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What CF speed do you need?

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AlbieSky

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Is a 12x or 23x not recommended? My current Lexar 512mg is 80x. Since the D200 will need a large card, I am looking to get one or two 2G or 4G cards. However, the 23x and 12x CF cards are sooooo much cheaper.

Lexar 4G 80x at $400 vs Dane-Elec 4G 23x at $200
Lexar 2G 80x at $200 vs Dane-Elec 2G 23x at $100

Does the 12x, 23x, 80x impact more on the tranfer of files from the CF to the computer rather than from the D200 to the CF card. How fast does the D200 write to the CF? I am not in a hurry to download from the CF to the computer. If it takes time, I will start it and go do something else. I don't take a lot of rapid frame shots. I may take a burst of 2 or 3 when I take pics of my 3yr old or 9 month old.

--
D70, 50mm 1.4, 18-70mm kit, PSE 4, NC 4, SB-600, soon to arrive D200.
 
The D200 can make use of the speed of the Sandisk Extreme III cards which run about the same price as the Lexar 80x.

So in the case of the D200 it's both camera to card and card to computer speeds that are affected.

Remember: Pick 2: Low Price, Good Quality, Speed/Time and Time is money, so spending a little more for a CF card that you keep using can save money over time.
--
-----Bear
 
Sandisk Extreme III or the Lexar 80x, if they are the same price.

--
D70, 50mm 1.4, 18-70mm kit, PSE 4, NC 4, SB-600, soon to arrive D200.
 
If you are willing to compromise...

I got a 2GB Sandisk Ultra II for $104 (US) on eBay 4 days ago.

If you not willing to compromise

You can get a 2GB Lexar 80x on eBay for about $150

If you want a big slow card for times when you do not need the speed.....

I got a 4GB Standard Sandisk on eBay for $112.00
(YES 4(Four) GB)
--
John G
WWW.TORRANCEFOOTBALL.COM
 
I'll probably be rebuked for using an off-brand; but I just bought a Transcend 4GB 80x from Newegg for approx. $235.00. It is working well with my D200 so far.
 
Two quick things:

1: I have a 2 gig card, I get 127 shots total, not enough. Yea it's 80x but still takes a minute to write data to it. Get 4 or 8 gigs,

2: If you don't mind the wait get the slower cards, it's not going to slow down the FPS but you have to wait for the buffer to empty for a longer time.

Regards,
JohnnyK

PS: one other thing to think about is getting the Nikon view thing with 20 megs. Get a real fast 2 gig card and empty it into that, might save some money in the long run but.. big pain to do that every 2 seconds .. so it seems :-)

--
http://www.jkerk.smugmug.com
 
nikonians said:
6 gigs not slow type II, can be had with rebate from Compusa for
about 200 bucks. Might be a good bet? I hope so cause I just got it
tonight, fining that a 2 gig just is not enough!
Click to expand...
If you shoot NEF, 2 GB is probably not enough. However, I went for the multiple card option that way in case one dies I don't lose all my pictures that I shot that day. Based on the uncompressed NEF file size, I will average 8 GB of images (500) in a day when I'm out shooting.

--
-----Bear
 
You said 2Gb fit 127 NEFs. That is uncompressed, right? Compressed somebody said are 9-10mb so should fit 200 on 2Gb.

Is there any reason (other than high-end photogs for wall-sized pics) to use non-compressed NEFs? I assume that while it takes time to compress, it probably saves more time writing only 9mb to CF card instead of 15MB. Is that correct?

I'm coming from D70 where uncompressed NEFs are not even available...

nik1024
 
nik1024 said:
You said 2Gb fit 127 NEFs. That is uncompressed, right? Compressed
somebody said are 9-10mb so should fit 200 on 2Gb.
Click to expand...
That sounds about right.
nik1024 said:
Is there any reason (other than high-end photogs for wall-sized
pics) to use non-compressed NEFs? I assume that while it takes time
to compress, it probably saves more time writing only 9mb to CF
card instead of 15MB. Is that correct?
Click to expand...
Actually I think on the D200, compression is fast. so it should be faster to deal with compressed NEFs. On the D100, the compressed ENFs were so slow that it was not very useable for most people

Well, it also depends on what you are shooting. May I suggest you try both compressed and uncompressed and see if you can notice the difference with how you use them?

--
-----Bear
 
Ursus said:
Actually I think on the D200, compression is fast. so it should be
faster to deal with compressed NEFs. On the D100, the compressed
ENFs were so slow that it was not very useable for most people
Click to expand...
So, then it saves both a LOT of space and a LOT of time (writing)...
Ursus said:
Well, it also depends on what you are shooting. May I suggest you
try both compressed and uncompressed and see if you can notice the
difference with how you use them?
Click to expand...
I'll have it in 2-3 days, but my gut feeling tells me I won't see any difference and then I'll post this question again... as in: "why anybody ever needs uncompressed NEFs"?

:-)
 
I may be opening a can of worms here, but why not consider this:

6 gb card for $165. US after rebate. I know its reported to be a tad slower and its a mechanical device like the camera itself. If you don't use the card for a frisbee it should last for years. For the bucks I'd get two.
--
Regards, Paul
inHaliburton
 
The link didn't take in the previous post. Here it is again:

--
Regards, Paul
inHaliburton
 
According to the link in one of posts above, it's not exactly a "tad" slower. It is approximately 3 times slower, and that it a whole lot. Besides, once I saw it actually has a mini hard-drive inside, I personally will never feel good about it. It may be statistically realiable, but I'll never trust it as much as to solid ctate CF cards. It's just me. The combination of the two downsides is too much for me to handle. Yes $165 for 6gb is bargain, but I'll never use it.

I'm sure it's possible and it'll work (slowly), but not in my camera :)
 
... then I suspect it won't matter whether you go w/ compressed or uncompressed NEFs.

Even if you need to say apply -1 EV or so in NC to recover highlights, it's not clear to me whether you will see too much diff between the two. In the past, compressed NEFs basically averaged away some of the tonal steps in the highlight region of the RAW data. The data loss should not be noticeable by human eyes when doing straight RAW conversion w/out need to apply negative EV comp. But if you need that, then it probably depends.

Actually, now that I think of it, I suspect the data loss in compressed NEF might have aggravated the D70's hot red channel problem, particular in tungsten lighting situations. The D200 seems to be much better about that issue (probably w/ some help from the built-in WB preconditioning processing), so this might be less of an issue.

Anyway, basically, in difficult light situations, I'd suggest switching to uncompressed NEF unless you don't care about IQ. For easy situations, probably compressed NEF should be fine for all but the most demanding pro requirements. That's probably how I'll use my D200 at least at first.

Man
nik1024 said:
Ursus said:
Actually I think on the D200, compression is fast. so it should be
faster to deal with compressed NEFs. On the D100, the compressed
ENFs were so slow that it was not very useable for most people
Click to expand...
So, then it saves both a LOT of space and a LOT of time (writing)...
nik1024 said:
Well, it also depends on what you are shooting. May I suggest you
try both compressed and uncompressed and see if you can notice the
difference with how you use them?
Click to expand...
I'll have it in 2-3 days, but my gut feeling tells me I won't see
any difference and then I'll post this question again... as in:
"why anybody ever needs uncompressed NEFs"?

:-)
Click to expand...
--



Just another amateur learning to paint w/ 'the light of the world.' (John 8:12)
Motto for the season: 'Cameras are for making photos, not war...'
See my profile for more + some basic photog resources.
As usual, YMMV + caveat emptor.
Contact me at [email protected]
Indulge my fancies at http://www.pbase.com/mandnwong
 
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