Where to buy Compact Flash cards???

[JoyceH]

I'm new to this forum and to digital photography. I have a new baby.... a 10D and need to purchase additional CF cards. Where and what brand do some of you use and are there any good deals right now. I have read several articles about read/write times and brands but would like some references from real people that have used cards they like and don't like and how do you feel about smaller cards vs. larger cards? I shoot mostly portrait work and worry about all my eggs being in one basket. Thank for any information. :?

[Jon]

512 MB to 1 GB are good sizes. I use a mix of Kingston, SanDisk, Lexar, and a couple of IBM (now Hitachi) 1 GB microdrives. Sources: whoever's got the best price, commonly computer stores such as PC Connection (http://www.pcconnection.com) or NewEgg (http://www.newegg.com). That's 200 or 400 (average) photos/card at Large Fine JPEG, or 60-120 in RAW. 512s run anywhere from $70-$130 depending on performance, while 1 GB are around twice that, so the price/picture is about even. My D60 doesn't seem to care whether I run baseline CF cards or any of the various high speed cards (SanDisk Ultra, Lexar, . . ..) that are out there. For all practical purposes, I don't see a difference in write speed in the camera.

[Dchemist]

I use Sandisk 512M Ultra II cards which I bought from B&H Photo.

[robertwgross]

In my early days with digital cameras, I thought that a 256MB CF card was nice, since it had about the same RAW capacity as a roll of film. Since then, I have moved up to 512MB CF cards, so I have a mixture now.

---Bob Gross---

[justruss]

512 MB 52x Ritek Ridata CF cards at newegg for $70, free shipping. Great card, fast, reliable. Got mine last week!

[sGu]

2x512MB Sandisk Ultra II and 1x2GB Sandisk Ultra II, you can't go wrong with them, fast and reliable, still looking forward to couple of more 1GB ones, when i have money in the near future, hopefully

[chadaw]

I purchased a 512MG Sandisk Ultra II as well when I purchased my dRebel camera the other day. So far, I have been very pleased with it, it is fast. But that is the only CF I have ever used, but I think it is a good one.

I purchased mine at Circuit City for about $150.00 with a $16.00 discount for buying it with the camera.

[MTAtech]

I purchased a 512MB Sandisk Ultra II at Amazon.com for $108 (they are $94 now). http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000CD08M/qid=1090863830/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2_etk-photo/002-7848221-7781634?v=glance&s=electronics&n=502394

Also, buy.com has them for $101. http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10354252&loc=101&sp=1

Both are shipped free.

[ArtierSquare]

I have just sourced some 2.2Gb CF cards and may be persuaded to divulge price etc...

Where I may be paying UK price on 10d (I've taken a risk of not buying today in the hope I can still better the price) I have a VERY good price on the 2.2Gb CF cards. (Sub £150)

Anyone interested where?




Pete

[bertelm]

I found the 512 to be a nice size. I did a bit of looking around - the chain electronic stores seem to give the best deals (Best Buy, Future Shop, etc).

As for the speed, I'm not sure it really matters much since the speed is limitted more by the camera more than the card. I have on Scan Disk Ultra and one regular Scan Disk. The only time I notice the difference is when I'm uploading the pictures to my computer (and even there it isn't that much of a difference).

[Jesper]

I have just sourced some 2.2Gb CF cards and may be persuaded to divulge price etc...

Where I may be paying UK price on 10d (I've taken a risk of not buying today in the hope I can still better the price) I have a VERY good price on the 2.2Gb CF cards. (Sub £150)

Anyone interested where?

Pete

Pete, I hope you didn't buy a whole bunch of MagicStor 2.2 GB microdrives? They don't work well in digital cameras. A lot of people have trouble with them. Look here, for example:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=36617
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=33197

[JoyceH]

Thanks for all the help and the links. It really helped.

Joyce

[MTAtech]

The microdrives are unreliable. They break if dropped. The pressure of aircraft ruin them too.

The speed is important (and there isn't much of a premium for that speed). The camera buffers a limited number of pictures that could inhibit multiple consecutive shots.

[CyberDyneSystems]

I've found good prices at newegg.com , buy.com , and Amazon

[mjordan]

I just bought another 1 gig Sandisk Ultra II CF card from Comp-U-Plus for $177.95, which included shipping. I ordered it on Sunday and already have the tracking number today.

Mike

[scottbergerphoto]

www.jr.com
www.computers4sure.com

Lexar 1GB 40X WA ( MarkII ) and Sandisk UltraII 1GB (10D)

Regards,
Scott

[Murph7355]

I've always found www.valuemedia.co.uk to be spot on for price in the UK.

I have 2 Sandisk cards at present, one an Ultra II (512Mb) and one an Extreme (1Gb). Valuemedia don't seem to have these listed at present though...

The latter worked flawlessly in -40degC temps (didn't try the 512Mb). Neither has given me any trouble and both has been used for 1000s (possibly 10s of 1000s) of images.

I did have a 64Mb Integral card that went bad on me after not much use (luckily I won that one), so in future I'll be sticking to Sandisk or possibly Lexar (should any of the cameras I own in the future make use of their accelerated write technology).

[Murph7355]

www.jr.com
www.computers4sure.com

Lexar 1GB 40X WA ( MarkII ) and Sandisk UltraII 1GB (10D)

Regards,
Scott

Scott

Does the MkII make use of the WA? I didn't think any of Canon's line up did.

Thanks
Andy

[Jon]

The microdrives are unreliable. They break if dropped. The pressure of aircraft ruin them too.

Most anything will break if dropped hard enough. Microdrives take a very hard fall before they'll break. If they're in the camera, the microdrive will be the least of your worries. And current microdrives rated
shock tolerance equates to a several hundred foot fall onto concrete. After a several hundred foot fall, I'd be concerned with whether I could find the card. Their operating pressure limits are about 10,000 ft. Airlines typically pressurize to 8000 ft. or below. The non-operational altitude limits are around 40,000 ft (which significantly exceeds my limits).
The speed is important (and there isn't much of a premium for that speed). The camera buffers a limited number of pictures that could inhibit multiple consecutive shots.
Speed may be a factor in some cameras but I have not seen any performance difference on my D60 between microdrives, "regular" CF cards, and high-speed CF cards. Once the buffer's filled, it'll just keep trucking along at 1 fps essentially forever, until I run out of storage, or the battery dies.If you have any concrete examples to the contrary, please share them.

[MTAtech]

The microdrives are unreliable. They break if dropped. The pressure of aircraft ruin them too.

Most anything will break if dropped hard enough. Microdrives take a very hard fall before they'll break..
According to http://www.pcphotoreview.com/memoryguidecrx.aspx

MicroDrives have a reputation for being delicate and unreliable. They are more prone to failure since they have moving parts that can wear, or be damaged. But when handled normally and not abused, they are very reliable. Because of their moving parts, MicroDrives use more battery power than flash memory. And compared to new, high-speed CompactFlash cards, MicroDrive seek and write times are fairly slow. But if you need Gigs of cheap digital camera memory, MicroDrives are still the most bang-for-the-buck.

[scottbergerphoto]

www.jr.com
www.computers4sure.com

Lexar 1GB 40X WA ( MarkII ) and Sandisk UltraII 1GB (10D)

Regards,
Scott

Scott

Does the MkII make use of the WA? I didn't think any of Canon's line up did.

Thanks
Andy
I don't know. They are just slightly slower then the Sandisk Extreme and Ultra II's and I got a really good price on them with no tax or shipping from www.computers4sure.com . They also came with free Image Rescue software that can be updated on Lexar's web site, www.efilm.com , to handle all brands of CF cards.
Regards,
Scott

[Jon]

The microdrives are unreliable. They break if dropped. The pressure of aircraft ruin them too.

Most anything will break if dropped hard enough. Microdrives take a very hard fall before they'll break..
According to http://www.pcphotoreview.com/memoryguidecrx.aspx

MicroDrives have a reputation for being delicate and unreliable. They are more prone to failure since they have moving parts that can wear, or be damaged. But when handled normally and not abused, they are very reliable. Because of their moving parts, MicroDrives use more battery power than flash memory. And compared to new, high-speed CompactFlash cards, MicroDrive seek and write times are fairly slow. But if you need Gigs of cheap digital camera memory, MicroDrives are still the most bang-for-the-buck.


". . . have a reputation . . ." Any hard facts on current models? The same applies to write times - how do they perform in specific cameras relative to other media? When I'm taking pictures, I'm not concerned with theoretical laboratory results; I want to know what's going to happen with my camera.

[Boosting1Bar]

I have a Sandisk UltraII 1gb, an UltraII 256mb, and a regular Sandisk 512mb card. I notice a significant difference in buffer clearing times with the UltraIIs as opposed to the regular card. If you think you're going to use the burst mode of the camera even once it's worth it in my opinion to get the faster card.

My horror story I use for proof is that I was shooting an ATV hill climb competition a while back and had already filled up my 256mb UltraII and was shooting with the regular 512mb (didn't have the 1gb yet). I shot a burst of shots of an ATV coming up the hill almost all the way to where I was. When the buffer filled up I let off and watched the run and the guy wrecked RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. I mean he wasn't more than 15 feet out to my side, perfectly lighting and everything....put the camera up and press the shutter....*nothing*. I look down and the buffer is STILL full. It was almost 5 seconds after the last shot and it still hadn't made room for another shot yet. I find that it usually takes about 2-3 seconds with the UltraIIs to get at least one shot out of the buffer. Had I had a faster card I could've at least had a chance of getting a decent shot.

Long story short, don't skimp on speed even though it may not affect you in your day to day shooting. You'll regret it if you don't have it when you need it!

[MTAtech]

That is an excellent example. My major point was, why argue about this? The cost difference between the regular Compact flash and the Ultra II is so minimal that it isn't worth discusing.

[nosquare2003]

The microdrives are unreliable. They break if dropped. The pressure of aircraft ruin them too.

Most anything will break if dropped hard enough. Microdrives take a very hard fall before they'll break. If they're in the camera, the microdrive will be the least of your worries. And current microdrives rated
shock tolerance equates to a several hundred foot fall onto concrete. After a several hundred foot fall, I'd be concerned with whether I could find the card. Their operating pressure limits are about 10,000 ft. Airlines typically pressurize to 8000 ft. or below. The non-operational altitude limits are around 40,000 ft (which significantly exceeds my limits).
The speed is important (and there isn't much of a premium for that speed). The camera buffers a limited number of pictures that could inhibit multiple consecutive shots.
Speed may be a factor in some cameras but I have not seen any performance difference on my D60 between microdrives, "regular" CF cards, and high-speed CF cards. Once the buffer's filled, it'll just keep trucking along at 1 fps essentially forever, until I run out of storage, or the battery dies.If you have any concrete examples to the contrary, please share them.

Jon, I've used Microdrive for 2 years and I agree with you.

JoyceH, sometimes we have to put some eggs in a basket. I have three 1GB CF cards (including 1 microdrive) + 20GB portable backup device. When I finish one CF card, I will download it into the external backup. It is much cheaper to buy lots of cards.

But there are disadvantages in using microdrive for downloading images to my portable backup device -- it is slower and eats more battery.

[CyberDyneSystems]

www.jr.com
www.computers4sure.com

Lexar 1GB 40X WA ( MarkII ) and Sandisk UltraII 1GB (10D)

Regards,
Scott

Scott

Does the MkII make use of the WA? I didn't think any of Canon's line up did.

Thanks
Andy
I don't know. They are just slightly slower then the Sandisk Extreme and Ultra II's and I got a really good price on them with no tax or shipping from www.computers4sure.com . They also came with free Image Rescue software that can be updated on Lexar's web site, www.efilm.com , to handle all brands of CF cards.
Regards,
Scott

Frankly, WA is "bunk"... even in a Nikon "WA" enabled camera..

Need proof?

Well,. Sandisk UltraIIs aren't WA,.. and yet they are faster in the Nikon D2H than the Lexar WA cards! So what good is the WA??

Just a marketing gimmick.