Cheapest CF cards that utilize faster 20D writing?

[dphoto]

Hello all!

Well, I just ordered my 20D and I was wondering if anyone knows where I might find the cheapest CF cards that utilize the faster (over my 300D) 20D writing times. I'm primarily looking for a 1GB card. I know CF cards have come down a lot recently... anyone buy one recently?

Thanks!
-Deva

[kiwimichael]

Hi Deva,

I'm not sure about the proces of the cards, but to get an idea of the performance of the various CF cards check out Rob Galbraith's excellent CF database at: http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007

Have fun with the 20D - it's a great camera!.

Cheers
Michael

[jads]

deva,

check this place out. I just bought a 80x 1Gb card for $170 Australian, which is a very good price. If you are buying from outside Aus, they're tax free also ;)

www.powerinumbers.com.au

[FlyingPete]

I started a thread a while ago about the need to have a high speed card in a 20D, now from the way I use mine I have discovered that I have no need for them, the main reason for this is the huge frame buffer of 23 shots, and the fact it can de-stage whilst still shooting.

The only difference between my 16x and 66x cards in general day to day use in the 20D is I see the CF activity LED on more often, it has never prevented me from getting any shots, but I very rarely shoot more than 8 shots in a rapid fire sequence, even then that is rare.

There are still advantages in fast cards, such as download speeds, but I see very little point in paying twice as much for a card that might be 10-20% faster (I have seen this!), then again if you are going to be frequently filling the buffer, find the faster darn card you can get.

On the flip side, I am paying only a 15% premium to get the 66x cards over the 16x cards from my supplier, so I now go for the faster card.

Just some food for thought!

[CyberDyneSystems]

Newegg.com usually has a very good price on Sandisk UltraII cards.

And Mydigitaldiscount.com is another place to look.. they may have UltraII, Lexar 40X or 80X,. and the RiData 52X as well as Transcend 45X

[kiwimichael]

I started a thread a while ago about the need to have a high speed card in a 20D, now from the way I use mine I have discovered that I have no need for them, the main reason for this is the huge frame buffer of 23 shots, and the fact it can de-stage whilst still shooting.


FlyingPete has some good points. The faster cards really only have and advantage if you shoot lots of photos in quick sucession. Just want to add that if you shoot RAW instead of JPEG, the frame buffer is reduced to 5 shots and will fill quicker than when shooting JPEG.

Cheers
Michael

[emilbev]

Try http://zipzoomfly.com/ I just ordered a 1G card for under $100
good luck with your new 20D
Emil

[dphoto]

Hey everyone,

Wow, thanks for all the quick responses! And yes, I think I am going to have a lot of fun with my 20D!

Hey FlyingPete, I appreciate the food for thought, and I am definitely thinking it over. It's all going to come down to pricing... if there's a small difference in price, then I'll probably just go for it, otherwise, you are absolutely correct... 23 shot buffer! :D Plus, writing out images while I'm still shooting... now that is really going to save me! Currently with my Digital Rebel at some events I have to be careful about keeping my finger halfway down on the shutter button... I have to let go to let those images get written sometime!

I'll look into those links that you guys posted. Thanks again!
-Deva

[FlyingPete]

Currently with my Digital Rebel at some events I have to be careful about keeping my finger halfway down on the shutter button... I have to let go to let those images get written sometime!


...and that was the main reason above all others that I got the 20D over the drebel :cool:

[dphoto]

...and that was the main reason above all others that I got the 20D over the drebel :cool:Hehe... well, I bought my digital rebel a year ago,so there was no 20D! Also, new to photography, I needed something to learn on. :D

-Deva

[2new]

I purchased several cards from Bannana PC.com - good prices & the goods were delivered

Check out
www.Mysimon.com
Nextag.com
pricescan.com
pricewatch.com
bizrate.com

Good for comparing prices just be selective in the vendor that you use. Make sure they are reputable. For reputation you can check resellerratings.com

Good Luck,
Michael

[MDJAK]

I just got the 80x Lexar 1gb card for my 20d.

I then got the Sandisk Ultra III 1gb card. I definitely notice a difference in speed, especially playback speed. When viewing pictures on the screen and rolling the wheel to go from one to the next the Sandisk is much more responsive. I paid $109 for it at B&Hphotovideo.com, probably the MOST reliable site on the internet.

[Sailare]

Last November , I picked up a Sandisk Ulta II 512K at Costco for my 20D. As previously mentioned its one of Galbraiths fasted rated cards. Excellent results.

It was $ 85 Canadian or about $ 65 U.S. I was in during Christmas-New Year week and they were still available. That will give you about 102 Jpegs at fine or about 52 Raw shots. For me that is quite suficient and I would buy a second card rather than going to an expensive 1 gig card.

Instead of buying a bigger or more cards I will be picking up a "wolverine" pocket book size, battery operated hard drive that has slots for various flash cards. Available in 20gig and 40 gig for a list price starting at $200 U.S. I first saw them at "Ritz Camera".
You might check there web site for starters if interest in this route. Probably have some competition and price reductions by now.

You plug in the flash card and push 1 button to copy to the hard drive. It's USB so you can then dump to the computer. Seems ideal for vacations or really big shoots. A lot lighter than a Notebook computer to carry around as well.

[Persian-Rice]

Buy Ultra II cards. Right now they are relitively cheap ,but are considered one of Sandisks pro grade cards. Don't buy cheapo cards or the no name stuff. All you need is to go into a shoot, take 300 pictures, and have them all disappear.

[Kostyanych]

I just got the 80x Lexar 1gb card for my 20d.

...
When viewing pictures on the screen and rolling the wheel to go from one to the next the Sandisk is much more responsive.

M-m-m... Very interesting.
I have read somewhere that Sandisk cards have high latency...
I am seriously thinking about Sandisk Ultra II 1Gb vs Lexar Media 80x 1Gb.
Benchmarks show similar performance. Bu I was expecting that random access will be better for Lexar...
There is only one thing - your card is Sandisk EXTREME. And Sandisk claims twice better performance for EXTREME compared to Ultra II.

Can anybody compare Sandisk Ultra II vs Lexar 80x, please? Just something like Random Seek benchmark?

[JATPhotos]

Just bought 2 1G Sandisk Ultra II's at Tiger Direct for $99ea. They are the best I have found for my 20D.

[KevC]

Remember, high speed card's advantage isn't only in the camera. It's a lot faster to transfer to/from a computer if you have a USB2.0 card reader. Keep that in mind :)

Ultra IIs are an awesome price (you can find a gig for $105CAD) but they're sold out everywhere. I settled for a Kingston Elite Pro 1GB for the same price, but not as fast (6MB/s instead of 10 of the Ultra II)

[Jack W.]

I have a Kingston Elite Pro 1g on the way, scheduled for delivery tomorrow. Got it from Newegg for $75. They also have a $20 rebate.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-160-026&depa=1

[MDJAK]

The prices you guys/gals are posting aren't that great a saving over the Extreme III Sandisk. One quick look at B&H and you will see that the Extreme III 1 gb is only 109
see here: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=NavBar&A=search&Q=&ci=7857

[mvonditter]

You can try “ecost” at http://www.ecost.com/ecost/ecsplash/search/search.asp?Search=sandisk&NavID_Search=false&CurDSN=simple&calledfrom=1&incimage=on I have several of the sandisk ultra II cards. Everything from 128 to 2gig. Never had a problem with any of them. Current price for the 1gig is $87.75. My 1Ds does 100+ images on the 2gig card RAW. Have fun. :-)

[pcasciola]

Buy Ultra II cards. Right now they are relitively cheap ,but are considered one of Sandisks pro grade cards. Don't buy cheapo cards or the no name stuff. All you need is to go into a shoot, take 300 pictures, and have them all disappear.
Be careful with Ultra IIs for the next month or two. Sandisk is in the middle of rolling out a newer, cheaper Ultra II line, switching from SLC to MLC chips. They claim this will allow them to increase the storage capacity and that there will be no loss in performance, and maybe even a performance improvement from the current Ultra II line, but according to this Galbraith article, MLC memory has always been slow in the past, so we'll just have to wait and see.

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-6459-7253

[gmccann2]

While I'm somewhat embarassed to say it, I've bought plain old SanDisk CF cards (512 and 1GB) at Sam's Club--the 1GB being about US$75. No Ultra, No 80X, etc., but like others have said, I've never lost a shot on my 20D due to a slow card.