CF card sizes.. How much storage is optimal?

zibelli911 · Sep 18, 2003

This is my first post, I've really enjoyed lurking here and learning from you all. That said...

I am a recreational photographer and semi-technophile. I was unhappy with the performance of my p & s digital camera, missed the feeling of my SLR, and therefore ordered a 300D.

How much of a CF card is necessary for someone like me? I can get a 256MB Scandisk at Costco for $49. It's not a high end card, however, and therefore not very fast. Would it be in my interest to purchase a 512 or higher capacity card?

Tommy179739 · Sep 18, 2003

On the highest quality settings...I get about 77-78 shots on a 256meg card. I also havera 128 that gives me an extra 38 or so.

A 512 would give you about 150 on the highest setting.

Now there is a 6.2 mP setting with normal compression. This would give you about 300 shots on a 512 card. My experience is that the normal settings on Canon cameras give you almost the same output as fine quality.

I'm gonna pick up another 256 this weekend.

Tom

zibelli911 said:
This is my first post, I've really enjoyed lurking here and
learning from you all. That said...

I am a recreational photographer and semi-technophile. I was
unhappy with the performance of my p & s digital camera, missed the
feeling of my SLR, and therefore ordered a 300D.

How much of a CF card is necessary for someone like me? I can get a
256MB Scandisk at Costco for $49. It's not a high end card,
however, and therefore not very fast. Would it be in my interest to
purchase a 512 or higher capacity card?

Jonavin · Sep 19, 2003

I have a 32MB (comes with S400), 128MB, 256MB and 512MB card. From my experience it' s better to buy as large as you can afford. With the 300D, I wouldn't get anything less than 512MB.

Also, you might consider getting a faster card if you plan on taking a lot of quick shots in burst mode. The sandisk cards are rather slow. Check out the Storage form for more info.

zibelli911 said:
This is my first post, I've really enjoyed lurking here and
learning from you all. That said...

I am a recreational photographer and semi-technophile. I was
unhappy with the performance of my p & s digital camera, missed the
feeling of my SLR, and therefore ordered a 300D.

How much of a CF card is necessary for someone like me? I can get a
256MB Scandisk at Costco for $49. It's not a high end card,
however, and therefore not very fast. Would it be in my interest to
purchase a 512 or higher capacity card?

--
Jonavin (Canon EOS 300D, S400, S30)
http://www.pbase.com/jonavin/

birwin · Sep 19, 2003

Tom Estrella said:
A 512 would give you about 150 on the highest setting.

Now there is a 6.2 mP setting with normal compression. This would
give you about 300 shots on a 512 card. My experience is that the
normal settings on Canon cameras give you almost the same output as
fine quality.

I'm gonna pick up another 256 this weekend.

Tom

zibelli911 said:

This is my first post, I've really enjoyed lurking here and
learning from you all. That said...

I am a recreational photographer and semi-technophile. I was
unhappy with the performance of my p & s digital camera, missed the
feeling of my SLR, and therefore ordered a 300D.

How much of a CF card is necessary for someone like me? I can get a
256MB Scandisk at Costco for $49. It's not a high end card,
however, and therefore not very fast. Would it be in my interest to
purchase a 512 or higher capacity card?

Click to expand...

birwin · Sep 19, 2003

Thinking of gettin a 512. Does the card speed make much difference. On the 10D some speed comparisons made little difference to the save time.

Pidi · Sep 19, 2003

I recently read a test (in a dutch PC magazine) which showed that most CF card brands have the same speed. (That is: if you have a normal brand like SanDisk, Lexar etc.)

There also isn't a noticable difference between cards with different storage capacities.

And it also didn't matter whether the card was empty or almost full.

The only card that was faster was the 3GB Lexar with Write Acceleration (even though WA wasn't supported).

I if were you, I wouldn't buy anything less than 512 Mb.

--

Pidi

Ulysses · Sep 19, 2003

The optimal amount of storage is the MAX amount of storage that you can AFFORD.

zibelli911 said:
This is my first post, I've really enjoyed lurking here and
learning from you all. That said...

I am a recreational photographer and semi-technophile. I was
unhappy with the performance of my p & s digital camera, missed the
feeling of my SLR, and therefore ordered a 300D.

How much of a CF card is necessary for someone like me? I can get a
256MB Scandisk at Costco for $49. It's not a high end card,
however, and therefore not very fast. Would it be in my interest to
purchase a 512 or higher capacity card?

--

Ulysses

catman · Sep 19, 2003

Thanks for the info. I'm surprised Phil hasn't done a digital film update. His Buying Guide -> Digital Film is so outdated.

Pidi said:
I recently read a test (in a dutch PC magazine) which showed that
most CF card brands have the same speed. (That is: if you have a
normal brand like SanDisk, Lexar etc.)

There also isn't a noticable difference between cards with
different storage capacities.

And it also didn't matter whether the card was empty or almost full.

The only card that was faster was the 3GB Lexar with Write
Acceleration (even though WA wasn't supported).

I if were you, I wouldn't buy anything less than 512 Mb.

--

Pidi

Dr. Don Sandell · Sep 19, 2003

I keep my laptop in the trunk of the car when i go out to shoot. 60gig hard drive and a 15" screen for previewing the pics. Kind of a really big CF card the way I use it.

David Barker91965 · Sep 19, 2003

Jonavin said:
[snip] ......The sandisk cards are
rather slow. Check out the Storage form for more info.

Depends which one you're talking about. My understanding is that they make the fastest CF cards currently available, but I'm talking about the 1Gig cards with names like Ultra, Ultra II and Extreme. There's quite a useful comparison on:-

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

It doesn't currently have any data specific to the 300D.

--
David Barker

catman · Sep 19, 2003

Oops. I forgot to add..

If what you're saying is correct that they're not a "noticable difference" between them. I would buy the cheapest $ MB card out there. Isn't the sweet spot at 256MB size now? Plus I like the "not all my eggs in one basket" philosophy. That means I don't go for the biggest card out there.

I recently picked up a Viking 256 CF for $30 after rebate.

huycat said:
Pidi said:

I recently read a test (in a dutch PC magazine) which showed that
most CF card brands have the same speed. (That is: if you have a
normal brand like SanDisk, Lexar etc.)

There also isn't a noticable difference between cards with
different storage capacities.

And it also didn't matter whether the card was empty or almost full.

The only card that was faster was the 3GB Lexar with Write
Acceleration (even though WA wasn't supported).

I if were you, I wouldn't buy anything less than 512 Mb.

--

Pidi

Click to expand...

Easton · Sep 19, 2003

The more memory i have, the more photos i tend to shoot.

On normal days, even a 128mb card should be enough. It's just those special days, really rare and special occasions where i shoot the living daylights out of me. And theres just not enough for me in the end.

Even with a 1GB card, i'm sure i could fill that up in half a day on one of those special days. I just got in the habbit of exposure bracketing 3 shots everytime. When i get my 1GB I'll probably start using RAW mode more often

I'm such a shutter bug/memory waster!

Ulysses said:
zibelli911 said:

This is my first post, I've really enjoyed lurking here and
learning from you all. That said...

I am a recreational photographer and semi-technophile. I was
unhappy with the performance of my p & s digital camera, missed the
feeling of my SLR, and therefore ordered a 300D.

How much of a CF card is necessary for someone like me? I can get a
256MB Scandisk at Costco for $49. It's not a high end card,
however, and therefore not very fast. Would it be in my interest to
purchase a 512 or higher capacity card?

Click to expand...

--

Ulysses

David Barker91965 · Sep 19, 2003

Dr. Don Sandell said:
I keep my laptop in the trunk of the car when i go out to shoot.
60gig hard drive and a 15" screen for previewing the pics. Kind of
a really big CF card the way I use it.

That's a fair strategy if you are working from near your car. I recently spent 2 weeks on an island with no car and very limited access to mains electricity. Portable storage suddenly takes on a whole new meaning! I used an XS-II drive, which fine for my needs.

--
David Barker

David Barker91965 · Sep 19, 2003

Easton said:
I'm such a shutter bug/memory waster!

But that's the beauty of digital - you're wasting practically nothing. Keep up the good work I say!

--
David Barker

Ulysses · Sep 19, 2003

Heheh... this is an interesting experience and perspective.

I find the less memory I have, the less I'm ABLE to shoot.

Easton said:
The more memory i have, the more photos i tend to shoot.

--

Ulysses

Delbert · Sep 19, 2003

I have bought a Simple Tech from Sams and two Sandisks from Costco. All 256. in my E-10 I think the Sandisk is slightly faster. I don't think it should be but it is. The E-10 suffers from slow write times anyway. I will probably get one more Sandisk from Costco for a total of 1 gig. I like the idea of haviing a few smaller cards rather than a large one just in case of card failure (hasn't happened in 3+ years but you never know) because you wouldn't loose all your images. just my $.02.

I have always reformatted my card rather than erase them, in camera, after dumping them to the computer. That way you start out fresh everytime. I've never had a problem with CF or SM cards doing it this way. The only downside is once you re-format, there is no chance of file recovery.

zibelli911 said:
This is my first post, I've really enjoyed lurking here and
learning from you all. That said...

I am a recreational photographer and semi-technophile. I was
unhappy with the performance of my p & s digital camera, missed the
feeling of my SLR, and therefore ordered a 300D.

How much of a CF card is necessary for someone like me? I can get a
256MB Scandisk at Costco for $49. It's not a high end card,
however, and therefore not very fast. Would it be in my interest to
purchase a 512 or higher capacity card?

--
http://www.pbase.com/delbert
Delbert...just hangin around

Pidi · Sep 19, 2003

The cards that were tested were all A choices. (Don't know the English word?). So they didn't test those cheap ones.

I heard the cheaper cards are much more sensitive to errors on the disc which could result in loosing your pictures.

huycat said:
If what you're saying is correct that they're not a "noticable
difference" between them. I would buy the cheapest $ MB card out
there. Isn't the sweet spot at 256MB size now? Plus I like the "not
all my eggs in one basket" philosophy. That means I don't go for
the biggest card out there.

I recently picked up a Viking 256 CF for $30 after rebate.

huycat said:

Pidi said:

I recently read a test (in a dutch PC magazine) which showed that
most CF card brands have the same speed. (That is: if you have a
normal brand like SanDisk, Lexar etc.)

There also isn't a noticable difference between cards with
different storage capacities.

And it also didn't matter whether the card was empty or almost full.

The only card that was faster was the 3GB Lexar with Write
Acceleration (even though WA wasn't supported).

I if were you, I wouldn't buy anything less than 512 Mb.

--

Pidi

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
--

Pidi

nubui · Sep 19, 2003

well, this might be a bit of a provocative position, but I've noticed (at least in myself) that the more memory I have at my disposal, the more I go into shooting snaps instead of taking pictures.

the more I'm limited in CF memory, the more care I put into each of the pictures, and the better they get.

imagine you've got a card that only lets you do 10 pictures. wouldn't you really start looking out for this one great shot?

quantity vs. quality?

just a theory though.. any thought anyone?

nubui · Sep 19, 2003

zibelli911 said:
This is my first post, I've really enjoyed lurking here and
learning from you all. That said...

welcome!

zibelli911 said:
I am a recreational photographer and semi-technophile. I was
unhappy with the performance of my p & s digital camera, missed the
feeling of my SLR, and therefore ordered a 300D.

same here - I'm happy the 300D came out and hopefully get it delivered next week

zibelli911 said:
How much of a CF card is necessary for someone like me? I can get a
256MB Scandisk at Costco for $49.

From all I've read, I suggest 512MB - you should be able to get them below $100

zibelli911 said:
It's not a high end card, however, and therefore not very fast.

From what I've read in other posts and reviews, the speed difference between a "slow" card (e.g. the "normal" CF cards) and a Ultra high speed card will not make a lot of difference in the 300D.

Reason mainly being that the camera doesn't deliver the data much faster to the CF card than a regular speed card can digest.

Also the fast intenal 4 picture buffer of the 300D will take care of most of the lags and delays (very different from most P&S cams where you have to wait for every picture to be written to CF before being able to take the next shot) - so according to posts and reviews it'll feel very "analog" in terms of shutter delay etc. even with a regular card.

simpleton176979 · Sep 19, 2003

Easton said:
On normal days, even a 128mb card should be enough. It's just those
special days, really rare and special occasions where i shoot the
living daylights out of me. And theres just not enough for me in
the end.

Even with a 1GB card, i'm sure i could fill that up in half a day
on one of those special days. I just got in the habbit of exposure
bracketing 3 shots everytime. When i get my 1GB I'll probably start
using RAW mode more often

I'm such a shutter bug/memory waster!

Ulysses said:

zibelli911 said:

This is my first post, I've really enjoyed lurking here and
learning from you all. That said...

I am a recreational photographer and semi-technophile. I was
unhappy with the performance of my p & s digital camera, missed the
feeling of my SLR, and therefore ordered a 300D.

How much of a CF card is necessary for someone like me? I can get a
256MB Scandisk at Costco for $49. It's not a high end card,
however, and therefore not very fast. Would it be in my interest to
purchase a 512 or higher capacity card?

Click to expand...

--

Ulysses

Click to expand...

--

The FAQ is viewable at http://www.marius.org/eos300dfaq.php , and if anyone wants to help contribute to it and maintain it, drop me an email and let me know.

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