CF Cards for Rebel XT

[jimsolt]

I am contemplating purchase of Rebel XT. Three questions about CF Cards --

1- High speed or not?

2- Capacity? Is one large capacity card better than 2 lesser capacity cards?

3- Are all brands pretty equal or are some better than others?

Thanks,
Jim

[tim]

Have a play with this site (http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007), use the 20D as the XT prob hasn't been tested yet. I use 1GB Sandisk Ultra II cards (the old fast version) in my 20D, they work well.

[kb244]

Here ya go, the XT hasnt been tested in this database, but look at the 20D list of CF card performance to get *kind of* an idea.

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

1) Depends, are you shooting many pictures to the point that you cant wait for it to write to the card before you can shoot the next? (course the XT allows continous shooting now)

2) If shooting jpeg, got for smaller capacities , if shooting raw, I'd say a single 1GB card as you dont wana have to swap out cards too often.

3) Absolutly not. See the url above for some ideas.

[mbze430]

I been really happy with the Lexar 2GB 80x Pro card. Even though it doesn't use the WA technology.

[jimsolt]

Here ya go, the XT hasnt been tested in this database, but look at the 20D list of CF card performance to get *kind of* an idea.

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

1) Depends, are you shooting many pictures to the point that you cant wait for it to write to the card before you can shoot the next? (course the XT allows continous shooting now)



I was kinda' hoping for some help in answering that. I don't know how many continuous shots would overflow the camera buffer (is there one?) and cause a delay in writing to the card.

Jim

[gary_hendricks]

I am contemplating purchase of Rebel XT. Three questions about CF Cards --

1- High speed or not?

2- Capacity? Is one large capacity card better than 2 lesser capacity cards?

3- Are all brands pretty equal or are some better than others?

Thanks,
Jim


1. I would recommend high speed - you owe it to yourself if you take DSLR pics.
2. I prefer 2 lesser capacity cards - in case the one card breaks down.
3. Go for known brands like SanDisk.

[skyphix]

I have a Lexar 80x 1GB that I am happy with... although its with a 300D not a 350D.

[Jon]

I was kinda' hoping for some help in answering that. I don't know how many continuous shots would overflow the camera buffer (is there one?) and cause a delay in writing to the card.

Jim


The buffer in the DRXT is 14 (JPEG Large Fine) shots at 3 fps. ISTR that the limits with RAW are lower (may be listed in the pre-PMA press release).

[jimsolt]

The buffer in the DRXT is 14 (JPEG Large Fine) shots at 3 fps. ISTR that the limits with RAW are lower (may be listed in the pre-PMA press release).

Which means, if I understand correctly, that unless I shot a complete burst followed immediately by more shots, the buffer would hold everything until it is written to the card, and I wouldn't experience delays waiting for write time -- right?

JIM

[Jon]

Sorta. If you held down the shutter release on continuous, it'd stop after 14 frames (tad over 4 sec.) and you wouldn't be able to take another photo until there was enough room in the buffer to hold it. But you won't have to wait for all 14 to be written out before you resume shooting.

[jimsolt]

Gotcha' .

Thanks for your help. Unless the Hindenburg is going up in flames, I should be OK without the super duper extreme high speed cards.

JIM

[kb244]

Sorta. If you held down the shutter release on continuous, it'd stop after 14 frames (tad over 4 sec.) and you wouldn't be able to take another photo until there was enough room in the buffer to hold it. But you won't have to wait for all 14 to be written out before you resume shooting.


What he said, would be 3 frames per second , until 14 frames were in the buffer, than about 1.6 frames per second because it's freeing a single frame each time you take a shot or something like that.

A Tip if you got a Slow Card

This trick seemed to be around since the 10D if not older, but I notice the 300D had it, and the XT probally has it too, but apparently theres two buffers in the camera. And I'm assuming it's usefulness was only thought of before they made compactflash cards as fast as the camera's buffer. When you are shooting continous and the buffer fills, keep the shutter halfway down, and notice the frame count increase again to take another batch of shots. What this is doing is moving the files from the primary buffer to the secondary buffer, when the secondary gets full then it forces a write to the card, if yer shooting in jpeg you can probally do this a number of times before it must write to the card. but Again I feel this is only useful if you got an extremely slow flash card ( normal sandisk, microdrives, etc )

[Andy_T]

Does anybody have real information on the write speed of the DRebel XT?

Everybody assumes it will be the same as that of the 20D, but was that how Canon designed it?

Please apologize if this was already clarified a hundred times, but I have missed this information so far.

EDIT:
OK, the Rebel XT White Paper (www.robgalbraith.com/public_files/rebel_XT_White_Paper.pdf) states a 'huge increase in CF write speed' ... that's a good sign :D


Best regards,
Andy