How fast can the DRebel write photos to the compactflashcard

[Nascar Nut]

I have done some searching around the net and here. I was wondering if there was any info on the transfer speed of this camera. I have read that the drebel doesn't transfer as fast as other dslr cameras. Would help narrow down the compactflash card you would buy for this camera. No sence in spending the big money if the camera cannot write that fast.

[defordphoto]

I have done some searching around the net and here. I was wondering if there was any info on the transfer speed of this camera. I have read that the drebel doesn't transfer as fast as other dslr cameras. Would help narrow down the compactflash card you would buy for this camera. No sence in spending the big money if the camera cannot write that fast.

Exactamundo. Neither the Drebel or the 10D are CF speedsters. That's why it's best just to get not better than a 20x or so and go for capacity.

For tests, go here: http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007

[Bruce Hamilton]

Neither the Drebel or the 10D are CF speedsters.
Faster than you can shoot, that's what counts... :lol:

[CyberDyneSystems]

Neither the Drebel or the 10D are CF speedsters.
Faster than you can shoot, that's what counts... :lol:

Actually,. they are not faster than I can shoot,. I fill the buffer fairly regularly!

Here is the 300D specific chart... you'll see it vaaries from card to card; but not by much!

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-6425

[Nascar Nut]

Neither the Drebel or the 10D are CF speedsters.
Faster than you can shoot, that's what counts... :lol:

Actually,. they are not faster than I can shoot,. I fill the buffer fairly regularly!

Here is the 300D specific chart... you'll see it vaaries from card to card; but not by much!

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-6425

I have looked at the chart. When you buy the compactflash cards, they are in 4x 12x 16x 24x and so on. In the chart the top speed is 1324K/sec. Now if that works out to be 12x, why would you need to buy a faster card? That I guess is what I am trying to figure out.

[dtrayers]

True, the 300D is the bottleneck in writing to the card, so a 32x or 40x or faster won't really speed things up in the camera, but when reading in a card reader, that's when the faster cards help. I see a big difference between 'standard' cards and the high speed cards in a fast card reader.

For me, it's worth the extra expense to download a 512MB card of images in 60 seconds vs. 5 minutes.

Compare the Card-to-Computer (http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-6133) speeds at Galbraith's database.

Of course, YMMV...

[vvizard]

Compactflash cars? Is that just a small convertible, or is it a real truck with space for my 70-200 2.8 also? =D

[Nascar Nut]

Compactflash cars? Is that just a small convertible, or is it a real truck with space for my 70-200 2.8 also? =D
lol! Wouldn't let me put the d on the end. Ran out of room. As for transfering to my computer the extra cost isn't worth it to me. I just want the optimal card for the camera. Maybe I will email canon and see if they will give me any kind of info.

[theoldmoose]

I tried that, when I first got the Digital Rebel.

The Canon folk refused to recommend a card, either by speed or brand. I even badgered them some, asking "if you can't tell me what card is useable with your camera, how do I know you even tested it with any in the development lab?" Nothing but apologies from their end, for not being able to tell me anything. Bah. At least Nikon lists compatible brands/speeds in their manuals. Canon is a fount of no-information in this respect.

Then, I made an interesting discovery. According to the Digital Rebel manual, you should use "Canon brand" CF cards. Right. Ever seen one? I thought so. On the other hand, the Canon accessories store on the web stocks Simpletech cards (no "Canon" cards to be seen, though), under the category of digital media for the Digital Rebel.

Based on that, I ordered up a couple of 512 MB Simpletech cards from Amazon for $99 each (Canon wants too much for them in their online store, IMO, and they were constantly out of stock, anyway). As near as I can tell, they are about 12x speed, and have worked fine for me in the Digital Rebel.

Also, I can say that having a USB 2.0 reader is the first thing you should care about when downloading. Unless you have anything faster than USB 1.1 as a reader (or for your computer ports), getting a card that transfers faster than about 12X will be pretty academic, anyway, since USB 1.1 will cap out at about 768K. USB 2.0 will transfer (up to) 480M (almost as fast as firewire), so speed will usually be determined by the CF card, or sometimes, by crappy USB 2.0 reader hardware (not all USB 2.0 high speed readers can really transfer at top speed, anyway).

[Andy_T]

So what's the logical answer if fast transfer is a must for you?

... start looking for a used 1D :lol:

Regards,
Andy

PS: Old Moose, I have seen the 'Canon' CF cards.

Actually, one was included when I bought my G2 ... a 32 MB CF card :lol:
So - if they were also supplying these with the DSLR's ... they would at least send you a 64 MB CF card.

[Nascar Nut]

I all ready have the rebel comming. Not spending any more than that. So I just want the optimal card for the camera. This appears to be a tough one. Looks like it is useless to contact canon then. I did buy a 512 mb 12x lexar card because I got it for 80 bucks. Couldn't pass that up. But I want one more 512 card. Just wanted to see if I should get a faster than 12x card or not. Don't want to spend the extra money if the camera can't write any faster.

[theoldmoose]

It may write a bit faster than 12X, but not by much.

Check out the links that folks have posted to the various CF speed reviews. At least one of them was done specifically with a 300D, and various CF cards. Then you can see directly how much faster a card will be, and check out how much more you might have to pay for such a card.

I'm with you, though. I'm not such a speed demon that I'm willing to pay a big premium to get something that will only run a few percent faster. I've been happy with the performance of the Simpletech cards I got. They run about 12x, the same as your Lexar. Simpletech also has some newer, high speed cards, but you should be able to get the regular 12X 512MB cards for less than $100 from Amazon (sometimes requires a rebate, etc).

I've just been more careful about checking for compatiblity, since I got burned once by buying a Sandisk Ultra card to use in my Nikon Coolpix 4500. It turned out that the write speed was perfectly OK, but Sandisk plays a numbers game with the read speed, by specifying 'up to' xx kbytes/sec. WTF does that mean? 'up to' could mean anything, from 'slower than a snail' to 'pretty good'. It turned out that in my 4500, the slow read speed caused in-camera LCD review images to take several seconds each to come up on the screen, vs. the less than one second time for the Lexar cards I had. Very annoying. I now use that card as a 'kick-around' with a USB flash cable, to transfer files from machine to machine or my Zaurus PDA, etc. It no longer does service in any cameras I own.

[Tomsk]

[quote="Nascar Nut

I have looked at the chart. When you buy the compactflash cards, they are in 4x 12x 16x 24x and so on. In the chart the top speed is 1324K/sec. Now if that works out to be 12x, why would you need to buy a faster card? That I guess is what I am trying to figure out.[/quote]

I looked into this a few weeks ago. What I discovered was that the quoted speed is usually the READ speed. The WRITE speed might only be half the read speed. I eventually purchased a 512MB 45x Transcend card to be sure of the fastest write speed.