Kingston Elite Pro Compact Flash Cards

[zebron]

Has anyone tested the Kingston Elite Pro line of compact flash cards?

Rob Galbraith's site is a gem for evaluating the performance of CF cards with different cameras (For the 300D see http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-6425 ), but he does not yet have any review of the Elite Pro line (that I could find).

I need the fastest write speed possible for my 300D to take as many RAW photos as quickly as I can (and yes in retrospect I should have bought the 10D but I didn't!).

Thanks for any advice,

Z

[robertwgross]

Although there is a lot of speed difference from one CF card to another, in most cases the write function is bound by the speed of the camera, not the CF card. Therefore, it is thought that a little moderate speed can be seen by the user, but extreme speed rating in the CF will not be seen, and if you are paying a big premium price for that, it is mostly wasted.

Personally, I use the cheapest CF cards that money will buy.

---Bob Gross---

[zebron]

Hi Bob, thanks for your reply.

Although many digital photographers share your belief, Rob Galbraith's tests indicate that there actually is a difference, and I have come to belive it too. He tested CF speed by using continuous shoot modes and recording how much time the busy light flashed until all images were saved. His results were surprising, indicating that larger and faster CF cards will write faster than slower smaller ones. Sandisk Ultra II cards seem to be the quickest for the 300d, but I get discounted rates on Kingston products and am hoping to purchase one of these.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

Z

[CoolToolGuy]

Both Bob Gross and Rob Galbraith have points to pay attention to.

As Bob points out, the camera is the limiting factor. The camera cannot write the data as fast as the fast cards can accept it, and so you are not getting all of the performance that you are paying for.

As I have interpreted Rob Galbraith's material, he is saying what Bob is saying, but also saying that there is some improvement in performance with the faster cards (just not as much as the card speed suggests), so he recommends using the fastest card you can.

[Speculation begins here] This may be a case where the camera breaks up the image file into blocks or segments, and when the camera is writing, it happens at the faster rate of the card - but there is a wait time while the next part of the file is prepared for writing. [End of speculation]

My two cents.

[zebron]

Hi CoolToolGuy, thanks for your 2 cents. I agree with what you are saying, you will not get anywhere near the full speed advantage by purchasing a much faster card, an Ultra II Sandisk is slightly less than twice as quick on the 300D than a plain old cheap CF card. However, even a %10 speed improvement is important to me at this point. I am saving up for a Mark II (might take awhile!) but until then I have only my Rebel to use, and I need to squeeze out as much speed as I can. It appears as though noone has had a chance to test out the Kingston Elite Pro CF cards yet... Perhaps I will be the Guinea Pig!

If anyone has, please let me know. Unless anyone has any bad experiences to share I'll likely order the 1gig card this afternoon.

Cheers,

Z

[Digital Prophet]

I have to agree with Zebron. If I can get an Elite Pro or an Ultra II and get my 6 frames instead of four before my Rebel just stops shooting at all then I'm there. I am sure that there is a point where a card's speed totally outclasses the camera. It owuld be like putting formula race tires on a VW hippy van.

But I think that I am going to keep looking for the sweet spot where I too can get as much juice from my $1000 Rebel fruit. May all our cups run-eth over with digital goodness.

- Digital Prophet -

[CoolToolGuy]

I use Sandisk Ultra II and Sandisk Extreme for the same reasons you folks mentioned. I just thought I would mention that you would not get a performance improvement consistent with the speed rating of the card in a Drebel or a 10D.

Also keep in mind that by the time you acquire a new camera, the Ultra II might be considered slow compared with what the CF cards of the day are.

Have Fun,

[JoeTampa]

I just mentioned this in another post; been using 1g Microdrives since I got my 10D. I just picked up a 2g Sandisk Ultra II and am impressed with the performance increase. Even startup time seems to be 1/3 to 1/2 the time with the microdrive. The numbers in Rob's charts don't do the performance increase justice at all.