CF Card for the 400D

[aalok_gaitonde]

Hello

 

I have an EOS 400D and I am looking for a fast CF card.

 

I have my eyes on the Sandisk Extreme III 2 CF card. Here in Mumbai, the 2GB one

sells for Rs 1250 and the 4 GB card sells for 1850. Which one should I go for ?

 

Will the 4 gig be slower on the 400D then the 2 gig ?

 

Regards,

Aalok

[cooltpmd]

Both are great cards, no the 4 GB won't be notieably slower.

 

The size depends on your style of photography. If you shoot RAW and you shoot a bunch of pictures at one time (or leave pictures on the card for a while), the 4 GB will be handy.

 

I'll tell you that some people, to protect themselves from losing many pictures at once (from accident, theft, mechanical failure, etc...) will never keep too many photos in one place and would go with 2 2GB cards. That, of course, is a more expensive way to go.

 

But if you unload your photos, never accumulating more than say 200 at a time on the card, the 2GB will be fine.

[g dan mitchell]

The size of the card will not materially affect its speed.

 

Getting the very fastest card for a 400D is probably not a very good investment - you

won't see any actual difference in performance. Any relatively fast car purchased from a

reliable vendor should be fine.

 

I don't know how to convert your purchase prices to amounts that I understand, but today

it generally makes the most sense to get at least 4GB cards on a price basis alone.

 

Dan

[m_barbu1]

<p><i>you won't see any actual difference in performance</i></p><p>While there won't necessarily be a significant increase in-camera, there will be some. Also, there will be a significant increase in performance when used with a high-performance card reader.</p><p>Check out the test run by <a href="http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007">Rob Galbraith</a>.</p>

 

<p>To convert currencies, you could try the <a href="http://www.xe.com/ucc/">Universal Currency Converter</a>.</p>

[m_barbu1]

<p><i>To convert currencies, you could try the Universal Currency Converter.</i></p><p>Which appears to not list a currency for Mumbai, even when displaying obsolete currencies. Interesting.</p>

[mr._b]

I have both a 2gb and 4gb Sandisk Extreme III cards. They work great and apparently can take a lot of punishment. I know the 2gb version is faster on paper but I haven't noticed any difference between them. The "eggs in one basket" is a mild concern for me but I'm just an amateur. I would guess anyone genuinely worried about this would stick to 1GB cards.

[aalok_gaitonde]

Ok great. Then I ll settle for a 4GB card.

 

Hey, for Mumbai, its Indian Rupees INR.

 

Aalok

[aalok_gaitonde]

Ok great. Then I ll settle for a 4GB card.

 

Hey, for Mumbai, its Indian Rupees INR.

 

Aalok

[g dan mitchell]

My perspective on "high speed cards" is:

 

1. Paying for the "fastest" card is a waste of money since the "slightly slower" cards will

either work at the same rate in your camera or be "faster" by such a small increment that

there won't be any material difference.

 

2. For the majority of users, the download speed issue is pretty trivial. Your card _might_

download a little bit faster, but how much actual time will you save? Personally I put mine

in the computer and start the download and do something else while it downloads.

 

Of course, if saving a few seconds on card download is worth it to you, as they say,

"YMMV."

 

Dan

 

BTW: Regarding the currency converter... I'm not too likely to go research currency

conversion so that I can answer a question on card speed and capacity... :-)

[m_barbu1]

My Sandisk Extreme III 16 GB cards save me about 15 minutes (900 seconds) apiece over the Ultra II 8GB cards they replaced. ;-)

[Spearhead]

<i>Check out the test run by Rob Galbraith.</i><p>Galbraith's tests don't deal with throughput, just with speed. This makes them pretty much useless. Write speed alone doesn't matter, but throughput does. If you can buffer as much as you would like, write speed is a ridiculous parameter to buy on.<p>It's easy to refer to the Galbraith tests, it takes a bit of thought to figure it why they don't matter for most users.

[shabbir_hussain]

Hi Aalok,

"the 2GB one sells for Rs 1250 and the 4 GB card sells for 1850. Which one should I go for ?"

 

The prices you've quoted for the cards are ridiculously cheap. If you are going for the cards on basis of price alone then I recommend you go ahead. Because where I live (Dubai) you cant get even a 2GB one for the price of a 4GB in Mumbai. Here a Sandisk Extreme III 2GB sells for 200+ Dirhams and a 4GB costs more than 400+ Dirhams.

 

I think I'll get mine when I come to India on vacation. I hope the prices are uniform throughout India 'cause I'll be visiting Chennai on vacation this summer.

 

Shabbir

[m_barbu1]

<p><i>If you can buffer as much as you would like</i></p><p>I would think that the tests are relevant for the instances where you <b>can't</b> buffer as much as you would like, wouldn't you?</p>