SanDisk CF Card Branding: A Bit Confusing.

I'm looking at getting another SanDisk CF card and my usual supplier isn't listing the type I got last time (Extreme III). They are listing a card called 'Ultra', rated as 30MB/s write speed, but it's not branded as Extreme anything! This one:

http://www.dvd.co.uk …tra-compactflash-card.htm

I've looked on the SanDisk website and there is information on there about how they have changed the write speed ratings for their memory cards, but no mention (that I could find) of these plain-looking Ultra cards. My supplier isn't listing any Extreme-branded cards at all now.

Should I be going by the stated write speed, which is the same as my Extreme III (30MB/s) and taking it to be equivalent to mine, or should I be noting the non-Extreme III plain 'Ultra' branding and thinking it's not as good as my current one?

I don't want to buy anything that is of lower quality than my existing CF card, so I'm a bit confused with the branding on this one.

Thanks very much,

Mike

They've had a line refresh and, as technology advances, all the cards have gotten faster. However, unlike the last speed gain the cards had, they've changed the naming. The Ultra II came out at 15 MB/s and later they slipstreamed a 20 MB/s version. They did similar things with the Extreme III and Extreme IV. If you weren't looking it was easy to miss.
The Ultra is the successor to the old Ultra II, now up from 15 and 20 MB/s to 30.
The Extreme is the successor to the Extreme III, up to 60 MB/s from 20 and 30 MB/s.
The Extreme Pro is the follow-on to the Extreme IV, up from 30 and 45 MB/s to 90 MB/s.

Thanks Jon, that clears up the mystery.

I've just read on another site that the speed rating is for read rather than write, which wasn't mentioned on the SanDisk site page I was referring to. That doesn't make any difference to the comparison though as I presume my Extreme III is showing read speed (30MB/s) as well.

I want this particular card to use in my old 30D for time lapse (to avoid wearing out my 5D MkII's shutter!), so I think the Ultra's write speed should be okay. I think it's supposed to be a minimum of 9MB/s write speed for those, but I'm going to double-check what the 30D can write at before I buy a card.

Thanks again,

Mike

For the 30D? Check out Rob Galbraith's CF database. You might want to just get a new, faster, card and move your old Extreme III down to the 30D. The 5D2 will be able to take advantage of the faster cards.

Very handy site, thanks. It looks as if I'm okay with an Ultra for the 30D as it can only write just under 7MB/s with RAW.

It's a bit unclear what the actual maximum write speed is for these cards, unless the maximum write speed is the same as the read speed. Having tried to look it up I only found a stated minimum write speed, but not maximum. It's as if they're to avoid stating it anywhere!

I would get a faster one and transfer the Extreme III to the 30D, but I don't really need anything faster for the 5D MkII at the moment as I only use if for landscapes. I just need the extra capacity for the 30D at the moment and don't want to spend too much.

Mike

Along with leaning up their line Sandisk needs to lean up on their prices too !!

nitehawk55 wrote in post #10972959
Along with leaning up their line Sandisk needs to lean up on their prices too !!

You get what you pay for. I have over 100 GB of cards I can trust implicitly - and that's what matters.

Sandisk doesn't need to be charging the prices they are Jon , they have problems with some cards too and there are some other choices out there that are just as reliable now so they should be looking at that and realising that maybe they would be wise to get their prices just a bit more in line with some of the compitition .

At least that's what I would hope happens at some point

Getting what you pay for is one thing , getting raped by them is another .

nitehawk55 wrote in post #10973456
Sandisk doesn't need to be charging the prices they are Jon , they have problems with some cards too and there are some other choices out there that are just as reliable now so they should be looking at that and realising that maybe they would be wise to get their prices just a bit more in line with some of the compitition .

If they ever start to feel pressure from the competition I'm sure they'll look at their pricing. At the moment, however, it's plain that there's enough people out there who don't mind paying a slight premium for top-quality.

As for them having problems with some cards - please enlighten us. I know they had problems with a batch of 8GB CF cards earlier this year - and we had somebody from Sandisk posting updates on PotN and relating details on how to check a card, the serial numbers involved, and how to return it for a replacement. Get that sort of service from superhypercards@ebay.h​k!

Hollis , ALL card companies have problems with some cards , I don't care which make it is and I'm sure that a lot of these brands come out of the same factory made to certain specs . I don't have stats and the like but it's the same as any manufacturer of anything electrical or mechanical there are going to be "some" of whatever brand that will have problems . You'll see which have the most problems eventually by posts and discussions in such forums that relate to them like this one . It may not be a totally accurate gauge of which is problematic but it's generally a pretty good indicator .

I'm not always brand loyal , I'll spend my hard earned dollar on what I feel is good value and something with what looks to have solid reliability and performance . Sandisk isn't a "slight " premium , they are 2-3 times as expensive as other brands which I feel is very excessive .

nitehawk55 wrote in post #10974873
You'll see which have the most problems eventually by posts and discussions in such forums that relate to them like this one . It may not be a totally accurate gauge of which is problematic but it's generally a pretty good indicator .

If you're going to use complaints in fora as an indicator of the frequency of problems then you also need to take into account the frequency of ownership. If 100 people complain about their Ford then it's a drop in the ocean of all Ford owners. If 100 people complain about their Bugatti Veyron then it's a substantial proportion of the ownership.

I've no idea about Sandisk's market share, but I'd bet it's bigger than anybody else's. So the very small number of complaints indicates an extremely reliable product.

To get a little bit back on topic...

I bought a 5D2 recently. I have yet to use the video feature at all, but am going to start playing around with it. I have 3 old 8GB Extreme IIIs that are 30mb/s. For stills, they're fine. I'm looking at getting a 16GB card or two. Are the new Ultra 16GB w/ 30mb/s throughput going to work well for video?

TaDa wrote in post #10975235
To get a little bit back on topic...

I bought a 5D2 recently. I have yet to use the video feature at all, but am going to start playing around with it. I have 3 old 8GB Extreme IIIs that are 30mb/s. For stills, they're fine. I'm looking at getting a 16GB card or two. Are the new Ultra 16GB w/ 30mb/s throughput going to work well for video?

7D manual says that 8 MB/s is good enough for video. I can't really see the 5D being more demanding.

hollis_f wrote in post #10974917
If you're going to use complaints in fora as an indicator of the frequency of problems then you also need to take into account the frequency of ownership. If 100 people complain about their Ford then it's a drop in the ocean of all Ford owners. If 100 people complain about their Bugatti Veyron then it's a substantial proportion of the ownership.

I've no idea about Sandisk's market share, but I'd bet it's bigger than anybody else's. So the very small number of complaints indicates an extremely reliable product.

True and as I said it's only an indicator if you might see some complaints of failures , it may or may not point out that a certain brand does have more problems in others . Market share will certainly effect what you see .

Well, I have something over 50 SanDisk cards (probably 60 or more) including the old ones that are too small to be practical any more, and my personal failure rate has been only one card, which SanDisk replaced free no questions asked. So my personal failure rate is well under 2%. And SanDisk has been active in defining the standards for every memory card format out there, so they know what they're doing.