Dependable CF cards

HarlanBear · March 28, 2008

Recently got a D300 :clap and bought a couple of new Sandisk Extreme IV 4GB CF cards for it. I had only Lexar for my D70. Then in talking with a guy from Wolverine about reformatting my Wolverine hard drive for field downloads, he said he did not like Sandisk cards. So I did some research here and at photo.net and saw less than good things about both Lexar and Sandisk. So thought I'd check on these cards specifically, or others, to see what folks here had to say about CF cards.

I'm going off for the weekend next week and going to Italy in mid-May and certainly don't want problems with cards.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

Icebear · March 28, 2008

I've never had a problem with Sandisk OR Lexar in my D70 or D200. What I HAVE heard is that Sandisk service is crap IF you do have a problem. If you search DGrin, you'll find much discussion on this subject. Based on those discussions, I just bought two 4G Transcend cards from Newegg FOR MY NEW D300 THAT I SHOULD HAVE MONDAY!!!!!

.

I wouldn't worry about heading off with your Sandisk cards. I would shoot a lot and reformat a few times first though. That way you find out if you have an obvious lemon.

James S · March 28, 2008

Icebear wrote:

I just bought two 4G Transcend cards from Newegg

Transcend cards on the only cards I use.

HarlanBear · March 28, 2008

Icebear wrote:

I just bought two 4G Transcend cards from Newegg FOR MY NEW D300 THAT I SHOULD HAVE MONDAY!!!!! .

I wouldn't worry about heading off with your Sandisk cards. I would shoot a lot and reformat a few times first though. That way you find out if you have an obvious lemon.

First off, you 're gonna love the D300!!!

And, yea, I already have the habit of formatting cards to clear them, so that should help.

Thanks, Icebear, for the reply.

W.W. Webster · March 28, 2008

HarlanBear wrote:

Then in talking with a guy from Wolverine about reformatting my Wolverine hard drive for field downloads, he said he did not like Sandisk cards.

Weren't SanDisk one of the originators of memory cards, and aren't they one of very few brands on the market that actually manufactures cards, rather than re-badging cards made by others?

Personally, I wouldn't (and don't) use any brand but SanDisk.

More here.

pathfinder · March 28, 2008

SavedByZero · March 28, 2008

Aren't ALL CF cards dependable??

pathfinder · March 28, 2008

No NO and NO!!

I have had card failures with Sandisk, Lexar, PNY, Kingston, and others. The more obscure the name, the less luck I have had.

But I have had less difficulty with Sandisk, than all the rest together. Thus, I only use Sandisk these days.

SavedByZero · March 28, 2008

pathfinder wrote:

No NO and NO!!

I have had card failures with Sandisk, Lexar, PNY, Kingston, and others. The more obscure the name, the less luck I have had.

But I have had less difficulty with Sandisk, than all the rest together. Thus, I only use Sandisk these days.

Wow you have the kiss of death with hardware.

gus · March 28, 2008

I have bought cheap CF cards for the past 4 years & they have pretty well all gone through the washing machine at one time or another & they often sit in the bottom of my dusty camera bags/pockets unprotected.

Never had a failure yet.

pathfinder · March 28, 2008

SavedByZero wrote:

Wow you have the kiss of death with hardware.

Brand New Out of the Box failures.

I think the early 4 Gb cards, many of which were manufactured in China were particularly bad. Lately, over the last 6 - 8 months, I have had much better luck. I had failures with early 4 Gb cards from Sandisk, as well as 4 Gb cards from Kingston, and others.

I don't run mine through the washer like Gus, maybe that is my problem.

Art Scott · March 28, 2008

HarlanBear wrote:

Recently got a D300 and bought a couple of new Sandisk Extreme IV 4GB CF cards for it. I had only Lexar for my D70. Then in talking with a guy from Wolverine about reformatting my Wolverine hard drive for field downloads, he said he did not like Sandisk cards. So I did some research here and at photo.net and saw less than good things about both Lexar and Sandisk. So thought I'd check on these cards specifically, or others, to see what folks here had to say about CF cards.

I'm going off for the weekend next week and going to Italy in mid-May and certainly don't want problems with cards.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

It could be that the reader in the wolverine doen't like San Disk cards for some reason.....I use Lexar and Transcend and found early on that not to EVER reformat in the computer....always do it in the camera....it will save a ton of headaches......As for San Disk, well they do mos of the memory card advertising and they are actully one of the top 3 if not the top 1.......Kingston was a top brand but I have read a lot of negative stuff on them and owned 1 that I returned as my KM7D's woulkd not recognise it....but have had no probs with my Lexars or transcends in a very long time (actually transcend never)......had a couple of lexars crap out but their customer service is fantastic....I called in and they asked if I had the card with me (which I did) and then they asked if I had a reader (which i did) and then I was told to put the card in the reader aso they could run some tests over the internet....with in 1 minute the girl teold me to send it in for a replacement....I mailed it in on a Friday and by Wed the next week I had a new card......Same the second time it happened but I was in a jam with a shoot on Saturday and dead card on Wed...called Lexar they ran tests told me to mal it in....I explained the situation and also told them that the local stores only carried PNY(absolute junk) and Sandisk but all were low consumer grade cards and immediately he offered to overnight it too me for FREE.....unfortunately Fed Express lost it...but found it and delvered it to me 30 minutes prior to my shoot (wedding)....I was sweating bullets.

So from everyone I know only good things have been said about SanDisk, Lexar and Transcend....

W.W. Webster · March 28, 2008

gus wrote:

I have bought cheap CF cards for the past 4 years & they have pretty well all gone through the washing machine at one time or another & they often sit in the bottom of my dusty camera bags/pockets unprotected. Never had a failure yet.

I use a different approach. I keep my spare (SanDisk) cards in a holder in my camera bag. This keeps them clean so I have never had the need to put them through the washing machine.

I also never delete images from cards to free up space or to completely clear cards. I always reformat cards in the camera before use.

Never had a failure with my system either! Just goes to prove there's more than one way to skin a cat!

St_rydr · March 28, 2008

Howdy all I'm a newbie here but I'd thought I'd cut my teeth here. I have nothing but sandisk and never had a problem 6 years now. I prefer them over pny which I have thrown away. Heard/ read good things on lexar but too pricey when I go shopping. My 2 cnts.

W.W. Webster · March 28, 2008

Art Scott wrote:

So from everyone I know only good things have been said about SanDisk, Lexar and Transcend....

I see Transcend mentioned often on these boards and other places, but it is not a brand we see in this country. According to Rob Galbraith, they are just another rebadger rather than being a manufacturer in their own right.

I would worry that unless they state their sources publicly, their cards could be coming from anywhere in Asia they can get them at the lowest price they can negotiate from time to time - and who knows what the product standards are? I expect my cards to be 100% reliable, and don't take any risks I can avoid, whether regarding the product I use or the way I use them.

I don't understand why photographers would try to save a few bucks on cards and risk their images, when they've got thousands invested in kit. Beats me!

HarlanBear · March 28, 2008

Well I'm certainly feeling better about the Sandisk cards I bought

Too bad no one has much to say on the subject. Really though, thanks to all for the input. I knew this was the place to get info I could use.

I've only used Lexar before so the negatives on Sandisk got me concerned. But now I ready to rock 'n' roll.

ian408 · March 28, 2008

For the most part, your memory cards are fairly reliable when you buy from
the top manufacturers. Lower cost cards may well be those which don't make
the grade elsewhere.

That said, it is an electronic device and it's entirely possible it will fail. Regardless
of the manufacturer.

gus · March 28, 2008

HarlanBear wrote:

Well I'm certainly feeling better about the Sandisk cards I bought

Too bad no one has much to say on the subject. Really though, thanks to all for the input. I knew this was the place to get info I could use.

I've only used Lexar before so the negatives on Sandisk got me concerned. But now I ready to rock 'n' roll.

Personally for me [not for everyone] i think its a subject rather like camera models & lenses. Its easy to become quite anal & spend a lot of time dilly dallying about when there are photos to be taken & places to see. I sit for days at a time trying to get my head around what was going on in dali's mind, not what brand of CF card im currently using.

HarlanBear · March 28, 2008

ian408 wrote:

For the most part, your memory cards are fairly reliable when you buy from
the top manufacturers. Lower cost cards may well be those which don't make
the grade elsewhere.

That said, it is an electronic device and it's entirely possible it will fail. Regardless
of the manufacturer.

Yep. I agree. At some point you have to buy your ticket and take your chances.

Icebear · March 29, 2008

Just to put things into perspective. I just spent $100 US on two 4G 266x Transcend cards (based on Art's advice). Chances are I'll never have a problem. How much film could I have bought for $100? One time use. My, my. How soon we forget. I also remember not too many years ago thinking I'd got a really good deal on a 64Meg Sandisk card for $50.00.

SavedByZero · March 29, 2008

gus wrote:

I have bought cheap CF cards for the past 4 years & they have pretty well all gone through the washing machine at one time or another & they often sit in the bottom of my dusty camera bags/pockets unprotected.

Never had a failure yet.

I dropped mine in a glass of Sprite (Obey your thirst) pulled it out, blew it out, dried it off, still works 1 year later.

SavedByZero · March 29, 2008

W.W. Webster wrote:

I don't understand why photographers would try to save a few bucks on cards and risk their images, when they've got thousands invested in kit. Beats me!

But clearly NO card is 100% reliable. And don't for a second think Scandisk or PNY or Lexor or Transcend aren't buying their raw materials all in the same place or are all being assembled in the same production plant in China?? Are you 1000000% sure aboot that??

ian408 · March 29, 2008

SavedByZero wrote:

But clearly NO card is 100% reliable. And don't for a second think Scandisk or PNY or Lexor or Transcend aren't buying their raw materials all in the same place or are all being assembled in the same production plant in China?? Are you 1000000% sure aboot that??

China doesn't have much (relatively speaking) in the way of fabs yet. More likely
Korea or Taiwan are the mfg source for your memories (wafers).

The memories themselves are designed in the US and India. And yes, there is a good
chance memory and IO cells are designed by the same company and incorporated in
different manufacturer's parts.

gus · March 29, 2008

Im interested to see what $22 gets me inc postage.

Scott_Quier · March 30, 2008

I've seen this question appear on the boards in a number of different forms. It's almost as religious a question as "Which is a better camera, Canon, or Nikon, Oly, or Sony, or ....?" If you buy from a reliable company with a good history of support and quality control, your chances of buying problem children is considerable reduced.

Joves · March 30, 2008

I use Sandisk Extreme IIIs mostly but, I do have a PNY Optima Pro as well. I have never had a problem with a single card yet. Any bad card can slip through in the manufacturing process, just think of how many units are produced each day and, there is no wonder. One thing though never buy a card on Ebay, unless it is from a know reputable dealer, there are a ton of counterfit cards on that site. Id rather pay more than risk getting junk, After all I have spent good money on my gear why would I skimp on the storage.

charlesoutcalt · March 31, 2008

My good experience with Sandisk
This is just my own story, but, for what it's worth, I have used a dozen different CF Sandisk cards over the years. I haven't had any trouble with any of them, despite some probably unwise rough treatment. I do format them just about every time I download images. That just takes a few seconds, and it seems good preventive maintenance.

claudermilk · March 31, 2008

Just to add my $0.02. Since going DSLR I have used only Sandisk Ultra IIs, and have never had a single problem with them--still using the orignal ones I bought (well, except for the couple that have gotten misplaced...:cry). I tend to shy away from Lexar for my Canon due to the issues they had a couple of years ago, but a buddy has a stack of them that work fine, so that's a personal bias. Like has been said, after spending all the big bucks on gear, I don't see a good reason to get penny-pinching on the one part that you are really depending on to retain your images. Stick with the known reliable brands, IMHO.

Like some of the others, I only refortmat the card in-camera to clear it off. 100% success rate doing it that way--and it's quicker. AND inflicts less wear on the card.

zack75144 · March 31, 2008

W.W. Webster wrote:

Personally, I wouldn't (and don't) use any brand but SanDisk.

Me to! I've never had a problem with the extremes or ultras.

pathfinder · April 1, 2008

Icebear wrote:

Just to put things into perspective. I just spent $100 US on two 4G 266x Transcend cards (based on Art's advice). Chances are I'll never have a problem. How much film could I have bought for $100? One time use. My, my. How soon we forget. I also remember not too many years ago thinking I'd got a really good deal on a 64Meg Sandisk card for $50.00.

I just received a Sandisk 8Gb Extreme III for $99 bucks.

Remember what 8Gb cards cost initially?

jbswear · April 2, 2008

I have two 4G Kingstons that I bought when they had that $29 each (after rebate) special last year.

I now have over 10k shots between the two cards. Not a single complaint here!

Dependable CF cards

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