Can I use a CF to SD adapter in my 5D2 and shoot on SD cards?

Hi guys,

So I'm going to Europe for a month and I have close to 50 GB worth of quality SD cards (for my S100, which I won't be taking with me), but only about 16 GB of CF cards (for my 5D2 which I will be taking)...I'm thinking of picking up one of these CF to SD converters:

http://www.adorama.com​/ICDASDCFA.html

Any opinions? This particular one says it's not 100% perfect for video (part of the reason I want to take a lot of memory is to shoot video), so does anyone have any recommendations for one that will be flawless for stills as well as videos?

Thanks,
T

Why introduce another possibility of error into the equation by trying to be clever and reinventing the wheel.
Just get get a few more CF cards and be done with it.
Much simpler and less likely to cause pain.

I have one. It's not fast enough for video. If you don't do huge bursts at a time it will write photos and buffer fine. For what it's worth, I've had mine for 3 or so years and never had an error with a photo saved through it. However, during that time I've probably only saved a total of 1000 photos using that adapter (wasn't used much)

Anytime you use an adapter you cut the memory bandwidth. This means the card will be slower and slower. Just go buy some CF cards and be done with it. No sense of blowing once in a lifetime shots over crappy adapters.

I used one of these adapters on an XT, and it worked fine. But of course that didn't involve video.

I think the adapter would be too slow for video. Remember that the SD card is a serial device, but CF I believe is a parallel device. So the adapter actually has a controller in it that pretends to be an SD device to the camera, but a CF device to the card. Everything you do has to be handled twice - by the adapter's controller and by the card's controller.

So I certainly would not depend on it working. You would have to do a test to see if if will work, and i think it's doubtful it would be fast enough.

Can you? Yes.
Do you want to? Maybe not.

For smaller files its fine, but like everyone has already said you will be best off buying a few CF cards.

Will you be bringing a laptop with you?

I've considered doing the same thing by going out and buying an adapter.

1. SD Cards are so much cheaper.

The only thing holding me back is the conversion rates between the converter and SD card.

SD is massively slow compared with most quality CF cards on the market today. Adding an adapter or converter between them will slow that down even more.

If you're going to do some landscapes and non-bursty stuff, I'd say go ahead, but I don't think I'd trust it as a primary storage medium. Emergency backup, sure.

Thanks...sounds like it's not worth the risk, especially as I'm planning on doing video (the reason I'm taking the 5D2 and not the 5Dc).

I guess I'll just have to track down some cheap (priced, not quality haha) CF cards.

LowriderS10 wrote in post #14641227
Thanks...sounds like it's not worth the risk, especially as I'm planning on doing video (the reason I'm taking the 5D2 and not the 5Dc).

I guess I'll just have to track down some cheap (priced, not quality haha) CF cards.

Just grab some 16GB CF Sandisk 30MB/sec cards from BH, Adorama, Amazon, Newegg, whatever, for like $30 each.

I've got an important wedding in Sept I'm shooting and plan to stock up on a couple of these. They should also handle video just fine. I shoot a 16GB 60MB/sec card now, but frankly that's wasted on a 5D2.

either that, or grab a netbook with a decent sized hard drive on it, and shove it in the camer bag. just clean the card off every day...

cputeq007 wrote in post #14641317
Just grab some 16GB CF Sandisk 30MB/sec cards from BH, Adorama, Amazon, Newegg, whatever, for like $30 each.

I've got an important wedding in Sept I'm shooting and plan to stock up on a couple of these. They should also handle video just fine. I shoot a 16GB 60MB/sec card now, but frankly that's wasted on a 5D2.

Where do you see those prices? I've been looking on B&H/Adorama and the 16GB 30 MB/s are $30, but 60MB/s jumps to around $60 each. (Amazon is not an option for me).

Flores wrote in post #14641354
either that, or grab a netbook with a decent sized hard drive on it, and shove it in the camer bag. just clean the card off every day...

Yeah, I was thinking of that, but as it is, my biggest card is 8 GB (and then I have a pair of 4 GB) which was fine for shooting with the 1D3/5Dc, but won't do for HD video. I don't want to take a netbook, though...that's just one more thing to get stolen (we'll be backpacking for a month). The only thing of value I'm taking is my camera, and I can keep an eye on that 24/7

I have one of these, in addition to a few others cards, and it takes video just fine on my 5D Mark II.

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …tFlash_Ultimate​_266X.html

LowriderS10 wrote in post #14641723
Where do you see those prices? I've been looking on B&H/Adorama and the 16GB 30 MB/s are $30, but 60MB/s jumps to around $60 each. (Amazon is not an option for me).

Yeah, just get the 30MB/s cards - plenty fast enough for casual photography or HD video.