Fast CF Cards for 5D

Having just purchased my 5D I've been spending some time studying Rob Galbraith's wonderful comparison tables on CF card performance (wish i had that man's patience; his diligence is our benefit ).

I will be shooting primarly weddings and reception events, likely fine JPEG at the very least and probably RAW as my safety net. According his tables for Sandisk 2GB cards, there does not seem to be a Huge difference in speed/performance between the Ultra II and the latest greatest crop of media. There is a difference on "paper" but from a real world shooting perspective is this truly noticable for something like the 5D?

And when you factor in the price difference between things which have just come to market vs. cards that have been around for a little, the discussion seems to tilt in favor of the older less expensive model. What are your impressions? Thanks.

Stu Pearl
Cleveland, Ohio

My last card buy was the Extreme IIIs. I was all set to get the Ultra IIs, but B&H had the E3s for $10 more than the U2s (4100 vs. $90). Since that $10 meant a faster card, file recovery software, and card holders, it was an easy call. If the difference had been larger, I, too, would have gone with the Ultra IIs. I expect the performance difference to come in when you're shooting at or close to the edge of a full buffer. Every extra little bit of write speed will get you back shooting that much sooner.

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …EG&addedTroughT​ype=search

$99 Extreme II CF 2GB

The 2 Gig Extreme III cards are quite reasonable, if you're shooting RAW I'd consider one but for fine jpg the buffer will hold some 60 images at 3fps so it's not so much of an issue. Shooting birds in RAW format I've managed to jam up the buffer a couple of times.

Ron