New 'super-fast' CF cards pointless?

Just like processors. Buying the fastest has a huge price premium, but the next speed down is a much better value. Same with memory, Extreme III were very expensive until the Extreme IV was released. I'll buy Extreme IV when the Extreme V is released.

That being said. If the budget only allows a very small Extreme III the go with a bigger Ultra II.

foxbat wrote in post #2585221
When that theoretical new camera does appear the expensive high-speed cards of today will be $5 each down your local Kwik-E-Mart. Don't overpay now for CF cards, prices fall very very fast.

Very negative attitude.

joegolf68 wrote in post #2590187
Very negative attitude.

But he's right. Prices do fall very fast and you never know when you're going to buy a new camera. He didn't say that he'll buy a slow card. I don't buy bleeding edge too; my Ultra II is as fast as my camera can do, and it is fast enough in the card reader. Why would I pay much more for an Extreme XV?

Memory cards are a commodity product. All CE products that are commodity products leave little room for differentiation and are ultimately prey to rapidly dropping prices and margins. Hard drives, memory cards, etc. are all items that you shouldn't buy more than you need.

I've made the mistake of thinking, "It's on sale...better get lots of memory while it's on sale." As file sizes increase, get bigger storage, but don't get more than you need because it's only going to get cheaper. Knowing I was gonig to buy a 5D soon, I bought a Lexar 4GB 133X card and a Lexar 2GB Platinum card on Boxing Day (Canadian holiday) because they were on sale. I paid $199 for the 4GB card which was down from $299. Well, it's been less than a month and the item has been on "permanent" sale since then.