CF vs SD

Moving form a Rebel, to a 7D.

Part of this is of course moving tom SD cards to CF cards. Not a huge deal - just kinda a pain. Of course more $$

This got me thinking. Are one of these better/faster/more rugged/etc from a technical point of view, or is this just more of a legacy question?

Thanks

I have had better luck with CF over the years, I have never had one stop working. I have had several SD cards stop, out of the blue.
I even washed a CF card once, still works. It is too small to be of use any more, but still works.

I haven't had any issues with either CF or SD cards. I love the size of SD cards, and the fact that my Mac has a built-in reader.

CF cards do feel more sturdy and longer lasting, but again my SD cards have stood the test of time just as well.

I love the 60D for its SD card usage. I am shying away from the 7D as an upgrade since I would then have to have two types of memory, and I'd have to pull out my card reader and usb cable when I wanted to import.

Here's hoping the 7D MKII or 8D or 6D has SD or at least both.

I will say for archival purposes, CF cards are much easier to label and keep track of due to their larger size.

jbrand wrote in post #11932425
Are one of these better/faster/more rugged/etc from a technical point of view, or is this just more of a legacy question?

A CF card, being bigger, can fit more memory in it, meaning both larger capacity and faster speeds (through parallelism). For as long as I can remember, the highest-end CF cards have always been larger and faster than the highest-end SD cards. I could also imagine they could be made more rugged, since there is room for cushioning between the actual memory and the case, whereas an SD card is far thinner. In terms of reliability, CF card readers have pins that can be bent, whereas SD card readers don't. Also note that CF cards do not have a write-protect tab like SD cards do.

I've used CF cards for thirteen years now and SD cards for three, inserted and ejected them from slots hundreds of times, dropped them all on many occasions, and haven't had any problems with reliability or durability.

My clumsy paws find CF much easier to manage than SD... I'll be happy if CF stays the format of the high-end cameras but I doubt that'll end up being the case. SD gives more internal room for the designers and has no pins to be bent, as someone has already mentioned...

Jim G wrote in post #11932977
SD gives more internal room for the designers

Actually, I meant the exact opposite. If you just look at the two cards, a CF card is far larger than an SD card.

Hmmm.. you could put 2 SD cards into the space of less than 1 CF cards. That would make up for a lot of the CF advantages I would think.

I hate CF reader. Multiple pins grid.
Make sure you get one with good fat pins.

You nailed a key reason why I prefer CF cards to SD in your OP: Upgradeability. The 7D, 5D, and 1D series all use CF cards, so for me CF is a better choice since I plan one day on going FF.

I know that Samsung build waterproof CF-Cards with a metal cover (Samsung MB-CP8G) - but these are hard to get.
I had some issues (error 02) with the Sandisk Ultra CF-Cards - and i heard the same from other people from time to time. I sold these SanDisk-Cards and get for me some Transcend 400x (8 GByte and 16 GByte) and i am perfectly satisfied. Good value for the money. Even if i notice that CF-Cards are much more expensive (amazon.com) in the US than here in Germany.

Cheers
flop

teraflop wrote in post #11933934
I know that Samsung build waterproof CF-Cards with a metal cover (Samsung MB-CP8G) - but these are hard to get.
I had some issues (error 02) with the Sandisk Ultra CF-Cards - and i heard the same from other people from time to time. I sold these SanDisk-Cards and get for me some Transcend 400x (8 GByte and 16 GByte) and i am perfectly satisfied. Good value for the money. Even if i notice that CF-Cards are much more expensive (amazon.com) in the US than here in Germany.

Cheers
flop

I have noticed the price difference too. It's weird that all the other camera stuff are so much cheaper in the States while those stupid cards are actually cheaper in some European countries
I have never used Ultra cards but Sandisk Extreme cards are extremely durable and reliable. I have or had 4 of those cards and used them on 4 different bodies and never had any problem.

I find that SD cards work better in cameras with SD slots and CF cards work better in cameras with CF slots. Other than that, I just put the card in, format, and take pictures. It could be a magic jellybean recording the files for all I care.

okcomputer wrote in post #11932778
I love the 60D for its SD card usage. I am shying away from the 7D as an upgrade since I would then have to have two types of memory, and I'd have to pull out my card reader and usb cable when I wanted to import.

why not just pull out the USB cable and import directly from the camera itself?

kidflash wrote in post #11932443
I have had better luck with CF over the years, I have never had one stop working. I have had several SD cards stop, out of the blue.
I even washed a CF card once, still works. It is too small to be of use any more, but still works.

I don't think that was supposed to be a laundry joke, but even still...........

rx7speed wrote in post #11934097
why not just pull out the USB cable and import directly from the camera itself?

Just get a 1D as well. It uses both!