High Speed CF cards; Don't waste your money! (1 Viewer)

I've been doing research on what write speeds my D70 is capable of so I don't go overboard and buy a CF that has, say, 80X max write speed when the camera only does 40X. Please take note that 1X=150kb/sec.

I found some very helpful tests on Rob Galbraith's site: http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007
I'm sure many have seen this page but I know there are some who haven't.

The results of Rob Galbraith's tests are suprising! Even the top-of-the-line Nikon D2X and Canon EOS1Ds MKII can't make 80X! They can only do 9.031mb/sec max and 7.983mb/sec respectively, which translates to 60.2X and 53.22X.

Of the most popular DSLRs, the D70, D100, 300D, 350D and 20D, only two manage more than 40X (6mb/sec). D70 can do 4.561mb/sec, the D100 2.184mb/sec, the 300D 1.335mb/sec the 350D about 6.263mb/sec and the 20D 5.983mb/sec. This makes for 30.4X, 14.56X, 8.9X, 41.75X and 39.88X respectively.

Of course, these are NEF and RAW write speeds, I didn't look for JPG speeds, which are slower anyway.

Rob Galbraith's tests have shown me that buying an 80X (12mb/sec) or even 60X (9mb/sec) at this point is probably a waste of money.

In my opinion by the time cameras can write at 80X I suspect that the buffers will be large and fast enough that CF card max write speed will be pretty much a moot point (if they even still use CF cards).

I know that when I get some more storage soon I'm going go for a couple of 40X 1Gb cards, not one 80X 1Gb card.

I quite agree - too much hype about fast CF cards. x40 or x60 is probably more than fast enough - I also read some where that Canon do not take advantage of the Lexar Write Acceleration feature.

another useful link from bob atkins site on the subject

http://bobatkins.photo.net/photography/digital/compact_flash_memory_cards.html

Robert

I found the standard-speed Sandisk 256 card that was sent free with my Canon 20D has never been found wanting - I never use the full 24-shot burst that the camera is capable of, anyway.

It's slower uploading to the computer but that's a minor problem

On the D2x the difference between using Extreme II and Extreme III is astounding. It's not a waste of money even if the camera isn't using the whole speed available, provided the card is using all the camera's available speed.

Other cameras, I'd agree, it's the next gen that will make use of the faster write speed.

GavinM said:

On the D2x the difference between using Extreme II and Extreme III is astounding. It's not a waste of money even if the camera isn't using the whole speed available, provided the card is using all the camera's available speed.

Other cameras, I'd agree, it's the next gen that will make use of the faster write speed.

Click to expand...

GavinM is certainly on the right track. I have a couple of CF cards from 2 cameras back. I'm glad I bought quality then, even though a bit low on capacity, they still work great with my current Canon 20D.

Every year the new cameras that are released can make better use of faster CF cards. And CF cards are no small expense for many of us. Cameras may come and go - but CF cards are forever.

The original post that started this thread left out one important consideration in analyzing CF cards' speed. While a given camera may not be able to write at even 60x, it will write faster using a 80x rather than a 60x. From what I see of the data, almost any camera can benefit from a faster CF card.

So the big question is, does your shooting style benefit from a faster card? If you just plunk off a shot here and there, you are fine with any speed card that you want to use. If you shoot a series of shots and find yourself waiting for the camera to finish writing to the CF card ... you will benefit from a faster card. The only remaining question: is that speed boost worth it to you?