Need help with CF choices for my 10D

[adnan]

Hi,

Been shooting with a 256mb Sandisk compact flash for about a year on

my 10D. I'm looking at getting a 2gb CF and am not sure what the

different choices mean... Here's my short list from BH:

 

 

2GB Sandisk Type 1: $147

 

2GB Sandisk Ultra II: $190

 

2GB Lexar 80X with WA: $199.95

 

Basically, I'm happy with the speed of my current card, I don't really

do sports photography or anything, but if $40 or $50 extra will buy me

significat noticable speed, then I'll be willing to spring for it.

Which should I go with and what's the difference?

Thanks in advance!

[beauh44]

Hi Adnan, I don't believe the 10D supports WA (Write Acceleration) so I certainly wouldn't buy the third card on the list. In fact, unless you're shooting sports or situations where you're leaning on the shutter button, you're unlikely to need the Ultra II and be fine with the $147 model. One suggestion: You might want to think about getting two 1 GB cards instead - that way all your eggs aren't in one basket in the event of a problem. Good luck!

[digitmstr]

I use Lexars 1gb (40 & 80X) and they work great on my 10D. I have used others from friends (including the Sandisk) and my impression is that the Lexar was the quickest.

 

Also, I think 1gb would be enough.

[rich_weiss]

there is a rare occurance of WA (Lexar) cards not working with Canon cameras, because Canon does not support WA. That being said I originally bought 1 G 40x WA Lexar Cards for my 10D, and am using 1 G 80x WA cards for my 1DMKII without a hitch. There have been a few rare reports of not being able to access images from a full WA card. I usually span images over 6 cards, so I have never actually filled any one card.

[danny_lee2]

no matter what you buy, be sure to wait till black friday.

[adnan]

Thanks for all the quick responses! (even the cryptic 'black friday' one).

[adnan]

well, you learn something new everyday:<p>

 

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)">

Black Friday </a>

[blueworldstudios]

<p>You should read through <a href="http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/

multi_page.asp?cid=6007-6111">Rob Galbraith's CF database.</a></p>

[jim_larson1]

On a 10D, I would go with cheap and slow. :)

 

If you are happy with the speed of your slow speed Sandisk, then a LARGER slow speed sandisk will be just fine.

 

That's what I did (except I use 512mb cards)

[josh1]

I just got a 1GB Lexar 40X WA from newegg.com for $90 and it has a $30 rebate. $60 for a GB of memory seems like a good deal to me. Have to switch out cards more often than a 2GB though.

[damian_tinsley]

I just bought a 2GB Sandisk ultra II from a seller called flashman852 on eBay for 104 GBP - $180 to you. Perfect service and a fast card.

Don't know much about write acceleration but here's my feeling on the speed issue:

 

My 20D will take 5 frames a second (absolutely 4.98 - I am enough of a nerd to have checked). If the card writes at roughly a speed of 9MB/sec, then if I am lucky (and shooting in RAW) I will get one more frame into the buffer (or put another way, one more frame would have been written to the card, freeing up sufficient space for another shot) in roughly one second of continuous shooting. But the buffer is only 6 frames long in RAW on the 20D (I think it is about the same on the 10D - but someone else can please correct me if not...) and this means that the buffer gets filled up in 1.2 seconds if we ignore the write to card that is going n as well. If we factor that in, only one frame will have been written to the card and therefore, irrespective of card speed, I would get one more frame out of a fast card than I would out of a slow card. Big deal!

 

Now suppose we go to shoot JPEG. I can do 23 frames in JPEG supposedly, but in fact the card is so fast that I gave up testing at about 39 frames (again, 4.98 frames per second). Do you really need this speed? I would have got the 23 frames anyway, even with a really slow card.

 

Basically, I can't see why the write speed is going to make any real world difference. Perhaps you would get one extra frame, if shooting in RAW, perhaps not.

 

BTW, the reason I went with 2GB as that that was where the break came in terms of cost benefit. I was paying no more than twice the cost of a 1GB card for the 2GB item.

 

And as a matter of record and interest (I will post this in the general questions forum if anyone is interested) has anyone had a CF card fail (drops, accidental dishwasher / dry-cleaning / giving it to the dog to chew etc.etc.) excepted?