Help pick a CF card for D300. Head Exploding!!

net1994net1994 Registered Users Posts: 269 Major grins
edited February 23, 2008 in Accessories
I will be buying a Nikon D300 soon and need a 'fast' CF Card. I will be shooting with NEF and HQ Jpeg so were talking a bout 19-25MB PER Shot depending if I use lossless compressed NEFs. (4x size increase per shot over my D50!!) Now I need to get a card...

What I'm looking for is a card that won't kill the buffer if I take 6 FPS with a 25MB per shot size. Or, if I take a series of shots the buffer can offload quickly to the camera and not leave me dead in the water still writing to a card.

Write speed to the card is most important. I don't need blazing fast offload speed from card reader to my PC. With my D50 offloading 2GB took about 7 minutes. I can live with this.

I have been looking@ SanDisk Extreme III or IV. A 4GB card will give only 150 shots, so prob get the 8GB. What about Lexar or Kingston (transcend?) If I must pay $200 for a 8GB UDMA card I will....but do you think I would need one?

Thanks
Candy For Your Eyes @ Paint By Pixels

http://www.paintbypixels.com

Comments

  • Art ScottArt Scott Registered Users Posts: 8,959 Major grins
    edited February 16, 2008
    I really recommend Transcend CF cards.....normally they are a lot less expensive than Sandisk or Lexar and just as reliable....I switched from Lexar to Transcend......currently I use 2 - 8gb Transcend and have 2-2gb lexars for extra storage and if you can afford the 16gb cards and if the D300 supports that large a card then go for it.........that is my recommendation.......at 6mp (my KN7D's) I get over 800 raw shots and almost 700 raw+L Jpeg os when I switch to a 12mp camera (either D300 or Sony A700 and leaning towards the D300 right now)....that will cut my images per card in half (approx) but still will be able to shoot thru a wedding without changing cards and since I use 2 bodies I will not have to worry about either 8gb card filling at a wedding....but I will always be buying extra memory for the Long weekeknd shoots of Landscapes and such where I will be bracketing alot.....
    "Genuine Fractals was, is and will always be the best solution for enlarging digital photos." ....Vincent Versace ... ... COPYRIGHT YOUR WORK ONLINE ... ... My Website

  • Manfr3dManfr3d Registered Users Posts: 2,008 Major grins
    edited February 17, 2008
    The D300 has a UDMA CF Cardslot so you
    should be able to get a significant speed
    gain by choosing SanDisk Extreme IV CF
    cards (up to 40MB/s with UDMA) instead
    of the cheaper (and just as reliable) but
    slower cards form Kingston, Transcent
    etc.
    “To consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravitation before going for a walk.”
    ― Edward Weston
  • darkdragondarkdragon Registered Users Posts: 1,051 Major grins
    edited February 22, 2008
    Manfr3d wrote:
    The D300 has a UDMA CF Cardslot so you
    should be able to get a significant speed
    gain by choosing SanDisk Extreme IV CF
    cards (up to 40MB/s with UDMA) instead
    of the cheaper (and just as reliable) but
    slower cards form Kingston, Transcent
    etc.


    Anyone know about the Canon 40D and if it suports high-speed/high-capacity cards?

    I'm debating on getting a 16GB Extreme III or a 32GB Transcend, but not sure if the Transcend is going to be dog slow. The transcend is actually cheaper for double the capacity.

    Been searching the Canon support site for the 40D but can't find the info about this at all.
    ~ Lisa
  • Manfr3dManfr3d Registered Users Posts: 2,008 Major grins
    edited February 22, 2008
    darkdragon wrote:
    Anyone know about the Canon 40D and if it suports high-speed/high-capacity cards?

    I'm debating on getting a 16GB Extreme III or a 32GB Transcend, but not sure if the Transcend is going to be dog slow. The transcend is actually cheaper for double the capacity.

    Been searching the Canon support site for the 40D but can't find the info about this at all.

    These DSLRs are using the FAT32 filesystem
    which supports up to 128 GB. So 32GB or 16GB
    will both work. Just dont pull your hair when
    you have 31GB worth of images on the card
    when it goes kaputt at some point in time. :D
    “To consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravitation before going for a walk.”
    ― Edward Weston
  • darkdragondarkdragon Registered Users Posts: 1,051 Major grins
    edited February 22, 2008
    Manfr3d wrote:
    These DSLRs are using the FAT32 filesystem
    which supports up to 128 GB. So 32GB or 16GB
    will both work. Just dont pull your hair when
    you have 31GB worth of images on the card
    when it goes kaputt at some point in time. :D

    Yeah, I was thinking the same thing - also worried about the read speed to download it to my computer.

    Having an impossible time finding real/thurough reviews on the 32GB card. All my other cards are 4GB ExtremeIII and I love them (5 minutes to download a full card to the computer) - but worried of moving to another brand and not having the speed which is a huge deal when you're talking about 8x the data.
    ~ Lisa
  • Art ScottArt Scott Registered Users Posts: 8,959 Major grins
    edited February 22, 2008
    Even tho the camera companies{at least not Nikon, said it would just take toooo much time} havenot tested anyting above 8gb for compatablity and prob won't anytime this year (since most have releast their offering now and may not in the future according to answer sent by Nikon about capicity of D3 / 300) {but the card companies do list what their cards are compatable with}.......I will prob stay away from the gigantic cards due to as Manfr3d stated about the corruption of a card......this can happen at anytime and usually does at the most inconvient (if there is a convient) time.....as it is right now I could shoot a whole wedding on one card in raw or raw + jpg but if a card died on me that would be stress I would not want.....so I start off with my 2gb and then finsih up with the 8gb.....the 8gb are great for landscapes and such where I will be shooting a lot of bracketing or shooting for HDR...but for clients (wedding and portraits) I will keep the cards small.......................
    "Genuine Fractals was, is and will always be the best solution for enlarging digital photos." ....Vincent Versace ... ... COPYRIGHT YOUR WORK ONLINE ... ... My Website

  • sellissellis Registered Users Posts: 192 Major grins
    edited February 22, 2008
    rebate on Sandisk cards right now
    FWIW, I just ordered three 4GB Extreme IV cards from B&H for $90 each. Sandisk is offering a rebate (Visa check card) of $120 when you buy three cards, $70 if you buy two, and $30 (I think) if you buy one. Other cards are available as well.

    I've read great things about these cards, but thought they were pricey until I saw the rebate thumb.gif

    Sam
    www.samellis.com

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  • Manfr3dManfr3d Registered Users Posts: 2,008 Major grins
    edited February 22, 2008
    sellis wrote:
    FWIW, I just ordered three 4GB Extreme IV cards from B&H for $90 each. Sandisk is offering a rebate (Visa check card) of $120 when you buy three cards, $70 if you buy two, and $30 (I think) if you buy one. Other cards are available as well.

    I've read great things about these cards, but thought they were pricey until I saw the rebate thumb.gif

    Sam
    I thought they were pricey until I tried them in the Extreammate FW800 Cardreader :Dthumb.gif
    “To consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravitation before going for a walk.”
    ― Edward Weston
  • net1994net1994 Registered Users Posts: 269 Major grins
    edited February 23, 2008
    FYI: A few days ago I got two SanDisk Extreme IV 4GB each. $90 ea @ Adorama. I was to get them on Amazon, but there is a rebate @ Adorama (and many other photo retailers) for $70 back if I get two cards. BUT, I am not counting on getting that Visa Prepaid card I can only use @ Adorama. ZERO faith. But I got them there, as they cost a buck cheaper than amazon, and well....I might actually get that rebate.

    I'm bummed as I do all of my post-processing on a laptop, that does not have Firewire 800 port. Maybe there is a PCMIA Firewire 800 card I can buy for the laptop? But, I don't mind too much waiting for 5 minutes for my pics to download from my D50. And thats from a 2GB sandisk Ultra 2 SD card.
    Candy For Your Eyes @ Paint By Pixels

    http://www.paintbypixels.com
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