Which CF card do you use or recommend?

[James Thomas 1975]

As the title says,I was wondering which CF cards you all use in your (compatible) Canon bodies?

The reason I ask is that I had 2 thrown in as a deal with my 40D (usually a clue to being no good) around 10 months ago,a 4GB sandisk ultra II 15 MB/s and a 4GB sandisk extreme III.

I realised even at the time that neither are very high capacity etc.,but have always done the job fine for what I've shot with my 40D...until I started experimenting with long exposure night shots.

They both take ages to record the images from my camera when I do this,and today I purchased a 5D mark II which I imagine will nigh on kill them even more so

The reason I never purchased one today is because I'd like your opinions on which one to get that will suit my bodies .

Many thanks in advance.

[Jon]

I think that what you're seeing isn't the cards' fault. If you have Long Exposure Noise Reduction turned on, every photo you take is followed by a period of "inaction" that equals the shutter speed used. During that time the camera takes a "black frame" which it then applies to your photo to cancel out noisy pixels. So a 1/30 sec. exposure will take 1/15 sec., and a 1 sec. exposure will take 2 sec.

You're going to find those cards wrong for the 5D2 if you shoot RAW because they're small, holding around 100 frames each. I use 8 GB cards in my 5D2 and 7D, SanDisk Extreme IV (new ones rated at 45 MB/s) for the most part, though I have some of the older 30 MB/sec Extreme IV and some Extreme III as well as some older 4 GB cards. Next buys for those cameras will be (8 GB still) the new Extremes rated at 60 MB/sec, though.

[yourdoinitwrong]

I'm not an expert by any means but I'm not sure how a long exposure night shot would take any longer to record to the CF than any other shot. At a given resolution most of the shots should be around the same file size I would think. Might this have something to do with the camera doing some NR or other type of processing? I may be way off but that's just my guess. Anyway, back to your question! I use the SanDisk Extreme IV 8GB (45MB/s) in my 7D and it works great. I rarely fill up the buffer but when I do this card clears it pretty quickly. The newest cards they have are the Extreme at 60MB/s and the Extreme Pro at 90MB/s. I'm sure they are fast but since I have never had an issue at 45MB/s I see no reason to spend money on a faster card that isn't really going to benefit me a whole lot.

[The Mack]

I shoot Extreme CF's

8gb at the smallest. 4gb's for backups. 16x1 at the biggest.

I hope to get one of the 90mb/sc ones this summer.

[SnapLocally.com]

I'm using a 16gb 533x (80mb/s) that I picked up for $83.

[dmp-potn]

Howdy,

I agree with Jon. You most likely have long exposure noise reduction set to either "auto" or "on". The manual says that the noise reduction process may take as long as the original exposure time, and it must do all of this before it even starts writing to the card.

We've been using Sandisk Ultra, Ultra II, and Extreme III cards almost exclusively and with no problems (so far). We do retire/replace cards proactively after a couple of years of use rather than waiting for a failure. Not a big deal these days with flash memory prices being so low, and it sure beats having to explain to a client that you lost half of their shoot because you could not read images off of a three year old memory card.

[James Thomas 1975]

OK many thanks for the replies and I'll have a look on my 40D to make sure the long exposure ISO reduction is disabled,and I'll be sure not to enable it on my 5D when the battery has finally charged too.

So how much is a reasonable price for an 8+ GB with 60 MB/s?

[antitera]

I shoot Transcend 32GB CF card in my Mark II.

[lankforddl]

Originally Posted by The Mack

I shoot Extreme CF's

8gb at the smallest. 4gb's for backups. 16x1 at the biggest.

I hope to get one of the 90mb/esc ones this summer.

What are you doing that could use 90mb/sec transfer rate? Video? I found that the buffer system on my 50D picks up the slack when my 30mb/sec CF can't keep up.

I did a test and found that the 50D will handle a 45-60 shot burst (no flash, full auto, RAW) before the CF and buffer start show signs of slowing.

Just wondering what justifies the cost of a 90mb/sec CF mem. It's probably wicked expensive right?

[dmp-potn]

Since the 5D Mark II can't write much faster than 30 MB/s, I would not have guessed that there would be any advantage to shooting with a faster card, but I guess there is:

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/cam...?cid=6007-9784

Although not listed in his test, I'd probably give the latest Sandisk Extreme 8GB card a go. It's a "400x" UDMA-5 card rated at 60 MB/s, and you can find it at B&H for about $75 in the US. Not sure what they go for in the UK, but hope that helps.

[SnapLocally.com]

Originally Posted by James Thomas 1975

OK many thanks for the replies and I'll have a look on my 40D to make sure the long exposure ISO reduction is disabled,and I'll be sure not to enable it on my 5D when the battery has finally charged too.

So how much is a reasonable price for an 8+ GB with 60 MB/s?

James, if you're shooting a 40D using Large JPEGs at 6.5 fps <3.5mb x 6.5fps = 22.75> which is about 150x. 60mb/s is almost triple of what your camera can write at. If you don't plan on laying in on the motor drive, a 133x should suffice for most uses, and a 266x card will exceed the 40D's write speed.

[oRGie]

Originally Posted by dmp-potn

Since the 5D Mark II can't write much faster than 30 MB/s, I would not have guessed that there would be any advantage to shooting with a faster card, but I guess there is:

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/cam...?cid=6007-9784

Although not listed in his test, I'd probably give the latest Sandisk Extreme 8GB card a go. It's a "400x" UDMA-5 card rated at 60 MB/s, and you can find it at B&H for about $75 in the US. Not sure what they go for in the UK, but hope that helps.

amazon uk have them for about £46 £80 for he 16gb version, If i was buying right now I would get these, probably the 16gb.. Thats direct from amazon too, so free postage to uk irrc..

[Mystwalker]

I think Sandisk and Lexar probably the top of line? They are priced the highest.

In past, I used a bunch of 4GB Transcend, Ridata and Kingstons.
After getting the 5DII, I've started to use 8GB minimum with two 16GBs - all Ridata. Not the fastest, or even close, but they work for me. I question their claim of x233 - but then I do not often shoot continuous or video with 5DII so not important.

Am thinking about getting a Sandisk Extreme III or IV for video - am not doing enough video to spend $200 for a card

[xMClass]

Originally Posted by Jon

I think that what you're seeing isn't the cards' fault. If you have Long Exposure Noise Reduction turned on, every photo you take is followed by a period of "inaction" that equals the shutter speed used. During that time the camera takes a "black frame" which it then applies to your photo to cancel out noisy pixels. So a 1/30 sec. exposure will take 1/15 sec., and a 1 sec. exposure will take 2 sec.

This is probably what it is.

I use Sandisk Ultra II 2GB CF cards. I like keeping my cards at a small capacity just so if something goes wrong with the card during a shoot I don't lose a ton of pictures.

[CW Jones]

I like Sandisk personally. I have an Ultra II that is slow haha and my girlfriend got me an extreme III for X-mas Both of which are 4GB cards. They are a perfect size for me, even shooting in RAW but if you do weddings and such you are going to probably want something bigger capacity.