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jvora

jvora

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Hello,

Are SD Cards being catered more to Professional Photographers than CF Cards - Is this a new trend ?

Upto now, I felt that SD Cards were more for consumers - is that true or have "things" changed.

Will we see more amd more pro-consumer and professional cameras with SC slots instead of CF ??

Kindly reply !

Jai
 
I think that still for a little while the SD will be a secondary slot for two slot cameras. I think there is still an advantage for the CF in throughput, who knows how much longer that will last.

People want to keep saying the CF is doomed but Unix people have been saying that about Mainframe computers for 15 years.
JR
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Canon 50D, Canon 18-200mm IS
Canon EF 75-300 f/4-5.6 IS USM
Canon EF 85mm f1.8 USM,
 
Professional dSLRs started with CF cards because of the availability of the Microdrive hard disk drives on tha Type II CF card. These were the smallest, highest capacity storage devices at that time. CF Cards are still faster and cheaper ($ GB) than SD, but the lead is shrinking. CF cards are simpler and cheaper to impliment than SD cards, but they're bigger, so they only get used in physically larger camera bodies. That's where the Pro useage comes from.

But CF cards aren't going anywhere anytime soon. They are widely used in devices other than cameras. Many network devices use CF cards to store their operating systems and log files. Cisco still sells their own line of CF Cards, though they are on the expensive side:

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC=387553
 
TCav said:
CF Cards
are still faster and cheaper ($ GB) than SD, but the lead is
shrinking.
Click to expand...
CF cards are more expensive (nearly?) everywhere on a GB-per-dollar basis, at least at the 4-8-16 GB range I have been looking at, comparing 'standard' cheapies to standard cheapies.
 
Mahmoud Mousef said:
CF cards are more expensive (nearly?) everywhere on a GB-per-dollar
basis, at least at the 4-8-16 GB range I have been looking at,
comparing 'standard' cheapies to standard cheapies.
Click to expand...
newegg.com has the SanDisk Extreme III 16GB CF card for $95, and the SanDisk Extreme III 16GB SD card for $100.

Since the OP is talking about "Professional Photographers", I don't think "comparing 'standard' cheapies to standard cheapies" is appropriate.
 
Very early Cisco equipment used a proprietary OS with a proprietary file system. For those devices, you needed the proprietary Cisco CF cards. Newer Cisco equipment use FAT, so generic CF cards work fine in them.
 
TCav said:
Since the OP is talking about "Professional Photographers", I don't
think "comparing 'standard' cheapies to standard cheapies" is
appropriate.
Click to expand...
Actually, jvora said:

"Are SD Cards being catered more to Professional Photographers than CF Cards - Is this a new trend ?"
-----------
To which I would say YES.

That says nothing about buying higher-grade flash memory, specifically, but format type. More and more cameras are offering SD (and CF is made in standard grades, too, just like SD). It may be a bit faster with write speeds than SD Standard Grades, though...or it may not, since some manufacturers don't list the speeds of their cheaper product (Kingston, for example). Probably 'cause it looks less-than-nice in advertising.

jvora also said:

"Upto now, I felt that SD Cards were more for consumers - is that true or have "things" changed."
----------
I would say things are changing, but not totally there yet.

"Will we see more amd more pro-consumer and professional cameras with SC slots instead of CF ??"
----------
I would guess it's inevitable.

Pricing:
-----------

A quick price check on B&H with search terms for Sandisk's cheapie range: "Ultra II 4GB" and "Ultra II 8GB" and then sorted by price resulted in SD being cheaper, both times. A search for "Ultra II 16GB" resulted in no matches for CF, so no comparison there with Sandisk. If we try a search for "CF 16GB" and compare "SD 16GB" then sort by price, SD wins again, with both cheapest items coming from Kingston. So my statement holds true.

Same probably applies at Newegg, Adorama, etc. Don't know, haven't checked, but SD is usually far cheaper in the shops here; computer stores sell it (they sell almost no CF, assuming they stock it to start with). The point is the volumes selling and the competition are more active with SD.

For comparison, a similar search for higher-speed models from Sandisk: "Extreme III 4GB" and "Extreme III 8GB" and "Extreme III 16GB" sorted by price, low to high, resulted in CF being cheaper by varying degrees, biggest difference coming at the higher capacity. That's just comparing Sandisk's Extreme III range, though. CF probably still has its niche here, so less competition from SD, but I reckon that will change as manufacturers increasingly look to accommodate for a smaller slot and memory that people can find anywhere. Plus I never claimed CF was cheaper in higher-speed grades, but it was a nice exercise, because I expected CF to be overpriced here too (it is quite overpriced locally).

I reckon 90%+ of people buying flash memory buy the cheapies (a statistic pulled from thin air but probably not far from the truth), whether that be CF or SD, but would love to be proved wrong. On this site there would likely be a larger proportion-than-average of enthusiasts buying the higher-speeds, though.
 
Mahmoud Mousef said:
Pricing:
-----------
A quick price check on B&H with search terms for Sandisk's cheapie
range: "Ultra II 4GB" and "Ultra II 8GB" and then sorted by price
resulted in SD being cheaper, both times. A search for "Ultra II
16GB" resulted in no matches for CF, so no comparison there with
Sandisk. If we try a search for "CF 16GB" and compare "SD 16GB" then
sort by price, SD wins again, with both cheapest items coming from
Kingston. So my statement holds true.

Same probably applies at Newegg, Adorama, etc. Don't know, haven't
checked, but SD is usually far cheaper in the shops here; computer
stores sell it (they sell almost no CF, assuming they stock it to
start with). The point is the volumes selling and the competition are
more active with SD.

For comparison, a similar search for higher-speed models from
Sandisk: "Extreme III 4GB" and "Extreme III 8GB" and "Extreme III
16GB" sorted by price, low to high, resulted in CF being cheaper by
varying degrees, biggest difference coming at the higher capacity.
That's just comparing Sandisk's Extreme III range, though. CF
probably still has its niche here, so less competition from SD, but I
reckon that will change as manufacturers increasingly look to
accommodate for a smaller slot and memory that people can find
anywhere. Plus I never claimed CF was cheaper in higher-speed grades,
but it was a nice exercise, because I expected CF to be overpriced
here too (it is quite overpriced locally).

I reckon 90%+ of people buying flash memory buy the cheapies (a
statistic pulled from thin air but probably not far from the truth),
whether that be CF or SD, but would love to be proved wrong. On this
site there would likely be a larger proportion-than-average of
enthusiasts buying the higher-speeds, though.
Click to expand...
But the subject here is "Pros", and I said that CF cards are less expensive than SD cards. The price for "cheapies" is off-topic.
 
TCav said:
But the subject here is "Pros", and I said that CF cards are less
expensive than SD cards. The price for "cheapies" is off-topic.
Click to expand...
See my previous post. I think the topic is about one format being intro'd in more prosumer and pro bodies and has nothing to do with high-speed media. Maybe the OP can chime in :)

I'd love to do a survey on the amount of pros using standard speed cards (because I think it would be very high).
 
Out in the field...wedding or event shoots, it is easier for me to handle the CF cards. I also think they are more durable. I'm afraid that I'll drop and loose the SD cards or break them in half as I shuffle through them on a job.

--
Joel
 
Hello Mahmoud Mousef :

Thank you for the replies - Your replies have helped answer some of the questions I had.

Thanks,

Jai
Mahmoud Mousef said:
TCav said:
Since the OP is talking about "Professional Photographers", I don't
think "comparing 'standard' cheapies to standard cheapies" is
appropriate.
Click to expand...
Actually, jvora said:
"Are SD Cards being catered more to Professional Photographers than
CF Cards - Is this a new trend ?"
-----------
To which I would say YES.
That says nothing about buying higher-grade flash memory,
specifically, but format type. More and more cameras are offering SD
(and CF is made in standard grades, too, just like SD). It may be a
bit faster with write speeds than SD Standard Grades, though...or it
may not, since some manufacturers don't list the speeds of their
cheaper product (Kingston, for example). Probably 'cause it looks
less-than-nice in advertising.

jvora also said:
"Upto now, I felt that SD Cards were more for consumers - is that
true or have "things" changed."
----------
I would say things are changing, but not totally there yet.

"Will we see more amd more pro-consumer and professional cameras with
SC slots instead of CF ??"
----------
I would guess it's inevitable.

Pricing:
-----------
A quick price check on B&H with search terms for Sandisk's cheapie
range: "Ultra II 4GB" and "Ultra II 8GB" and then sorted by price
resulted in SD being cheaper, both times. A search for "Ultra II
16GB" resulted in no matches for CF, so no comparison there with
Sandisk. If we try a search for "CF 16GB" and compare "SD 16GB" then
sort by price, SD wins again, with both cheapest items coming from
Kingston. So my statement holds true.

Same probably applies at Newegg, Adorama, etc. Don't know, haven't
checked, but SD is usually far cheaper in the shops here; computer
stores sell it (they sell almost no CF, assuming they stock it to
start with). The point is the volumes selling and the competition are
more active with SD.

For comparison, a similar search for higher-speed models from
Sandisk: "Extreme III 4GB" and "Extreme III 8GB" and "Extreme III
16GB" sorted by price, low to high, resulted in CF being cheaper by
varying degrees, biggest difference coming at the higher capacity.
That's just comparing Sandisk's Extreme III range, though. CF
probably still has its niche here, so less competition from SD, but I
reckon that will change as manufacturers increasingly look to
accommodate for a smaller slot and memory that people can find
anywhere. Plus I never claimed CF was cheaper in higher-speed grades,
but it was a nice exercise, because I expected CF to be overpriced
here too (it is quite overpriced locally).

I reckon 90%+ of people buying flash memory buy the cheapies (a
statistic pulled from thin air but probably not far from the truth),
whether that be CF or SD, but would love to be proved wrong. On this
site there would likely be a larger proportion-than-average of
enthusiasts buying the higher-speeds, though.
Click to expand...
 
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