What CF card will keep up with a XTi?

I currently have 2 GB Sandisk Ultra II cards in my XTi. I can shoot 8 RAW + large JPEG before it stops until the buffer clears it's self some but it is very slow from that point on. I can shoot 22 large JPG's before the same thing happens.

I don't want to spend a fortune but I do want a card that will allow the XTi to keep on shooting at maximum speed. I'm looking at 8 gig cards. What cards should I look at?

Thank you for the help!

Jim

Anything faster than a non-labeled speed should be good enough. Non-labeled = standard speed = no "x" rating. Your Ultra IIs are already pretty much maxing out the XTi. If not completely, at least close to it. If you want to shoot RAW + JPEG without ever taking a breath, you'll have to look at a 1D III and some SanDisk Ducatis.

Canon's published specs on the burst (aka best-case scenario):

Continuous: 3.0 fps up to 27 JPEG / 10 RAW frames

Thanks for the quick reply. If I understand you correctly, the XTi write speed is not fast enough to keep the buffer low enough so that it wouldn't slow down. In other words, regardless of how fast a card I buy, the XTi write speed can't keep up with the camera to allow full speed shooting. Correct?

Thanks!

Jim

Basically, yeah. The card isn't the weak point in your situation. If you had just a cheapo standard speed card, upgrading would be worthwhile since those cards are slow. You're just barely below the published specifications and that's nothing to worry about since published specs are derived using unrealistic settings...like AF off, ISO100, lens cap on, maximum shutter speed, etc...ways you would never use your camera.

Since the bigger cards are slower than smaller cards of the same class, you might be wise to invest in Extreme III when going to 8GB to keep shooting bursts at max. There'd really be no need to look at anything faster and therefore pricier than those though.

Thank you! That's exactly what I wanted to know.

Jim

A faster card won't make much difference in how many shots you can take before the buffer maxes out, but it will make [I]some[/]. It will also affect how fast you can get back to shooting once the buffer does fill. The Rob Galbraith CF/SD database doesn't have the XTi, but using data from the XT and the 40D, SanDisk Extreme III cards are about 10-12% faster at writing RAW files than are Ultra IIs.