Question on CF speed

[MDJAK]

Before I traded in my 10d, one thing I was told was it did not support write accellerated cards. I have an original Lexar 1gb card which was slow on the 10d and not much faster on the 20d. Does the 20d support the faster cards? Is there a big difference in the card I have and an 80x lexar? Thanks.
mark.
PS: My card is also a type II if that matters.

[Jon]

Write Acceleration is a proprietary Lexar technology which Nikon licensed but Canon hasn't. The 20D does support faster cards; for performance with various manufacturers' cards, look at Rob Galbraith's CF database (http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007), where he's tested many models of CF with many different cameras. Generally the SanDisk Ultra II and Extreme are very good performers, as good as or better than the Lexar 80x.

[CoolToolGuy]

The 20D does enable faster write times, but Canon does not support the Lexar 'WA' technology. So, any fast card will work well in the 20D, but you will not get any benefit from the WA that you pay more for with Lexar. Rob Galbraith's site has an extensive memory card performance database, and the last time I checked, Sandisk Extreme was the hottest ticket for the 20D. But, things change quickly, so you should check it yourself.

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

Have Fun,

[Jon]

Maryland scores a Double!

[CoolToolGuy]

Would that be a simultaneous post-gasm? :oops: :roll: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Have Fun,

[Jesper]

Before I traded in my 10d, one thing I was told was it did not support write accellerated cards.

There isn't any Canon camera that supports Lexar's WA (Write Accelleration) scheme. That doesn't mean that a fast CF card is just as slow as a normal speed CF card. The Canon cameras certainly take advantage of the speed of fast CF cards.

The 20D is, upto now, the fastest camera in the world with regard to writing to CF cards. It's MUCH faster than the 10D. So it looks like Lexar's WA isn't something that you really need to make a camera that writes to a CF card fast....

Have a look here: http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-7303
for speeds measured with different CF cards on the 20D.

[FlyingPete]

Do you really need the faster card on the block with a 20D?

The frame buffer is so huge, and it can write whilst shooting. For the first few days of having mine I had an old 16x Kingston in it, never had any problems. Admittedly I now have a 66x card, with the frame buffer in mind I wasn't prepared to pay the extra for a Sandisk Extreme (almost twice as much as the Kingston Pro I bought!).

One area I thought I might see an improvement would have been downloads, but my crappy X's drive is no faster with the new card :(