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Pleease recommend CF cards

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rosie b

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You didn't say what camera you want it for. I have a variety of different cards from Sandisk and Lexar that work fine in my S40, and I don't notice much difference in speed. The S40 doesn't seem to be too picky about what cards it will use.

By contrast in my Minolta Dimage 7, the Lexar and Sandisk Ultra work fine, but the regular Sandisk is excruciatingly slow for uploading.
rosie b said:
Also pasted on memory forum, but I wanted lots of people to see
this so forgive me posting it here too.
The best prices that I have found for CF cards in the UK are from
Crucial Technology

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listmodule.asp?module=CompactFlash&Attrib=Package&cat=
512 Mb...£139.49
256 £ 56.69
128 £30.59
64 £19.79
Does anyone have any experience of them or any other recommendations??
Thanks,
--
Rosie
--
Rosie
Click to expand...
 
Rosie,

I am not an expert on CF cards. I just bought my first device (Canon S230) that uses CF cards last week.

However, I did a bit of research and this is what I found and concluded:
  • There are no hard and fast standards for speed with regard to memory cards (CF, MM, SD, etc.). So you get things like 12X!, 20X!!, Ultra!! and it's hard to know what they mean.
  • Cards from the same manufacturer have different speeds depending on size (not that size and speed are correlated, just that it so happens that, for example, the 512Mb card screams where the 64Mb pokes long).
  • Read and write speeds are not necessarily correlated. Just because a card takes "first place" in the write competition does it mean it will take "first place" in the read competition - but it is usually in the single digits, place-wise.
  • Speeds differ depending on the device. Some carmeras can take advantage of high speed cards and some cannot. For example, the movie mode on my S230 needs a faster card. Most of the higher end (e.g. the G3 you're drooling over) cameras seem to be able to take advantage of higher speed cards.
  • From my research, Phil has compiled the most comprehensive review of CF cards and their performance in digital camers right here on this site - look for "Reviews" and "Digital Film". A lot of what I have learned I learned from Phil (thank you).
Greg
rosie b said:
rosie b wrote:
I really would appreciate a response. THere must be people out
there with worthwhile advice on CF cards.
Click to expand...
 
I have bought cf cards from crucial. I have a 64, 128 and 256. They all work fine in my mp3 player and with my kodak dc3800. BUT the 256 doesn't work reliably in my new canon ixus v3. If you are using a canon camera I believe you should stick to SANdisk.
rosie b said:
Also pasted on memory forum, but I wanted lots of people to see
this so forgive me posting it here too.
The best prices that I have found for CF cards in the UK are from
Crucial Technology

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listmodule.asp?module=CompactFlash&Attrib=Package&cat=
512 Mb...£139.49
256 £ 56.69
128 £30.59
64 £19.79
Does anyone have any experience of them or any other recommendations??
Thanks,
--
Rosie
--
Rosie
Click to expand...
 
rosie b said:
--
Rosie
Click to expand...
While Sandisk will work, they are slow. Take a look at the speed comparison results in a test, here at this site. Sandisk was at the bottom. My suggestion is to go with either Transcend, Ridata or the more readily available high speed Lexars(12x or more).

I use a 12x Lexar in my G3 and it works great. I am never waiting on the camera to store a picture, so I can take another, even when storing RAW files.

--
Canon G3 camera
Canon S900 printer
 
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1010&message=3835293

I started this thread after yours. Sorry for the redundancy - I did a search on the forum first, figuring that the question had been asked before, but I must not have used the right keywords because I didn't find your post.

Anyway, some good information in that thread, too.

Have you decided on the brand of CF card you will be getting?
 
Thanks Holly, it seems there are a lot of us wanting help on this one, and the following thread has a discussion on cards versus Micro Drives.
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1010&message=3828481

The most widely respected card seems to be the Ritdata but I live in the UK where it seems to be unavailable.

I shall probably go for a Lexar or a Viking. However I am still waiting for Phil's review of the G3 before committing myself.
--
Rosie
 
Sorry to hear that Ridata is unavailable in England - is it the VAT that makes it too expensive to order from the USA or elsewhere?

I read most of the thread you linked to in your post. Also read most of this thread from last year: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1010&message=934015

Both pros and cons there - though perhaps IBM has improved their microdrive technology since March of 2001. One thing that gave me pause was the high-altitude warning - I live in Colorado and want to take pictures in the Rockies so perhaps I should avoid the microdrive - not a problem for you in England, of course!

Well, I don't have to make my decision in haste - I don't even have a digital camera yet.

Really like the Canon G3, though.... Sigh. Too bad one has to pay for quality. :-)
rosie b said:
Thanks Holly, it seems there are a lot of us wanting help on this
one, and the following thread has a discussion on cards versus
Micro Drives.
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1010&message=3828481
The most widely respected card seems to be the Ritdata but I live
in the UK where it seems to be unavailable.
I shall probably go for a Lexar or a Viking. However I am still
waiting for Phil's review of the G3 before committing myself.
--
Rosie
Click to expand...
 
Rosie,

RE:
rosie b said:
The most widely respected card seems to be the Ritdata but I live
in the UK where it seems to be unavailable.
Click to expand...
Check ebay.co.uk. There are several there today. I bought mine from a fellow on ebay in the US.

Greg
--
Canon S230, 128Mb Ridata
Nikon FE (2), buncha Nikor glass, motor winder, Sunpak flash
 
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