Which compact flash card? Lexar 133x, Ultra II, or Extreme III

[drews578]

Which compact flash should I choose?

Lexar Professional 2GB 133x - $110
Sandisk Extreme III - $103
Sandisk Ultra II 2GB - $82.50

Currently being used by a 10D but an undgrade to a 20D or 5D future equivilent is inevitable.

Thanks,
Drew

[Jim G]

Ultra III won't write noticeably faster in-camera but transferring to the computer it will be faster. I use 2G Ultra IIs and am very happy with them.

[Andy_T]

Another vote for the Sandisk Ultra II as sensibly-priced high performance card.
I use 1x2GB and 2x1GB UltraII cards on my 20D, and I have so far not had to wait for my camera (always shooting RAW+small JPG, but normally in rapid single-shot mode). The card is fast enough to empty the buffer nearly immediately.

The others offer an additional 5-10% performance gain, according to http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-8198

Best regards,
Andy

[foto202]

I have ultra II's 2 1 gig and 1 2 gig. Plenty for me.

[Jon]

Ultra II. Shop around a bit on the Extremes, you may find them for a bit less and they come with a 2-card case and image recovery software. A bunch of us are gun-shy about Lexars after they had a run of cards that weren't compatible with the EOS DSLRs.

[SuzyView]

I have 3 Ultra II from Costco for $49.00 each. My son bought me one for my birthday. Now I have 5 1 GB CF cards. I'm such a happy woman. Go out and get a Costco card. It's worth it.

[liza]

Ultra II's have served me well. I just bought two more of them.

[R_Metzel]

Ultra II's are just dandy. I shelled out the extra cash for the extreme III and really didnt notice a difference.

[Mark Kemp]

Same here Ultra 2 are fine, I don't think even my 1D2 will go any faster with an extreme 3. It might download faster to the PC but how often are you in that much of a hurry to download? The low temperature thing might be handy if you are about to visit the arctic or something, otherwise the Ultra 2 is the best value.

[michael_]

the way i look at it an extra $20 for Extreme IIIs isnt to bad.

[JAZZ D.P.G.]

ANYTHING BUT LEXAR

Nothing but bad experience with this product line. Thumb drives, cards, and they're service dept. Crap.

[sapearl]

I do mostly wedding work with my 5D and own three of the Sandisk Ultra II 2 GB cards. I agree with the comments about not going over 2 GB..... spreading the eggs out around a couple of "baskets." The Sandisk controller is well made and has good reliability. Drew, what sort of shooting will you primarily be doing?

After reading on Rob Galbraith's site I decided that the so called extra speed of the Extreme III would not really benefit my shooting situation. What I have works very well, and the cards were all purchased on sale for around $79 - 84.

- Stu

[CoolToolGuy]

I voted for the Extreme III, but the Ultra II is not a bad option. A couple of things:

There has been a lot of chatter lately about conterfeit Ultra II cards on eBay and elsewhere. True Ultra IIs are a good product but beware of the scam. You can see the chatter here on POTN or google it.
Despite the bad run of Lexar cards, I would stay away from Lexar on a Canon. Lexar has incorporated 'Write Acceleration' technology into their faster cards, and they charge more per MB because of that. However, the camera firmware must support the technology to take advantage of it, and Canon doesn't support it. So you are paying for something you can't use.Have Fun,

[Richard_Miami]

I use a 2gb Extreme III in the camera virtually all the time. For the few times I fill it, I keep two 1gb Ultras with me. The Ultras are Costco bargains I picked up while shopping at the store. Couldn't resist. Right now, I am watching and waiting as the prices on these seem to be dropping daily. As I have a few long trips planned without the laptop, I would love to pick up a 4 gb or 8 gb when the prices drop. But I will definitely stick with SanDisk. Their consistency and reliability have earned by business.

[tweatherred]

I voted for the Extreme III, as the additional speed may be usable by future cameras, even if there is no noticeable in-camera difference right now. As was mentioned above, some card readers can take advantage of the additional speed, so it is somewhat useful now.

Having said that, I actually own and use Lexar 2GB cards. I bought them right before the problems came out, otherwise I would have gone with another brand, probably Sandisk. I had used Lexars with good reults in my earlier camera (Nikon Coolpix 5700) and so stuck with them. I have never had any problems with my Lexar cards and got good service when I sent them back for a firmware upgrade, but in your example, they are the costliest in addition to having a history of problems, so I didn't reccommend them.

[yahoo]

i've never had experience with with lexar but i do own 5 2gig Ultra II and i couldn't be any happier. I consider them very reliable, and they have yet to disappoint me. Wether you want to spend the extra money on the extreme is up to you, but as some people before me have mentioned you won't see much of a difference.

[DMacIntyre]

I use the Sandisk Ultra II. Very happy with it. Super fast even when shooting 5 FPS in RAW.

[lakiluno]

anything but lexar.

Sandisk Ultra II would be my choice, or if you want to go really cheap, a kingston elite pro.

[steved110]

I've got one Ultra II 2Gb card, and a generic 'Jessops' brand 1Gb card. the Sandisk is great, it is faster than the generic card by some margin but as I don't shoot at 8.5 fps ( or even 5 for that matter) it is just fine - and I got it for a great price.
they also come with a lifetime guarantee, i have made sure to keep my invoice details, coz if it ever dies on me i'll be on to them....
I see very little need for anything bigger than 2Gb in my case, and would rather have a collection of 1-2 Gb cards - just in case anything happened on holiday etc.

[Kostyanych]

What about RiData 150X Pro II CF Cards?
Price of Sandisk Ultra II (even a bit cheaper). Speed of Sandisk Extreme III (by their specs, but I didn't find any benchmarks). Lifetime warranty.
I am thinking if I need to try one....:)

[sapearl]

I hear that RiData makes pretty good DVD and CD disk media, (good reputation) but I don't know anything about their flash storage. Likely Sandisk or one of the other major players is producing it for their label. - Stu

What about RiData 150X Pro II CF Cards?
Price of Sandisk Ultra II (even a bit cheaper). Speed of Sandisk Extreme III (by their specs, but I didn't find any benchmarks). Lifetime warranty.
I am thinking if I need to try one....:)

[Lord_Malone]

I've got two 2gb Extreme III CF cards. Great cards. I'm getting two more as a matter of fact. But I've been avoiding Sandisk SD cards like the plague.