Extreme/ultra/normal CF card. which to buy?

[Ren_Hao]

Hi guys,

was at comex yesterday and saw the CF card are like marginally cheaper now. That is of course not taking into account on the super bargain extreme cards from scandisk

I am using a Canon S1 IS. Looking to get a new 512/1G CF card. However, I am not sure if i should buy the normal CF card or the faster ultra or extreme cards. Than i found on the forum that some cameras cannot make full use of the faster cards, so i hope u guys can prehaps give mi some advice.

Can the S1 make full use of the faster cards? Currently, it seems that writing to the card when taking photo is alittle slow

Thanks.

 

[Gymrat76]

Doubt your camera can use the faster speed. Most of these cards are targeted at the professional DSLRs, which can utilize the speed.

However, that said, a faster card also translates to faster transfer of your images from card to PC, via a firewire or USB2.0 cable, so you have the extra moolah, go for it, else, just get a regular (non ultra/extreme/80x) card.

Cheers
GYR

Hi guys,

was at comex yesterday and saw the CF card are like marginally cheaper now. That is of course not taking into account on the super bargain extreme cards from scandisk

I am using a Canon S1 IS. Looking to get a new 512/1G CF card. However, I am not sure if i should buy the normal CF card or the faster ultra or extreme cards. Than i found on the forum that some cameras cannot make full use of the faster cards, so i hope u guys can prehaps give mi some advice.

Can the S1 make full use of the faster cards? Currently, it seems that writing to the card when taking photo is alittle slow

Thanks.

 

[nightwolf75]

Hi guys,

was at comex yesterday and saw the CF card are like marginally cheaper now. That is of course not taking into account on the super bargain extreme cards from scandisk

I am using a Canon S1 IS. Looking to get a new 512/1G CF card. However, I am not sure if i should buy the normal CF card or the faster ultra or extreme cards. Than i found on the forum that some cameras cannot make full use of the faster cards, so i hope u guys can prehaps give mi some advice.

Can the S1 make full use of the faster cards? Currently, it seems that writing to the card when taking photo is alittle slow

Thanks.

by right, the S1 IS can use the faster CF cards like Ultra II or Extreme, or even the cards from Lexar WA. dpreview's write speed tests were done on a Ultra II card.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons1is/page4.asp

 

[dEthANGeL]

Hmm ... what is recommended for the 300D if you don't mind me asking?

Kinda messed up after seeing Twinmos, IO Data, Lexar, Kingston and Transcend.

 

[ST_sg]

as for my own personal experience... SanDisk UltraII serve my 300D best, my next buy will go back to either UltraII or Extreme :thumbsup:

 

[nightwolf75]

Hmm ... what is recommended for the 300D if you don't mind me asking?

Kinda messed up after seeing Twinmos, IO Data, Lexar, Kingston and Transcend.

me use Lexar 40x WA 1GB. no problems at all. the lexar, when i was buying, is cheaper than the Ultra II. but, do note. 300D dun support WA technology... unless canon comes up with a new firmware... :think:

 

[dEthANGeL]

Hmm :think:

I realised that too when i was browsing the Lexar website. Think the best bet for now would be the Ultra II or if i spot something from Twinmos or Transcend though

 

[eagleray]

Hi All
The oly 5060 is stated on the lexar site as a WA enabled cam
1. Anyone has any experience (pro or cons or no diff) on whether WA makes a difference on the oly 5060.

2. Is WA a propritery feature of Lexar? Does other manufacturer like Sandisk also has similar technology ?

Cheers

 

[John Tan]

I prefer to use Sandisk with Canon DSLR which Canon had 'recommened'.

 

[nickk]

Hmm ... what is recommended for the 300D if you don't mind me asking?

Kinda messed up after seeing Twinmos, IO Data, Lexar, Kingston and Transcend.

(Top=Fastest) *Based on JPEG, shooting on RAW may be different.

Lexar Media 2GB 80X Write Acceleration *second edition* (may not be avail.)
Sandisk Extreme 2GB
Sandisk Ultra II 2GB
Lexar Media 1GB 80X Write Acceleration *second edition* (may not be avail.)
Kingston Elite Pro 512MB
Sandisk Extreme 1GB
Sandisk Ultra II 1GB
Sandisk Ultra II 512MB
Sandisk Extreme 512MB
Lexar Media 1GB 80X Write Acceleration *first edition*

 

[denniskee]

Sorry to interrupt, I have a question since you guys are on the CF card speed issue.

Will having a faster in a D30 and D60 make any significant diff during photo taking? I am not talking about from CF card to computer.

Thanks in advance.

 

[nightwolf75]

Sorry to interrupt, I have a question since you guys are on the CF card speed issue.

Will having a faster in a D30 and D60 make any significant diff during photo taking? I am not talking about from CF card to computer.

Thanks in advance.

i may be wrong abt this, so if got more experience CSers out there, do correct me.

i think it will make a difference. the problem lies with the cam I/O (input/output) interface - the chip that actually does the writing of the image to ur CF card. so, a faster CF card helps to mitigate the slow writing speed of the cam. i checked out rob galbraith's CF database website, which has quite a good coverage on this topic. according to him, for the D30, and i quote:

"In almost every respect, the D30 is designed to make a fast CompactFlash card a necessity.

* First, it's not able to shoot and write simultaneously. Therefore, if you hit the buffer limit when shooting an extended sequence, as often as not you'll need to wait for the camera to write out at least one file (and sometimes more it seems, depending on when the camera returns control to the shutter button). The length of time you'll wait is largely dependent on the write speed of the card. This will be a significant factor when shooting Large Fine JPEGs of detailed scenes at higher ISO settings, since the buffer limit can drop pretty close to the camera's 8 frame minimum. It becomes a huge factor when shooting RAW .CRW files, given the camera's 3 frame buffer for that format.

* Second, the camera doesn't permit reviewing of photos until the buffer is completely emptied to the card.

* Third, the D30's write interface is slow by today's standards.

Our recommendation is to consider only the fastest cards available for the D30. Because of the methods it uses to interact and pass data to the card, CompactFlash models that are speediest in other Canon digital SLR models fall well back of the D30 speed leaders. This can make choosing a CompactFlash card tricky if your other camera is, for example, an EOS-1D, and you want to pick cards that perform well in both."

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-6011

 

[2100]

Sorry to interrupt, I have a question since you guys are on the CF card speed issue.

Will having a faster in a D30 and D60 make any significant diff during photo taking? I am not talking about from CF card to computer.

Actually, my take is that it does not significantly matter. nightwolf75 seems to have a different take on it. Well, i guess the best way to confirm it is to go down to Eastgear and try out the Lexar 80x WA and/or Ultra II compared to your slower card. Don't care if simi WA or not, they are the fastest cards ard, just try.

 

[Virgo]

I own a 10D and have been using Sandisk Ultra II since. No problems at all. Very durable too! Just go with the creator of compact flash cards, Sandisk. Won't be wrong.

 

[nightwolf75]

Actually, my take is that it does not significantly matter. nightwolf75 seems to have a different take on it. Well, i guess the best way to confirm it is to go down to Eastgear and try out the Lexar 80x WA and/or Ultra II compared to your slower card. Don't care if simi WA or not, they are the fastest cards ard, just try.

2100 - actually, i tend towards ur view. however, i could be wrong. rob galbraith's test results does show that it matters, at least according to him. i used a 4GB Hitachi MD b4 and, while it was fast enuf for JPGs, it suffered when i tried to write RAW. now dat i use the Lexar 40x, things are much better. however, my 300D has a slow read/write inherent. so, mebbe like u said, even with a fast card, it doesn't matter. perhaps those of us using a fast cam could comment?

 

[nickk]

I am using a 10D shooting RAW with a Extreme 1G. I still find that a bit slow.
Thinking of trying the Lexar Media 1GB/2GB 80X Write Acceleration *second edition*. Hope that it might make a difference...

 

[2100]

I am using a 10D shooting RAW with a Extreme 1G. I still find that a bit slow.
Thinking of trying the Lexar Media 1GB/2GB 80X Write Acceleration *second edition*. Hope that it might make a difference...

No diff one, if you ask me.

 

[2100]

2100 - actually, i tend towards ur view. however, i could be wrong. rob galbraith's test results does show that it matters, at least according to him. i used a 4GB Hitachi MD b4 and, while it was fast enuf for JPGs, it suffered when i tried to write RAW. now dat i use the Lexar 40x, things are much better.

Oh yea, well if the comparison is with the 4GB MD and other very slow cards like original Sandisk (this one even slower than my Ridata 16X which i got over 2 years ago ), you are right and there will be a diff. Say for D60, threshold is ard 1.5MB/s. According to Rob's website, even a normal Transcend 30X will not be that much diff from an Ultra II. I was thinking more along the lines of like Transcend 30X vs Ultra II or Lexar 80X, Twinmos 70X. Transcend 45X 512 is only $120, i mean the low-end Kingstons also like already $109 (this one i tested ard the same as my Ridata 16X).... so i guess most will get something like at least a Transcend 45X as the "low-end".

 

[Souphamster]

recently got myself a 512mb CF kingston brand from comex 2004. Price is cheap @ $89.00. But how can i check on the speed? As i am using normal DC. I dont think my cam makes any diff if i use ultra speed actually.

 

[2100]

recently got myself a 512mb CF kingston brand from comex 2004. Price is cheap @ $89.00. But how can i check on the speed? As i am using normal DC. I dont think my cam makes any diff if i use ultra speed actually.

$89?! :bigeyes:

Well, you can use a CF card reader (fast one) and time the transfer speed yourself. That'd give you an approximate figure which is pretty conservative (coz there are overheads). I got around 2.5MB/s with my Ridata, which works out to be ard 2500/150 = 16X. With Ultra II, i could get around 5MB/s, but i guess the bottleneck is maybe the USB 2.0 card reader or what.