Lexar CF 800x vs 1066x

Is there a huge difference? What I really should say is, is there a noticeable difference? I will be using in a 1D4 and often times I am on a tight deadline to get images submitted

Thinking about getting one of their cards, I am still using Sandisk Extremes 16GB 60MB/s cards. Will also pick up the lexar dual bay cf/sd usb3 reader when I pick a card

When you get the dual slot reader you might havecto go to http://www.lexar.com/s​upport/downloads and update the driver. Once there scroll down and pick the driver based on your OS. I know some people had issues reading some SD cards, and the driver update was the fix. Also possible this isn't applicable to the CF card but an up to date driver generally is a good idea.

I've got a bunch of 800x and 1000x Lexar CF cards and can't say that I've ever seen a noticeable difference in write times between them when in my 5D3.

I do not have Lexar CF cards but I have other CF card brands at 800x, 900x & 1000x.

To be honest, unless you shoot long RAW burst or long videos, you won't notice any difference on the buffer speed between 800x & 1000x.

Transfer speed to PC also depends on your USB type too. Obviously USB 3.0 is the fastest but again it won't make much different on 800x & 1000x.

I shoot raw to cf and jpeg to sd so at 10fps I am throwing down raw files like crazy

the lexar 800x speed cards have a really horrible write performance, so much so, they're not much better than my generic 233x write cards..

that said, the lexar 1066x are vastly faster.. both in terms of read and write speeds... and yes, usb 3 card readers are the way to go.

Here's an interesting read:
http://www.cameramemor​yspeed.com …st-sd-cf-card-comparison/

Surprisingly, there a big difference between 800x and 1066x. The marketing folks probably named the 800x card.

Thanks, I also saw that Lexar came out with even faster cards now...

Whether or not there is a difference depends on your needs and bottlenecks. The two numbers besides capacity that matter for any SD or CF card are minimum write speed and minimum read speed.

Write speed matters when you're shooting. The better (faster) the minimum write speed, the faster your camera you write new files to the card. This matters when shooting in bursts where the camera may be taking photos faster than the card can write them and eventually will have to slow down how fast it's shooting to wait for the card to catch up. The Lexar 800x cards have a minimum write speed of 20MB/s which gives my 7D up to about 22 raw shots before it has to slow down. The 1066x cards have a minimum write speed of 65MB/s which should give me triple the shots or better.

Read speed matters when reading the cards to copy somewhere else. The faster the read speed of the card, the faster files can be copied to another storage medium (such as another card, an HDD, or an SSD). However, you now have to deal with the minimum write speed of the new storage device. For an HDD this usually maxes out at about 120MB/s, but can be as low as 40MB/s. For an SSD the write speeds are usually faster, but it depends on the exact model. The minimum read speeds on the 800x are "up to" 120MB/s and 1066x goes "up to" 160MB/s.

In short: if you often find yourself waiting on the buffer to clear so you can shoot more, definitely get the 1066x. If you are waiting on the cards to write to an HDD, probably stick with 800x. If you use an SSD, then probably get the 1066x.

Tim Barnhart wrote in post #17473632
Thanks, I also saw that Lexar came out with even faster cards now...

Be careful with this. The cards that are way faster are CFast cards. That is a different standard. Most DSLR cameras can not utilize that standard and because they are so much more expensive, you are just wasting your money buying them unless your camera is made for the new standard.

SilentRampage34 wrote in post #17494500
Whether or not there is a difference depends on your needs and bottlenecks. The two numbers besides capacity that matter for any SD or CF card are minimum write speed and minimum read speed.

Lexar 800x card does NOT have a min write speed of 20MB/s, 1066x does NOT have a min write speed of 65MB/s. There is no such a spec because the minimal depends on what you are writing to it, and can NOT be garranteed. No card manufacture can put such a spec on paper.

Further more, Lexar 1066x does NOT necessary write at 160MB/s. The "transfer speed" is 160MB/s, it applies to the maximum read speed. If you look at it carefully, there is usually "write slower" written somewhere. Usually, the write speed can match the read speed on higher capacity card. For lower capacity, like 16GB, no, write can't be 160MB/s simply because there isn't enough parallels

Nogo wrote in post #17494510
Be careful with this. The cards that are way faster are CFast cards. That is a different standard. Most DSLR cameras can not utilize that standard and because they are so much more expensive, you are just wasting your money buying them unless your camera is made for the new standard.

Cfast was supposed to be the replacement of CF. CF uses UDMA interface. The most current is UDMA7 which has max data rate of 166MB/s. That is why you see those high end CF, Sandisk Extreme Pro or Lexar 1066 claim "transfer speed" up to 160MB/s. It is interface limited. And it usually applies for read, not write.

CFast is on SATA interface, with bandwitch of 6Gbit/s or 550MByte/s. It is exactly like HDD/SSD interface in computers. In fact, most CFAST is nothing more than a SSD with a different connector and in a very smaller form factor. The reason CFast hasn't taken off is mainly due to lack of practical need for these kind of speed in photography application. Still cameras are NOT going to write data in such a high speed. 1080P video doesn't need that speed either. What come with this speed is power consumption. The only big customer for CFast today is those Arri, black magin, ... high end, high resolution video recording in RAW format.

SilentRampage34 wrote in post #17494500
The Lexar 800x cards have a minimum write speed of 20MB/s which gives my 7D up to about 22 raw shots before it has to slow down. The 1066x cards have a minimum write speed of 65MB/s which should give me triple the shots or better.

Except that it will not. The 7D doesn't actually write to the card until it fills the buffer. I have repeatedly posted my test where I compared various CF cards, all the way down to 1 MB/s, and they all managed a burst of 24 shots before slowing down.

There is, however, a massive difference in the time taken to clear the buffer (from 10s to over 3 minutes).

Tim Barnhart wrote in post #17461603
I shoot raw to cf and jpeg to sd so at 10fps I am throwing down raw files like crazy

Go for the 1066x cards. It clears up the buffer faster than the 800x cards.

It was noticeable for me as I sometimes hit the buffer limit. If you don't hit the limit, then both cards are fine.

eelnoraa wrote in post #17499697
Lexar 800x card does NOT have a min write speed of 20MB/s, 1066x does NOT have a min write speed of 65MB/s. There is no such a spec because the minimal depends on what you are writing to it, and can NOT be garranteed. No card manufacture can put such a spec on paper.

Further more, Lexar 1066x does NOT necessary write at 160MB/s. The "transfer speed" is 160MB/s, it applies to the maximum read speed. If you look at it carefully, there is usually "write slower" written somewhere. Usually, the write speed can match the read speed on higher capacity card. For lower capacity, like 16GB, no, write can't be 160MB/s simply because there isn't enough parallels

Per Lexar's website.
http://www.lexar.com …l-1066x-compactflash-card

hollis_f wrote in post #17500294
Except that it will not. The 7D doesn't actually write to the card until it fills the buffer. I have repeatedly posted my test where I compared various CF cards, all the way down to 1 MB/s, and they all managed a burst of 24 shots before slowing down.

There is, however, a massive difference in the time taken to clear the buffer (from 10s to over 3 minutes).

I checked up on the test you refer to, I see it was done in January 2011. There is the issue that an entirely new firmware was released since that testing, meaning very different buffer behavior. However, the idea that you state the 7D doesn't write to the card until it fills the buffer simply isn't true. It makes no sense that images wouldn't be writing to the card until the buffer is full. This is disprovable by taking a burst of say five images, far fewer than the 20-25 that the 7D can buffer, and watching the buffer clear while no more images are taken.