choosing a compact flash card

[bostran1]

I'm curious if it really matters (for shooting pictures only, not viewing of transfering to computer) which CF card I get for a Canon Digital Rebel XT. I'll be getting a 1 gig card for now. But there are such extremes in price and type (Ultra, Extreme, etc.) I'm not looking to do anything too extreme with my camera except enter continuous shooting mode every once in awhile.

I've looked at cards from SanDisk, Viking, Dane, Kingston, and Lexar.

Thanks!

 

[Master Mason]

you should definately get a CF card for your xt... it will work much better













Actually, as long as you stick with a major brand you should be fine. All of my cards are Sandisk Ultra II's. I like them, have never had any problems whatso ever. If you shooting RAW, that 1 gig will fill up quickly. I have a 4gig that I use 99% of the time, with 2 1gigs in the pack incase I fill it up.

Hope that is helpful.

Gregg

 

[bostran1]

you should definately get a CF card for your xt... it will work much better

Hahahaha, clever. I guess I should have told you this will be my second 1 gig card. I have an old one that's about 2 years old but I wanted another since they will get filled up so quickly. I guess I was wondering if it matter if I bought a $15 card v. a $35 card.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I've never tried any totally unknown brands, but I'm not sure it would make a difference. There are only a handful of real manufacturers and I'm not sure that their quality standards vary. The main difference I've seen between cards is their performance. Faster cards allow you camera to write faster and allow you to copy to your computer faster. Rob Galbraith's site has a good section that shows the performance of various cards on various cameras.

 

[bostran1]

That was very helpful, thanks. I think I'm all set now!

 

[tinksdad]

I have a couple Lexar 2GB which are good, one Transcend 120x 4GB which was less and has been great to date. I just ordered another Transcend card. This time I got the Transcend 8GB 266x for $116. Pretty amazing since I paid almost twice that for the 2GB cards 18 months ago. Flash memory costs are coming down.

 

[shancan911]

DH is preparing for our trip this weekend!!!!! Lookout WDW, here I come with my fancy new camera.... At any rate, he bought a 4 GB SanDisk Extreme IV CF card. It obviously holds more, but the impressive part is how quickly it writes to the card. It is most noticeable when you do the continuous shoot mode. It's more like SNAP, SNAP, SNAP, instead of SNAP....,SNAP.....,SNAP. I think it will be well worth the investment. We also got a 70-300 zoom. I have too many toys.....

 

[mhm]

I have a 2G Extreme III in my new XTi, and have no complaints with read/write speed. I used continuous shooting with it at my dd's swimming lessons last weekend. I haven't tried anything else in it to compare, though. I also have one in my Oly C5060, and it made a world of difference over the prior card (not sure what it was, but it was several years old).

 

[Geoff_M]

I've looked at cards from SanDisk, Viking, Dane, Kingston, and Lexar.

I stick with SanDisk... especially given how cheap the cards have gotten of late. I also used to buy a lot of Lexar cards, but I know quite a lot of people that have had their Lexar CF cards fail on them of late (one friend has had three of his Lexars go "belly up" in a couple of month's time). True, Lexar is very good about replacing them under their lifetime warranty, but that doesn't help if you loose images as a result.

 

[bostran1]

good to know. thanks!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I've noticed that when you put them through the washing machine, they come out cleaner but they don't always work quite as well.

The Sandisk Extreme III 16.0 GB cards look pretty good. Get a handful of them and you should be set for really good day.

 

[tazdev3225]

I know that mostly the Sony Alpha cameras use them but there have to be other brands. I bought an Alpha 300 less than a year ago and when I went to Best Buy the other day to price the cards as I want to buy a few more they had almost no selection and the saleperson said that they wouldn't even be carrying them soon as they are being discontinued since there aren't many cameras that even use them. Has anybody heard that the Compact Flash is being discontinued. I really don't want to buy the adapter for the pro duo cards. I also don't want to go out and spend a fortune buying more cards than I really want if the sales guy was wrong. I'm just wondering what other people here may have heard.

 

[rtphokie]

I know that mostly the Sony Alpha cameras use them but there have to be other brands. I bought an Alpha 300 less than a year ago and when I went to Best Buy the other day to price the cards as I want to buy a few more they had almost no selection and the saleperson said that they wouldn't even be carrying them soon as they are being discontinued since there aren't many cameras that even use them. Has anybody heard that the Compact Flash is being discontinued. I really don't want to buy the adapter for the pro duo cards. I also don't want to go out and spend a fortune buying more cards than I really want if the sales guy was wrong. I'm just wondering what other people here may have heard.

While formats come and go and CF wont be around forever, BestBuy doesn't speak for the industry as a whole and I think this sales person has no idea what they are talking about. Some manufactures might be moving away from them but I see no reason why the format wont outlive your camera. While its true that most new cameras are opting for a format other than CF, that does not equate to CF being discontinued, but I guess it does to the boys in khaki and blue.

CF is most frequently used in digital cameras, its also used in other consumer electronics (MP3, GPS, etc) equipment. Even high capacity internet routers use them as disk space (not the $50 linksys on your desk at home, the $100k+ boxes at your Telco).

I cant recall any manufacturer even announcing that they are no longer making CF cards.

 

[Shutterbug]

Most of Canons high end digital SLR's all use compact flash cards. I dont think cf cards are going anywhere soon. As far as BB not having much of a selection, I only buy those from Sandisk which they always seem to have.

Check Staples those, I have got awesome deals on CF cards there.

 

[tazdev3225]

Thank you for your responses. I thought this guy was a few cards shy of a full deck when he swore I could use a pro-duo with the camera. I liked it better when they had actual camera experts there last year. I have actually been able to answer questions for customers while I was shopping while the sales people had no clue. Unfortunately they are all I have near me.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

You were told this yet they are available on BB's website. Perhaps the saleperson was confusing the fact that Sony switched to SD cards in their newest DSLR's but who can really guess how they come up with their information. I wonder what they say when they're selling a Canon 50D which uses CF?

You can order from many places online which is what I have done even though our BB had CF cards. Buydig, adorama, BHphotovideo, beachcamera etc. Sandisk currently has rebates on cards if you buy from an approved dealer.

 

[rtphokie]

You were told this yet they are available on BB's website. Perhaps the saleperson was confusing the fact that Sony switched to SD cards in their newest DSLR's but who can really guess how they come up with their information. I wonder what they say when they're selling a Canon 50D which uses CF?

You can order from many places online which is what I have done even though our BB had CF cards. Buydig, adorama, BHphotovideo, beachcamera etc. Sandisk currently has rebates on cards if you buy from an approved dealer.

Sony is still pouting that nobody liked or wanted the memory stick format.

 

[spinetnglr]

Many of the Nikons as well use the CF cards. I have a Nikon D300 and it uses the CF format memory cards. I highly doubt they are fazing out the CF format for something new. There are too many cameras and other electronics out there that currently use them.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Sony is still pouting that nobody liked or wanted the memory stick format.

And what does this have to do with the question or even what I wrote other than to bash Sony? You've done this before in response to my posts if I even mention Sony and it's always very informative and makes me feel welcome as a Sony owner. Thanks rtphokie!

Olympus has the xD and some also use CF and (perhaps SD?). Different Sony's use either memory stick, CF or SD. As the previous poster said some of the Nikon's use CF and others use SD. Different Canon's use CF or SD.

Very few if any products are 100% standardized. Most important is to have the memory that is compatabile and not think something is disappearing tomorrow when it isn't- ie, Compact Flash.

 

[MICKEY88]

try ecost.com or my digital discount.com


I buy all my CF cards from those 2 sites..very good prices..