What's the best memory card?

I need a new CF card size: 512MB - 1GB and I was wondering what kind is the best to get? Any opinions? Cost is less of a concern than fear of losing photos.

Joe

Joe E Baker said:

I need a new CF card size: 512MB - 1GB and I was wondering what
kind is the best to get? Any opinions? Cost is less of a concern
than fear of losing photos.

Joe

Click to expand...

Lexar 1GB WA

see this site:

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-6816

Joe E Baker said:

I need a new CF card size: 512MB - 1GB and I was wondering what
kind is the best to get? Any opinions? Cost is less of a concern
than fear of losing photos.

Joe

Click to expand...

--
YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID!

Joe E Baker said:

I need a new CF card size: 512MB - 1GB and I was wondering what
kind is the best to get? Any opinions? Cost is less of a concern
than fear of losing photos.

Click to expand...

How much can you afford to lose?? I tend to lean toward carrying more smaller cards, than carrying larger cards. Less at risk. You'll have to decide what translates to small vs. large for you, based on camera settings (JPEG? raw? Fine?).

Aside from that, sticking with the cards approved by Nikon seems a tad safer. Personally, I think any major brand is pretty reliable.

Otherwise:
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-6816

frankB

Thanks for the advice -- looks like the Sandisk Extreme 512MB writes the fastest. I'm more interested in the card being "malfunction free" than writing at light speed, but hopefully, when buying a "premium" card such as this, bulletproofness will be a side dish served with faster write speeds...Hopefully

Joe E Baker said:

Thanks for the advice -- looks like the Sandisk Extreme 512MB
writes the fastest. I'm more interested in the card being
"malfunction free" than writing at light speed, but hopefully, when
buying a "premium" card such as this, bulletproofness will be a
side dish served with faster write speeds...Hopefully

Click to expand...

I'm using the Sandisk Extreme 1G CF card with excellent results. Fast, and in RAW mode, quick recovery from continuous shooting of fast action sports.

Peter

Thanks for the input. I think I'll go with the Sandisk Extreme. 512 will probably be enough for me since I shoot in JPEG fine instead of raw. 99% of my shots are for newspaper use, and I find the JPEG fine images contain more than enough image data. However, having read many posts on this forum, I am curious to experiment in RAW mode to do my own compare/contrast analysis of the two image formats. Perhaps I should get the 1 gig card just in case I decide to become a RAW shooter down the road. How big are the RAW files? 4MB? Something like that?

hedgevine said:

Joe E Baker said:

Thanks for the advice -- looks like the Sandisk Extreme 512MB
writes the fastest. I'm more interested in the card being
"malfunction free" than writing at light speed, but hopefully, when
buying a "premium" card such as this, bulletproofness will be a
side dish served with faster write speeds...Hopefully

Click to expand...

I'm using the Sandisk Extreme 1G CF card with excellent results.
Fast, and in RAW mode, quick recovery from continuous shooting of
fast action sports.

Peter

Click to expand...

I asked this in a different thread, and got little definitive response. I've heard that the WA cards can't be read by an "older" (eg., more than a year old) card reader. I've got a 2-year-old SanDisk ImageMate reader that I've used for smaller cards with no trouble. If I buy a WA card, will I have to buy a new reader?
dpd

Joe E Baker said:

I need a new CF card size: 512MB - 1GB and I was wondering what
kind is the best to get? Any opinions? Cost is less of a concern
than fear of losing photos.

Joe

Click to expand...

Joe E Baker said:

Thanks for the input. I think I'll go with the Sandisk Extreme. 512
will probably be enough for me since I shoot in JPEG fine instead
of raw. 99% of my shots are for newspaper use, and I find the JPEG
fine images contain more than enough image data. However, having
read many posts on this forum, I am curious to experiment in RAW
mode to do my own compare/contrast analysis of the two image
formats. Perhaps I should get the 1 gig card just in case I decide
to become a RAW shooter down the road. How big are the RAW files?
4MB? Something like that?

Click to expand...

Joe:

I shot 81 RAW images yesterday, and the average file size is 5.4Mb. Hope this helps.

Peter

dpd said:

I asked this in a different thread, and got little definitive
response. I've heard that the WA cards can't be read by an "older"
(eg., more than a year old) card reader. I've got a 2-year-old
SanDisk ImageMate reader that I've used for smaller cards with no
trouble. If I buy a WA card, will I have to buy a new reader?
dpd

Click to expand...

WA cards have been around more than a year. I have one that I think is coming up on 2 years. Never had a problem. Also, Lexar's site says:

"Compatibility is a given. 100% Camera Compatibility Guaranteed, Plus a Lifetime Limited Warranty

We guarantee it. The Digital Film Compliance seal means business. It assures you that your Lexar digital film is 100% compatible with your CompactFlash digital camera. And it's flexible and can be used in other digital devices that support CompactFlash, including PDAs, video recorders and MP3 players. All of Lexar's CompactFlash memory cards meet the CompactFlash Association's specifications and is marked with the CF+ symbol."

I had an old 96mb card that wouldn't work in a Coolpix at one point, and they replaced it. No hassles.

frankB

All of my CF cards are Sandisk. I have a 512 MB Extreme and a 1 GB Ultra II. The reason I bought the Extreme was for my trip to the sub Arctic to watch polar bears. But as it turned out, even my regular Sandisk cards worked fine in 5 degree Fahrenheit weather. So if I were you, I would get the largest Ultra II cards you could afford. A 1 GB Ultra II costs about $80 these days. So it isn't bad (BTW, I had no problem with my battery either).

I took over 800 JPEG large/fine pictures in my polar bear trip which took up more than 2 GB in disk space.

RAW files are about 5.5 MB in size.
Guy

Joe E Baker said:

hedgevine said:

Joe E Baker said:

Thanks for the advice -- looks like the Sandisk Extreme 512MB
writes the fastest. I'm more interested in the card being
"malfunction free" than writing at light speed, but hopefully, when
buying a "premium" card such as this, bulletproofness will be a
side dish served with faster write speeds...Hopefully

Click to expand...

I'm using the Sandisk Extreme 1G CF card with excellent results.
Fast, and in RAW mode, quick recovery from continuous shooting of
fast action sports.

Peter

Click to expand...

Click to expand...