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Lexar Compact Flash
- Thread starter Ken34997
- Start date
Erik Bailey
Well-known member
My first card for my 990 was a Sandisk 128MB. My second card was a Lexar 8x 128MB. My observations:
1) At the time I bought the Lexar (February), it cost LESS than the Sandisk (through buy.com). These were the only brands I considered.
2) Comparing them in a non-scientific way, the Lexar is significantly faster on writes than the Sandisk. I'm using full resolution at normal compression, and while the Sandisk takes a second or so (subjectively, not timed) to write to the card (as measured by the little card icon on the LCD in firmware 1.1), the Lexar takes about half a second. It's a very noticable difference, and was plenty sufficient to make the Lexar the primary card and the Sandisk the overflow card.
Knowing this, I'd willingly pay $50-$100 or so over the cost of competing card (assuming 128+MB) to get this speed. The fact that I was able to get it for LESS (somewhere around $215 or so) than the Sandisk was a bonus!
--Erik
PS - lots of discussion on topics like this in the new Storage forum.
1) At the time I bought the Lexar (February), it cost LESS than the Sandisk (through buy.com). These were the only brands I considered.
2) Comparing them in a non-scientific way, the Lexar is significantly faster on writes than the Sandisk. I'm using full resolution at normal compression, and while the Sandisk takes a second or so (subjectively, not timed) to write to the card (as measured by the little card icon on the LCD in firmware 1.1), the Lexar takes about half a second. It's a very noticable difference, and was plenty sufficient to make the Lexar the primary card and the Sandisk the overflow card.
Knowing this, I'd willingly pay $50-$100 or so over the cost of competing card (assuming 128+MB) to get this speed. The fact that I was able to get it for LESS (somewhere around $215 or so) than the Sandisk was a bonus!
--Erik
PS - lots of discussion on topics like this in the new Storage forum.
Is it worth the price differance to purchase a Lexar card vs. other
brands? Does anybody know the best source for a 128mb Lexar card or
one that will be of similar quality? Thanks!
Ken
Erik- Thanks for the info. Which speed Lexar card did you get?
Ken
Ken
1) At the time I bought the Lexar (February), it cost LESS than the
Sandisk (through buy.com). These were the only brands I considered.
2) Comparing them in a non-scientific way, the Lexar is
significantly faster on writes than the Sandisk. I'm using full
resolution at normal compression, and while the Sandisk takes a
second or so (subjectively, not timed) to write to the card (as
measured by the little card icon on the LCD in firmware 1.1), the
Lexar takes about half a second. It's a very noticable difference,
and was plenty sufficient to make the Lexar the primary card and
the Sandisk the overflow card.
Knowing this, I'd willingly pay $50-$100 or so over the cost of
competing card (assuming 128+MB) to get this speed. The fact that I
was able to get it for LESS (somewhere around $215 or so) than the
Sandisk was a bonus!
--Erik
PS - lots of discussion on topics like this in the new Storage forum.
Is it worth the price differance to purchase a Lexar card vs. other
brands? Does anybody know the best source for a 128mb Lexar card or
one that will be of similar quality? Thanks!
Ken
Rick Bragan #38433
New member
- Messages
- 9
- Reaction score
- 0
The Kingston 128 mg is now on sale for $99 with rebate. It works as well
as san disc or lexar.
RB. Check egghead.com
as san disc or lexar.
RB. Check egghead.com
R
Rich Gibson
Guest
No it doesn't. The Lexar's have been repeatedly time checked and ARE faster. Of course if I bought a Kingston I supose I would also say it is a fast as a Lexar. Who wants to admit that their car is a lemon or their kid is ugly? I have a Lexar and a Sandisk. The Lexar is faster.
RG
RG
The Kingston 128 mg is now on sale for $99 with rebate. It works as
well
as san disc or lexar.
RB. Check egghead.com
Derrick #43079
Well-known member
i've been thinking about this a lot, as i'm going to need to be buying some. (deciding between microdrive or 400 or so megs of CF) and i've come to the conclusion that it depends on what kind of pictures you take, i like taking pictures outdoors; when i go camping or around the yard & mountains. most of the things i take pictures of sit still so i don't care if i have to wait another 1/2 a second before i can take the next shot. if i get more into taking pictures of people or wildlife then i'd get the lexar though
S
Steve Dean
Guest
I have 3 Lexar cards, 16MB, 64MB and 80MB. All are rated by Lexar at 8X. The 64 and 80MB cards are older cards. The 64MB was one of their first 8X cards made. The 80MB card is a bit newer. The 16MB card came with my CP990, and is the newest of the three. I also have a Kingston 128MB card that I got just 2 days ago.
Testing the writing times of FINE JPG images in my CP990 yields the following results:
Lexar 16MB - 4 sec.
Kingston 128MB - 4 sec.
Lexar 64 & 80MB - 8 sec. (What happened????)
Writing time for a TIFF image, same camera:
Lexar 16MB - 29 sec.
Kingston 128MB - 29 sec.
Lexar 64 & 80MB - 34 sec. (only slightly slower than the others)
Times to display the images seem to be exactly the same for all cards.
It's obvious that MY cards in MY camera show no difference in speed between a relatively new Lexar 8X card and a brand new Kingston card. It seems that Lexar has made some changes in some of their cards over time that have had an effect on timing, at least when used in a 990 camera, even though they all carry the same 8X rating.
The bottom line is that you need to test your cards in your camera. Blanket statements of one brand being faster than another simply don't stand up under scrutiny.
Steve
Testing the writing times of FINE JPG images in my CP990 yields the following results:
Lexar 16MB - 4 sec.
Kingston 128MB - 4 sec.
Lexar 64 & 80MB - 8 sec. (What happened????)
Writing time for a TIFF image, same camera:
Lexar 16MB - 29 sec.
Kingston 128MB - 29 sec.
Lexar 64 & 80MB - 34 sec. (only slightly slower than the others)
Times to display the images seem to be exactly the same for all cards.
It's obvious that MY cards in MY camera show no difference in speed between a relatively new Lexar 8X card and a brand new Kingston card. It seems that Lexar has made some changes in some of their cards over time that have had an effect on timing, at least when used in a 990 camera, even though they all carry the same 8X rating.
The bottom line is that you need to test your cards in your camera. Blanket statements of one brand being faster than another simply don't stand up under scrutiny.
Steve
No it doesn't. The Lexar's have been repeatedly time checked and
ARE faster. Of course if I bought a Kingston I supose I would also
say it is a fast as a Lexar. Who wants to admit that their car is
a lemon or their kid is ugly? I have a Lexar and a Sandisk. The
Lexar is faster.
RG
D
Dan Marquis
Guest
I tested my four cards last night and got similar results:Testing the writing times of FINE JPG images in my CP990 yields the
following results:
Lexar 16MB - 4 sec.
Kingston 128MB - 4 sec.
Lexar 64 & 80MB - 8 sec. (What happened????)
Lexar; 4.18 sec.
Simple technologies; 7.15 sec.
Cube; 7.14 sec.
Mr. Flash; 8.81 sec.
I paid $95 for the Mr. Flash, with no shipping cost and no rebates. For me it was worth the extra 4 seconds. If you were shooting film with a flash, You'd probably have to wait that long for the flash to recycle anyway.
Unless you shoot a lot of action shots, I don't think the wait is that important. In that case, you should probably be shooting a D1 anyway.
Dan
Paulo Abreu
Veteran Member
Steve, now i understand why my "new" Lexar 64Mb 8x card i bought some days ago takes an average of 7 seconds do write a Fine pic on my CP990, and my previous 32Mb Lexar 4x card takes just 4 !
Maybe i was on of the "unlucky" to get one of those earlier "defective" cards. Does anybody know how had Lexar dealed with this ? replacement ?
Paulo Abreu
Maybe i was on of the "unlucky" to get one of those earlier "defective" cards. Does anybody know how had Lexar dealed with this ? replacement ?
Paulo Abreu
Testing the writing times of FINE JPG images in my CP990 yields the
following results:
Lexar 16MB - 4 sec.
Kingston 128MB - 4 sec.
Lexar 64 & 80MB - 8 sec. (What happened????)
Writing time for a TIFF image, same camera:
Lexar 16MB - 29 sec.
Kingston 128MB - 29 sec.
Lexar 64 & 80MB - 34 sec. (only slightly slower than the others)
Times to display the images seem to be exactly the same for all cards.
It's obvious that MY cards in MY camera show no difference in speed
between a relatively new Lexar 8X card and a brand new Kingston
card. It seems that Lexar has made some changes in some of their
cards over time that have had an effect on timing, at least when
used in a 990 camera, even though they all carry the same 8X rating.
The bottom line is that you need to test your cards in your camera.
Blanket statements of one brand being faster than another simply
don't stand up under scrutiny.
Steve
No it doesn't. The Lexar's have been repeatedly time checked and
ARE faster. Of course if I bought a Kingston I supose I would also
say it is a fast as a Lexar. Who wants to admit that their car is
a lemon or their kid is ugly? I have a Lexar and a Sandisk. The
Lexar is faster.
RG
S
Steve Dean
Guest
Paulo,
I've never inquired of Lexar if they would replace a slower card. I doubt it. I suspect they have refined the controller with newer models and that has resulted in increased speed, at least in some types of cameras. My oldest Lexar card, the 64MB 8X, was a replacement by Lexar for the failure of a previous 64MB card. That failed card was only rated at 4X. They seemed to do me a favor, even though I've never seen any improved speed.
I think a lot of internal changes are being made in CF cards as the technology is improved. Manufacturers may not always change the packaging in any way to let us know the card differs from previous units. When you buy one, you have no idea when it was manufactured or how long it's been sitting on the shelf. It could be an older vintage card or one made 6 weeks ago.
Steve
I've never inquired of Lexar if they would replace a slower card. I doubt it. I suspect they have refined the controller with newer models and that has resulted in increased speed, at least in some types of cameras. My oldest Lexar card, the 64MB 8X, was a replacement by Lexar for the failure of a previous 64MB card. That failed card was only rated at 4X. They seemed to do me a favor, even though I've never seen any improved speed.
I think a lot of internal changes are being made in CF cards as the technology is improved. Manufacturers may not always change the packaging in any way to let us know the card differs from previous units. When you buy one, you have no idea when it was manufactured or how long it's been sitting on the shelf. It could be an older vintage card or one made 6 weeks ago.
Steve
Steve, now i understand why my "new" Lexar 64Mb 8x card i bought
some days ago takes an average of 7 seconds do write a Fine pic on
my CP990, and my previous 32Mb Lexar 4x card takes just 4 !
Maybe i was on of the "unlucky" to get one of those earlier
"defective" cards. Does anybody know how had Lexar dealed with this
? replacement ?
Paulo Abreu
Trent Mulkern
Senior Member
You might as well call Lexar and ask for a replacement. The worst that could happen is that they might say no. I've only heard one negetive on Lexar support report in the past year.
Regards,
Trent
Regards,
Trent
I think a lot of internal changes are being made in CF cards as the
technology is improved. Manufacturers may not always change the
packaging in any way to let us know the card differs from previous
units. When you buy one, you have no idea when it was manufactured
or how long it's been sitting on the shelf. It could be an older
vintage card or one made 6 weeks ago.
Steve
Steve, now i understand why my "new" Lexar 64Mb 8x card i bought
some days ago takes an average of 7 seconds do write a Fine pic on
my CP990, and my previous 32Mb Lexar 4x card takes just 4 !
Maybe i was on of the "unlucky" to get one of those earlier
"defective" cards. Does anybody know how had Lexar dealed with this
? replacement ?
Paulo Abreu
J
jfk
Guest
I have 3 Lexar cards, 16MB, 64MB and 80MB. All are rated by Lexar
at 8X. The 64 and 80MB cards are older cards. The 64MB was one of
their first 8X cards made. The 80MB card is a bit newer. The 16MB
card came with my CP990, and is the newest of the three. I also
have a Kingston 128MB card that I got just 2 days ago.
Testing the writing times of FINE JPG images in my CP990 yields the
following results:
Lexar 16MB - 4 sec.
Kingston 128MB - 4 sec.
Lexar 64 & 80MB - 8 sec. (What happened????)
Writing time for a TIFF image, same camera:
Lexar 16MB - 29 sec.
Kingston 128MB - 29 sec.
Lexar 64 & 80MB - 34 sec. (only slightly slower than the others)
Times to display the images seem to be exactly the same for all cards.
It's obvious that MY cards in MY camera show no difference in speed
between a relatively new Lexar 8X card and a brand new Kingston
card. It seems that Lexar has made some changes in some of their
cards over time that have had an effect on timing, at least when
used in a 990 camera, even though they all carry the same 8X rating.
The bottom line is that you need to test your cards in your camera.
Blanket statements of one brand being faster than another simply
don't stand up under scrutiny.
I have a 48M Simple Technology, 64M Kingston, 64M 8x Lexar. When shooting in continuous mode the Lexar clears the buffer in half the time. About 10 secs compared to 20s. Try it! The other cards are fine, and do very well, but when shooting action or continuous, I use the Lexar.Yes they do!
Joel
Steve
No it doesn't. The Lexar's have been repeatedly time checked and
ARE faster. Of course if I bought a Kingston I supose I would also
say it is a fast as a Lexar. Who wants to admit that their car is
a lemon or their kid is ugly? I have a Lexar and a Sandisk. The
Lexar is faster.
RG
$
$$Policy$$
Guest
What about Lexar's JumpShot cable. Is it any faster than other CF readers?
$
$$Policy$$
Guest
The new 995 comes with a Lexar 16MB and Nikon has a side deal with Lexar.
However, I did find this interesting comment over on amazon.com
"I found out the hard way that if you buy a Lexar card with the jumpshot, only the Lexar card can be read in the Jumpshot. This makes things very difficult if you are using more than one card made by multiple manufacturers. Seems that the Lexar reader will only read Lexar cards. I use multple devices and own a half dozen Compact Flash Cards within an array of manufacturers. The Lexar reader pops up as the most inconvenient of my two readers as a result of this problem. I use multiple computers and each has a reader on it. My thought was the Jumpshot reader with a card was the perfect choice and at the right price. I can't recomend the Lexar product if you use more than one card by multiple manufacturers." pakphans2, Green Bay, WI
However, I did find this interesting comment over on amazon.com
"I found out the hard way that if you buy a Lexar card with the jumpshot, only the Lexar card can be read in the Jumpshot. This makes things very difficult if you are using more than one card made by multiple manufacturers. Seems that the Lexar reader will only read Lexar cards. I use multple devices and own a half dozen Compact Flash Cards within an array of manufacturers. The Lexar reader pops up as the most inconvenient of my two readers as a result of this problem. I use multiple computers and each has a reader on it. My thought was the Jumpshot reader with a card was the perfect choice and at the right price. I can't recomend the Lexar product if you use more than one card by multiple manufacturers." pakphans2, Green Bay, WI
Trent Mulkern
Senior Member
Lexar also makes a non-USB enabled media card that the JumpShot cable will not read. Now Lexar has a CF I/II IEEE 1394 firewire reader that will read all cards and the MD.
Regards,
Trent
Regards,
Trent
The new 995 comes with a Lexar 16MB and Nikon has a side deal with
Lexar.
However, I did find this interesting comment over on amazon.com
"I found out the hard way that if you buy a Lexar card with the
jumpshot, only the Lexar card can be read in the Jumpshot. This
makes things very difficult if you are using more than one card
made by multiple manufacturers. Seems that the Lexar reader will
only read Lexar cards. I use multple devices and own a half dozen
Compact Flash Cards within an array of manufacturers. The Lexar
reader pops up as the most inconvenient of my two readers as a
result of this problem. I use multiple computers and each has a
reader on it. My thought was the Jumpshot reader with a card was
the perfect choice and at the right price. I can't recomend the
Lexar product if you use more than one card by multiple
manufacturers." pakphans2, Green Bay, WI
$
$$Policy$$
Guest
Yes, and I noted that it works with both Mac and PCs. Is the new FireWire CF reader exclusive to Lexar, or are other company's getting in on the act?Lexar also makes a non-USB enabled media card that the JumpShot
cable will not read. Now Lexar has a CF I/II IEEE 1394 firewire
reader that will read all cards and the MD.
With the FireWire's transfer speed at up to 400MB@sec., why would anyone use USB at 800KB@sec.? Of course, unless the FireWire Reader is terribly pricey.
$
$$Policy$$
Guest
Ok...I found Phil's review of the Unity FireWire CF reader. Now I can get educated!
Yes, and I noted that it works with both Mac and PCs. Is the newLexar also makes a non-USB enabled media card that the JumpShot
cable will not read. Now Lexar has a CF I/II IEEE 1394 firewire
reader that will read all cards and the MD.
FireWire CF reader exclusive to Lexar, or are other company's
getting in on the act?
With the FireWire's transfer speed at up to 400MB@sec., why would
anyone use USB at 800KB@sec.? Of course, unless the FireWire
Reader is terribly pricey.
$
$$Policy$$
Guest
Also read about the upcoming Intel USB 2.0 standard (480MB/s) which will challenge the FireWire transfer technology.
Ok. So I'll wait on this one and use Lexar's Jumpshot cable or another cheap CF reader.
Ok. So I'll wait on this one and use Lexar's Jumpshot cable or another cheap CF reader.
Ok...I found Phil's review of the Unity FireWire CF reader. Now I
can get educated!
Paulo Abreu
Veteran Member
Hi steve,
The facts are these:
I ear people complaning about cost of CF cards, i would see if they live on Portugal. I was very entusiastic about online ordering CF cards from US at those incredible budget prices but most of those companies don´t have an international order policy.
In Portugal you pay 233 $US for a Lexar 64 Mb 8x speed and 176 $US for a 64 Mb 4x. In Portugal, an average Government employee earns 6000 $US a year! Because of this, it´s very annoying to know that you just paid 233 dollars for the 8x card (for something that costs 60 US$ ? on USA), could have the choice to pay 176 US$ for a 4x card and the final result is that it performs worse than the cheapear one ! no thanks.
I went to the store and realized that my 64Mb 8x was manufactured on 1999! and has some kind of bug. I tried the 32Mb 8x and they performed sweeeet! the agreed to get back my card and change for two 32Mb 8x. I am satisfied.
Final note: All the Lexar cards they received than the 64 8x are 2001 manufactured, they are black and yellow and they perform as 8x. The 64Mb 8x (yellow and violet) were "infiltrated" for some who, to see if they would pass for less informed customers.
Paulo Abreu
The facts are these:
I ear people complaning about cost of CF cards, i would see if they live on Portugal. I was very entusiastic about online ordering CF cards from US at those incredible budget prices but most of those companies don´t have an international order policy.
In Portugal you pay 233 $US for a Lexar 64 Mb 8x speed and 176 $US for a 64 Mb 4x. In Portugal, an average Government employee earns 6000 $US a year! Because of this, it´s very annoying to know that you just paid 233 dollars for the 8x card (for something that costs 60 US$ ? on USA), could have the choice to pay 176 US$ for a 4x card and the final result is that it performs worse than the cheapear one ! no thanks.
I went to the store and realized that my 64Mb 8x was manufactured on 1999! and has some kind of bug. I tried the 32Mb 8x and they performed sweeeet! the agreed to get back my card and change for two 32Mb 8x. I am satisfied.
Final note: All the Lexar cards they received than the 64 8x are 2001 manufactured, they are black and yellow and they perform as 8x. The 64Mb 8x (yellow and violet) were "infiltrated" for some who, to see if they would pass for less informed customers.
Paulo Abreu
I think a lot of internal changes are being made in CF cards as the
technology is improved. Manufacturers may not always change the
packaging in any way to let us know the card differs from previous
units. When you buy one, you have no idea when it was manufactured
or how long it's been sitting on the shelf. It could be an older
vintage card or one made 6 weeks ago.
Steve
Steve, now i understand why my "new" Lexar 64Mb 8x card i bought
some days ago takes an average of 7 seconds do write a Fine pic on
my CP990, and my previous 32Mb Lexar 4x card takes just 4 !
Maybe i was on of the "unlucky" to get one of those earlier
"defective" cards. Does anybody know how had Lexar dealed with this
? replacement ?
Paulo Abreu
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