if you ever see on sale at Fry's Electronics or anywhere, I suggest taking advantage of them. I haven't had a problem with them so far and I have had these cards for at least a year.

Scott_Quier

mr peas wrote:

I'm going to try and pick up some 4gb cards (I prefer having to change cards than use one large card just in case that larger card goes ka-poot), but I'm a little hesitant on whether to purchase CF cards anymore due to the increase use of SD cards on new dSLRs. I'd hate to buy an arsenal of CF cards and find out my next body in mind can only use SD cards.

As with all thing electronic (computers, memory, cameras, TVs, etc) I buy now to satisfy current requirements. If I need more CF cards to get the job done, I buy them and let the future (in this respect at least) take care of itself.

KED

Art Scott wrote:

Transcend 16gb CF card 133x

LINKY...............

I followed your link. Since you originally posted about 4 days ago, they have raised the price $10 AND gone out of stock. Some real good Econ 101 at work there!