Which CF Card

[Clint204]

Hi, just wanted to get your views on which CF card to get. I currently have 2 1gb cards, one lexar pro, one kingston. I have a 20D and looking for more memory. I've read up on the Kingston Elite pro, Sandisc ultra and extreme. Are the sandisk/lexar worth the extr $30 over the kingston elite???

[Mitcon]

Thats upto you, I would rank Kingston as good as sandisk pretty much, it's really if the speed difference matters to you as these are all brand name cards. I like the Sandisk Ultra, not sure the Extreme is worth the extra dollars. Not a real fan of lexar but thats just my choice, both of those Sandisk cards should write about 5mps as well as the Lexar 80x range. The Kingston Elite Pro I think is around 3.5mbps which is still fairly fast but will lag slightly behind the others.

Upto you if it's worth the dollar difference, theres a website by Rob Galbraith I think which has the speeds and name brand cards listed, do a search or maybe someone has the link.

[CPALIU]

i just picked up the 4gb kingston elite cf card. been very happy with it so far.

[tim]

I've used many Sandisk Ultra II cards for a year and no problems at all. I've used Kingston for a month and no problems. I'd not buy extreme myself.

[Salleke]

I've used many Sandisk Ultra II cards for a year and no problems at all. I've used Kingston for a month and no problems. I'd not buy extreme myself.

Tim - Why wouldn't you buy a Sandisk EXTREME III? I have 2 of them and they are excellent.

I have only Sandisk regular and EXTREME III and they give me no problems until know.

Thanks and good luck.

[KFO]

I use the Sandisk Ultra II cards and they are great. I've never had any issues and the read/write speed is good.

[Skip Souza]

I have found 1 GB SanDisk Ultra II to be the most cost effective so far although I have not purchased any for several months now.
This site has a great deal of information on CF cards and how they perform in different cameras. http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007
In most cameras the card speed of the faster cards is not important. It mostly comes to play when using card readers.

[Carzee]

My dissapointment with the CF cards I buy is that -so far- they've all been empty. Na da. Blank. I buy them hoping to find some great pics like the ones I see posted on POTN. Maybe I'm getting the seconds..

[Skip Souza]

My dissapointment with the CF cards I buy is that -so far- they've all been empty. Na da. Blank. I buy them hoping to find some great pics like the ones I see posted on POTN. Maybe I'm getting the seconds..

.http://photo.klein-jensen.dk/smilies/rotfl2.gif LMAO

[m3incorp]

I use the Sandisk Ultra IIs and Kingston Elite Pros. For me the price difference isn't justified for the Sandisk Extremes.

[Jon]

Tim - Why wouldn't you buy a Sandisk EXTREME III? I have 2 of them and they are excellent.

I have only Sandisk regular and EXTREME III and they give me no problems until know.

Thanks and good luck.
If he's like me it's because the performance difference (slight) between the Ultra II and Extreme III isn't enough to warrant the significant price difference between the two.

[Marshall]

Kingston Elite Pro 2GB , best for the money especially on e-bay, but be aware of the exorbitant shipping costs & ins. Which is totally out of proportion & is really a profitable add on, to a low purchase price. Having said all that, they can be bought for £62, I leave to y'all to work out $ equivalent. It might not be such a saving , bearing in mind "rip off" British retail prices !

[Mitcon]

lol, I saw a 1gig CF card on ebay today. Surely a great buy at only 99cents, on second glance I noticed the postage was $140 lol. Ouch

[Patsy999]

ive been using Inov8 CF Card for ages now and the performance is great. Best price and customer service was from digiprintuk.com (http://www.digiprintuk.com) as i had a corruption from a dodgy camera and they recovered the im ages and formatted it for me.

well worth a look

[JohnnyG]

Sandisk Ultra II for me. I love the speed of them.

I'm sure the Ultra Extreme is excellent but the $40.00 extra dollars seems wasted as the camera can't go any faster with it over the Ultra.

[tim]

Tim - Why wouldn't you buy a Sandisk EXTREME III? I have 2 of them and they are excellent.

I have only Sandisk regular and EXTREME III and they give me no problems until know.

Thanks and good luck.

I wouldn't buy extreme because they cost more and have no benefits for me. I have Ultra2 and Kingston cards, both work well.

[nosquare2003]

I have several Transcend cards that I've used for years without any problems. And they are much cheaper compared to similar Sandisk cards.

[Carzee]

I have never seen Transcend anywhere, fleebay incl.

You learn something new everyday on POTN.

[mikehea28]

i use the Ultra II and i have had no promblems with it and for the money they are great right know you can get one from best buys for 79.oo dollers with a 20.oo doller mail in rebate

[grego]

Gotta two Lexar 1GB 80x's at 60 dollars over two years. Been happy with them, but then I use a 10D, not a 20D, where those firmware errors have showed up.

[Jerrytrebec33]

So if I buy a cheap card lets say 512 with none of the fancy names, Im am not going to take worse pictures or anything, I will just be able to hold less pictures, get them on the computer not as fast and take burst pictures slower?

[Jon]

The only thing that affects how many pictures, on average, you can fit on a card (for a constant camera setup) is the card size. Any two 512 MB cards would hold the same number of pictures under the same conditions.

Card speed, as you say, only affects how quickly your camera can write to the card when you take pictures and how fast your card can upload the pictures to the computer.

BUT no-name cards may be of lesser quality (more likely to fail) and have a worse guarantee in the event they do. If a card fails in-use, you can either kiss your pictures good bye or expect to spend a chunk of time (and possibly money) trying to recover them with software or through a recovery service. That's the reason many of us stick with the name brands.

[grego]

So if I buy a cheap card lets say 512 with none of the fancy names, Im am not going to take worse pictures or anything, I will just be able to hold less pictures, get them on the computer not as fast and take burst pictures slower?

To a certain degree, you want to stick to names. It's not bounding, but you can see differences. A lot of the lower ends, you have to make sure they aren't built for the lesser digi cams. Like San Disk and Lexar for instance have different levels of cards, which reflects the speed.

Kingston pro
Transcend
Lexar with Write Acceleration
San Disk Ultra

are generally the ones that people use around here. Between those 4, you should be able to find a great value out of it.

Just keep in mind, that for a DSLR, you want to get the high end ones.

[4x4rock]

I have the Lexar 40x WA and had the Sandisk Ultra II 1gb cards and they are both great. Couldn't find any differences at all. I sold the Ultra as I don't need 2 cards.

I see PQI brand 2gb on sale at Frys for $99 a few times. I even see Kingston 2gb for $99 too.

[Technological]

I've got a Sandisk Ultra 2 512 and a Lexar Professional 80x 1gb.

The Sandisk works as expected (perfect) and Lexar however gives me the odd Error 2 on my XT. Haven't lost more than 1-2 photos YET, but i'm sure it'll happen. time to replace it i think :( Too bad cuz it IS faster than my Ultra 2 (at least while transfering on the computer)

[zalka2]

I too need data on which card to get. Have 20D and am considering Extreme III vs Ultra II

[zalka2]

I too need advise on the Extreme III vs Ultra II

[zalka2]

Help!

[grumpyhaggis]

I use Kingston Elite Pros and Lexar Professional 80X (1GB) and not had any trouble with them on my 20D. The downside of the Lexars is that so many people berate them, and I had to send two of them back to Lexar for the firmware 'upgrade'. (As it turns out, they were replaced.)

If I was buying more, I'd go for the Kingston Elite Pros as they provide a balance between economy and reliability - with a fairly big name behind them. I never paid more than £40 (about US$70) for mine on eBay. There is no discernible difference (in real-world use) between the write speeds of these and the Lexars - unless you are writing reviews like Rob Galbraith!;)

[Mitcon]

IMO I'm not certain the Extreme's are worth the extra dollars as the Ultra II's work well enough/fast enough for most purposes.

[dgcorner]

I have both Kingston Elite & Sandisks with no problems. Transcend feedback looks good too.

[Jon]

I use the Ultras. The performance boost the Extremes are capable of over Ultras is so slight in the 20D that it's not worth the extra money.

[grego]

IMO I'm not certain the Extreme's are worth the extra dollars as the Ultra II's work well enough/fast enough for most purposes.

Extreme's really are more for the 1 series cameras and 5D. It might make some differences on the 20D, but not too great.

[EOSX]

See this post on sales of CF cards. It will likely go fast.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=119919