CF Card speeds

[Steve Barnhart]

Here's a debate for the day. What's the best memory to use with the new digital SLR's. Are the 40X cards actually writing in the canons faster than a 12X, or is there no firmware support for the ultrafast cards on the market today?

Thanks in advance for all contributions.

Steve Barnhart
Barnhart & Barnhart Digital Video Service
Watkinsville, GA

[robertwgross]

Haven't we beat that horse to death?

It seems like it has been discussed a number of times just within the last few weeks (since everybody started receiving their 10D cameras).

"New digital SLR's" is kind of ambiguous. Some of the guys have run tests on specific models, but you did not mention which camera you are interested in. Some write a much larger file per frame than others, so the simple file size might make a big difference.

Some users will claim that generic CF cards are fine. I use generic CF cards myself.

Some other users will claim that they see some small or modest speed increases up to 12x speed CF cards. I believe that few see any speed increases beyond 12x speed cards, so if you are investing in 40x cards, you might be wary.

There are other users that make all sorts of wild claims, and they are entitled to their opinions.

---Bob Gross---

[Steve Barnhart]

New to the board, and apparently didn't read back far enough to find anything relevant. specifically, I'm looking at a D10.

[daveh]

Steve Barnhart wrote:
I'm looking at a D10.

No you're not but we've beaten that to death too :D

[lziering]

Try to do a search on this topic. I can't remember where but someone has done a test with the 10D and 1Ds. Bottomline, theres is a difference with some cards doing better than others. Lexar 32x was the fastest.

[HoodedOne]

That´s weird.
I have seen some tests with different CF cards, and one of the best cf cards are the delkin pro cards. Lexar is also in the top 5, accept for de lexar WA cards. These lexar WA are ´much´slower than others, because canon doesn´t support the WA function.

cheers

[Steve Barnhart]

Thanks for the input. I'll do some additional research further back in the board, as it's obvious it's been discussed frequently.

Steve Barnhart

[CyberDyneSystems]

Steve,

Read this;

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos10d/page11.asp

....among other reviewsof the 10D the conclusion seems to be that the camera's cacheing and perfromance itself limits the effect that faster cards may have. Judge for yourself whether the fractions of a second gained by "40X" memory is worht the cash.

I've not "timed" my cardxs with a stopwatch,. but on the 10D I have not been a ble to notice a difference between a "12X" card and a vanilla Sanddisk card.

[Steve Barnhart]

Thanks!

[CyberDyneSystems]

bump

[sjms]

i use both delkin pro and lexar pro cards in my 1Ds. the speed differences on the camera inconsequential. both hit the max xfr rate at about 1.9MB/sec (both are capable of much higher). put a WA card in a DCS 760 or upgraded D1x/h and there is a difference though.

the reason i use these particular brand cards is because of the warranty and service.

i use assorted cameras from other than canon too. when the issue of file curruption came up on nikon D series cameras and WA cards i called them up. i immediately returned my 2 1GB 32x cards fedex (on them) for a firmware update. total turnaround time was 3 days.
can't complain about service there. delkin is close but i had to pay the shipping charge to them. i have one 512MB in their hands right now and should have it back by monday the 24th

now i have found that a good deal of cf card brands are difficult to contact. try sandisks website and find a phone contact as an example. its all done by email now which can be as time consuming as snailmail.

ebay purchased cards from vendors place lifetime warranties on items and then your chasing them down thru their aliases in case something happens. thats not a happy thought.