Fast CF cards in a 20D - Does it really matter?

[FlyingPete]

OK I have been reading a number of threads recently where the speed of CF cards keeps coming up, it seems that some people believe that anything short of a Sandisk Extreme III is too slow.

In the first few days of having my 20D, I was using my old Kingston 512MB (standard version, not elite pro, I think is equivalent to 16x), the only place I felt speed issues was in downloads to my PC.

I have not yet filled my buffer to full, and don't think it will ever happen that often, so with such a large buffer, where does a high speed card help in the camera itself (ignoring downloads for now).

In the end I bought a 1GB and 512MB Kingtson Elite Pro, as they were half the price of the Sandisk Extreme's (3.3MB/s vs 5MB/s according to Rod G's site, where as the standard Kingston I had is only 1.2MB/s)

I just didn't see the point in spending double for something that I possibly would never see the advantage of.

I’m not even sure there is a point on older cameras such as the 10D which seems to peak out at 1.4MB/s

:?

[Scottes]

If you don't fill the buffer then you can survive as you are. I shoot lots of birds, and there are definitely times - quite often - when I had to wait for the 10D's buffer to empty. With the 20D this almost never happens. I wouldn't mind getting this to "extremely rarely."

If I shot 100% landscapes I'd use the cheapest, slowest cards I could get. But sometimes the action warrants the speed.

[pcasciola]

Some people may never notice the difference on the camera if they are not hitting the buffer limit, but the difference in price is nowhere near double, and if it is you are just buying from the wrong place. The Sandisk Ultra II is one of the fastest cards in the 20D, still over 5MB/sec, and is now $82.95 for 1Gb. Best I can find on the Kingston Elite Pro 1Gb is $81.95. Is it worth $1 to go from 3MB/sec to 5MB/sec?

[CyberDyneSystems]

All I can say is this..

With the 20D .. if you buy a fast card.. at least you KNOW the camera can and will take full advantage of that extra speed.


Whether or not your needs require it often is another matter. But the 20D will certainly be there when you need it if you have that fast card.

This is the complete opposite of all other Canon DSLRs prior to the 20D EXCEPT the "1" series.

With the 10D, 300D, D60 etc... the camera's write speed to ANY card was so slow that the faster cards were pretty much wasted on them.

When I still had my 10D I held onto my "slower" cards.. as they were still a perfect match for the 10D... but now with a 1 and a 20D... the slow card becomes the bottle neck. I tend to not use the slow cards.

[FlyingPete]

Some people may never notice the difference on the camera if they are not hitting the buffer limit, but the difference in price is nowhere near double, and if it is you are just buying from the wrong place. The Sandisk Ultra II is one of the fastest cards in the 20D, still over 5MB/sec, and is now $82.95 for 1Gb. Best I can find on the Kingston Elite Pro 1Gb is $81.95. Is it worth $1 to go from 3MB/sec to 5MB/sec?

The NZ pricing was $151 ($105US apx) for a 1GB Kingston Pro vs $344 ($240US apx) for the Sandisk. To land a $82.95 card here it will cost me around $200Nz vs the 151 I paid for the Kingston. Just economics fo living down under!

[drisley]

The 20D has the fastest Compact Flash card perfomance of any digital camera in the world! It's even faster than the 1DMII!
So, it will take full advantage of any CF card you throw at it.
Currently the Sandisk UltraII/Extreme are the fastest CF cards you can get (are the vIII available yet?), and I have two of them.
I used to have a 12x CF card, and by the numbers the Sandisk Ultra cards are much faster.
However, in real-world performance, I havent seen a whole lot of difference. It's definately there, but I don't notice it. Probably the main reason is because the 20D can write to the CF card even when you have the shutter half pressed to take another picture. This was something the 10D/300D couldnt do, so I always ran into a full buffer with the 300D.
With the 20D, even if I manage to fill the buffer (which is rare for me), it's only about 1 second before you take another shot, and another, and another...even with a 12x card.
But, with the price of CF cards now, definately get the fastest you can afford.

[pcasciola]

The 20D has the fastest Compact Flash card perfomance of any digital camera in the world! It's even faster than the 1DMII!

You were right up until a few weeks ago. We 20D owners just lost our #1 CF performance status with the 1Ds Mk II, which is now up to just under 8MB/sec for RAW.

FlyingPete, I noticed after I posted that you were not in NZ, but anyway, check the Ultra II. It's about 20-25% less than the Extreme and is the exact same speed on the 20D.

I suspect we are not far away from cameras that will not need buffers anymore. There are already 4-5MP point-and-shoots on the market (Kyocera SL400R for one) that can shoot over 3fps directly to the CF until it is full, but that requires the fastest cards, so I wouldn't want to save a few bucks (or even $30-40 for that matter) to have a card I can't use in a year or two.

[slin100]

Is the 20D faster than even a Lexar WA-capable camera, like the Nikon D70? <stops to check Rob Galbraith's CF database> Wow! It is! :shock:

According the database, however, the 1Ds Mk II is much faster (about 35%) than even the 20D.

Alas, I'm one of the poor chaps who still has a 10D. And I had just picked up the "low and slow" Sandisk 1GB card just before the recent thread where it was much maligned showed up.

[pcasciola]

Alas, I'm one of the poor chaps who still has a 10D. And I had just picked up the "low and slow" Sandisk 1GB card just before the recent thread where it was much maligned showed up.

That card is fine in the 10D. When you decide to upgrade to your new 1Ds Mk II, just sell the card with the camera, that's all. That's what I did when I sold my Coolpix 5700. I threw in 4 memory cards that I knew would be useless on the 20D, and got more than most of the other ebay auctions because of it.

[MDJAK]

my question has not to do with filling the buffer, but the response of the card/camera when accessing pictures for review, erasing, etc. That's what seems slow with my old lexar type II cf 1gb card. That's why I want a faster card. Will that have the desirec effect?

[slin100]

Alas, I'm one of the poor chaps who still has a 10D. And I had just picked up the "low and slow" Sandisk 1GB card just before the recent thread where it was much maligned showed up.

That card is fine in the 10D.
Yeah, I know the 10D is the bottleneck. I already stopped regretting the purchase. I'm a slow shooter so I never fill up the 9 shot buffer. The card is faster than my old SimpleTech 256 MB card, so it's still a step up for me. Plus, I got the Sandisk for $67 + tax and there's an additional $15 rebate I have coming back.

[evilenglishman]

i've got a few lexar 80x WA pro cards and they are extremely fast in the 20D.
I can still clog the buffer if i try to but in real life the 20D/80x work great together.

The buffer was the only reason I bought the camera.

[tim]

The NZ pricing was $151 ($105US apx) for a 1GB Kingston Pro vs $344 ($240US apx) for the Sandisk. To land a $82.95 card here it will cost me around $200Nz vs the 151 I paid for the Kingston. Just economics fo living down under!

You, my friend, were ripped. I got my Sandisk Ultra II 1GB for NZ$200 from http://www.ascent.co.nz . They're a great company that I order from often. Another site with great service is http://flashcards.co.nz , who are very cheap and have great service. I just ordered a hard disk and enclosure from there too.

The ultimate price guide for NZ parts is http://pricespy.co.nz

[FlyingPete]

You, my friend, were ripped. I got my Sandisk Ultra II 1GB for NZ$200 from http://www.ascent.co.nz . They're a great company that I order from often. Another site with great service is http://flashcards.co.nz , who are very cheap and have great service. I just ordered a hard disk and enclosure from there too.

The ultimate price guide for NZ parts is http://pricespy.co.nz

Nope, still got the 1GB for $151, saved $49, but a a cost in perfomance, that I am not sure I will ever see!

Will check it out though, esspecially as I am looking at upgrading the X's Drive to something that verifies the copies.

Interesting though, that $151 was a cost price not retail, the Sandisk (which I did not buy) was also suposed to be a cost price.

BTW, do you have a cleap local source for batteries?

[drisley]

The 20D has the fastest Compact Flash card perfomance of any digital camera in the world! It's even faster than the 1DMII!

You were right up until a few weeks ago. We 20D owners just lost our #1 CF performance status with the 1Ds Mk II, which is now up to just under 8MB/sec for RAW.

You know, as I was typing, I was wondering about the 1DSMKII.
Do you have a link?

[tim]

Nope, still got the 1GB for $151, saved $49, but a a cost in perfomance, that I am not sure I will ever see!

Will check it out though, esspecially as I am looking at upgrading the X's Drive to something that verifies the copies.

Interesting though, that $151 was a cost price not retail, the Sandisk (which I did not buy) was also suposed to be a cost price.

BTW, do you have a cleap local source for batteries?

Ok, you didn't get ripped, but you could have gotten a faster card for not much more.

Strangely, I just ordered some batteries from the states, and I have a couple spare that I can sell on to you, if you like - I was gona sell 'em on trademe. They seem to last longer than the Canon battery, as they're 1400mah instead of the 1200mah bat that came with mine. Drop me a PM if you're interested, price will be around the $30 mark.

[MarkH]

Some people may never notice the difference on the camera if they are not hitting the buffer limit, but the difference in price is nowhere near double, and if it is you are just buying from the wrong place. The Sandisk Ultra II is one of the fastest cards in the 20D, still over 5MB/sec, and is now $82.95 for 1Gb. Best I can find on the Kingston Elite Pro 1Gb is $81.95. Is it worth $1 to go from 3MB/sec to 5MB/sec?

The NZ pricing was $151 ($105US apx) for a 1GB Kingston Pro vs $344 ($240US apx) for the Sandisk. To land a $82.95 card here it will cost me around $200Nz vs the 151 I paid for the Kingston. Just economics fo living down under!

I think that you are buying from the wrong place!

The Sandisk 1GB Ultra II is under $100 from B&H, if you add it to another order (like my recent order for the Op/Tech camera strap, Canon E1 Handstrap, Domke Photo Vest) then you can really save plenty and still get a top performing product.

I also managed to get my order 4 days after placing it, not too bad for NY to Auckland.

Instead of NZ$344 I paid about NZ$144 for the same card!

[tim]

You have to try to keep your order under NZ$400, otherwise you get charged GST. My latest order (Sigma 70-300 APO Macro II) should be here tomorrow, and it comes in a hair under $400 I think :) It's take 6 days, longer than my last order (4 days), but not too bad.

I was tempted to buy the 50MM 1.8 here in NZ, but even with shipping and GST it's much cheaper to buy it from B&H. I just wish shipping was cheaper :(

[MarkH]

You have to try to keep your order under NZ$400, otherwise you get charged GST. My latest order (Sigma 70-300 APO Macro II) should be here tomorrow, and it comes in a hair under $400 I think :) It's take 6 days, longer than my last order (4 days), but not too bad.

I was tempted to buy the 50MM 1.8 here in NZ, but even with shipping and GST it's much cheaper to buy it from B&H. I just wish shipping was cheaper :(

Yeah, under $400 is good for avoiding GST, but even with converting the currency, freight and GST my 550EX Speedlite was only $600. Compare that to $879 (the cheapest I saw in NZ) to $1099 (Stunning ripoff).

Also note that if you import goods valued at over $1000 you will need a client code from customs (fax application and copy of ID and you get the code, no fees, talk to NZ Customs about it).

I have a 2GB CF (Ridata 52x), 1GB CF (new Sandisk Extreme, just arrived), 2 x 512MB CF (Ridata and Transcend). I bought all from overseas mail order.

I recommend that if buying from B&H and wanting to increase the order to reduce the cost of freight per item, try a couple of the Power 2000 BP511 batteries (1500MaH, way cheaper than Canon, after more than a year mine still perform great).

[JoeTampa]

Want to make your speedy 20D feel like a pokey 10D?

Use a slow CF card.



I have two 1G IBM Microdrives that I keep as last-resort backups to my 2 Sandisk Ultra-II 2G cards. Using the Microdrives seriously makes me want to rip my hair out.

[tim]

Yeah, under $400 is good for avoiding GST, but even with converting the currency, freight and GST my 550EX Speedlite was only $600. Compare that to $879 (the cheapest I saw in NZ) to $1099 (Stunning ripoff).

Also note that if you import goods valued at over $1000 you will need a client code from customs (fax application and copy of ID and you get the code, no fees, talk to NZ Customs about it).

I have a 2GB CF (Ridata 52x), 1GB CF (new Sandisk Extreme, just arrived), 2 x 512MB CF (Ridata and Transcend). I bought all from overseas mail order.

I recommend that if buying from B&H and wanting to increase the order to reduce the cost of freight per item, try a couple of the Power 2000 BP511 batteries (1500MaH, way cheaper than Canon, after more than a year mine still perform great).

Sometimes it's annoying to have to bother ordering from overseas, but I think NZ makes up for it. I've heard of quite a few Americans trying to move over here recently.

I already have an importer code, I bought something a while back that was expensive, I forget what. If it was that expensive I should probably remember...

Ordering more stuff to "reduce shipping cost per item" is a great way to justify buying more stuff, but you're still spending more $$$ ;)

Any kiwis interested in the spare 2-3 new batteries drop me a PM, otherwise i'll get around to putting them on trademe some time.

[FlyingPete]

Want to make your speedy 20D feel like a pokey 10D?

Use a slow CF card.

I have two 1G IBM Microdrives that I keep as last-resort backups to my 2 Sandisk Ultra-II 2G cards. Using the Microdrives seriously makes me want to rip my hair out.

Are you filling your buffer?

Any kiwis interested in the spare 2-3 new batteries drop me a PM, otherwise i'll get around to putting them on trademe some time.

Not sure I am looking at doing anther import run from either B&H or Mydigitaldiscount.com, the batteries at the later are $9.99 for the 1400MaH, haven't looked and B&H's offerings yet.

I am toying with the idea of a 4GB Microdrive for uninterupted shooting!