CF Recommendations for Nikon D300

[TarMoo]

I was sold a Delkin PRO 305X 4GB UDMA Compact Flash card with my D300. I had never heard of the brand before and have previously only used Lexar and Sandisk.

Despite formatting the Delkin CF in the D300 the card got corrupted after about 100 shots and I lost all pictures stored. A "For" error message was displayed on the top LCD on the camera and I had to re-format the card before I could use it again. No problems since then, but I am a bit nervous of a repeat corruption and reformat.

I am now considering getting a refund on the Delkin and buying one of the following:

• SanDisk 4GB Extreme III Compact Flash Card - £25
• SanDisk 8GB Extreme III Compact Flash Card - £47
• SanDisk 4GB Extreme IV Compact Flash Card - £43
• SanDisk 8GB Extreme IV Compact Flash Card - £84
• Lexar 4GB 300X Professional UDMA Compact Flash Card - £45
• Lexar 8GB 300X Professional UDMA Compact Flash Card - £88

The key requirements are 1) reliability, 2) speed, 3) low cost

Which of the above do people recomment. I have heard that Sandisk are more reliable and faster than Lexar.
The Extreme IV is the only CF to allow a 100 shot burst at 8 FPS using JPEG Fine (see here and here).

Three questions

1. 4Gb or 8GB - you don't get many Raw shots on a 4GB drive?
2. Is the speed of the Extreme IV really necessary for the D300. For the same money you can buy twice as large Extreme III?
3. Is the data recovery features of the Lexar worth choosing this over the faster and cheaper Sandisk equivalent?

[Yandros]

I use Sandisk Extreme III 2Gb and 8Gb cards in my D200. I've had problems with an older Lexar card in it, and heard bad things about Lexar reliability in general, so I won't use them. I'd suggest that you won't go far wrong with an Extreme III or IV.

I'd suggest you need at least 8Gb for a full days shooting if you're RAW+jpg, and possibly more if you'll be using high frame rates. How you do this (4GB or 8GB cards) is up to you.

The D200 buffer is 22 RAW, and the D300 is 17 RAW. After a 3 second burst at 5fps it takes about 30 seconds to write that out to an Extreme III, so you do have to go for the "short controlled bursts" regime or you run out of road pretty fast. I'd say if you intend to do a lot of action photography, the Extreme IV will be worthwhile, but if not, the Extreme III will be fine. You could always split the difference and get 1 or each, and use the slower Extreme III as your reserve.

[alfienoakes]

Originally Posted by rasputin

Three questions

1. 4Gb or 8GB - you don't get many Raw shots on a 4GB drive?
2. Is the speed of the Extreme IV really necessary for the D300. For the same money you can buy twice as large Extreme III?
3. Is the data recovery features of the Lexar worth choosing this over the faster and cheaper Sandisk equivalent?

1. You'll get around 190-200 shots in RAW out of a 4GB card and double that for 8GB.
2. Depends really what you are shooting. In high speed mode you will eventually hit a buffer on the Extreme III before that of the IV. See Yandros post for an idea of when.
3. No idea I'm afraid.

I have both a couple of Extreme III 4GBs and a single IV 8GB. All very reliable so far. I went for a IV purely for the race track when the season starts. I've never hit a buffer with the III yet, but you tend not to rattle them off when shooting winter landscapes

[johnaalex]

I have been using a Sandisk extreme IV 2gb since i got my D300 and it has been perfect. I got it duty free at Heathrow for about 140 quid. I have just bought a 4gb Extreme IV from Play.com for 38 quid!

[Steve N]

Originally Posted by rasputin

I am now considering getting a refund...and buying one of the following:

• SanDisk 4GB Extreme III Compact Flash Card - £25
• SanDisk 8GB Extreme III Compact Flash Card - £47
• SanDisk 4GB Extreme IV Compact Flash Card - £43
• SanDisk 8GB Extreme IV Compact Flash Card - £84
• Lexar 4GB 300X Professional UDMA Compact Flash Card - £45
• Lexar 8GB 300X Professional UDMA Compact Flash Card - £88

The key requirements are 1) reliability, 2) speed, 3) low cost
[*]Is the data recovery features of the Lexar worth choosing this over the faster and cheaper Sandisk equivalent?[/list]

I went for the Lexar for my D300 from SanDisk (D80 SD) and have been very happy so far.
I've not tried the data recovery or Coral PSP but you do get a lifetime guarantee.

Tell me - where can you get the Lexar for £45. Cheapest I could find was £59 +pp ?

[TarMoo]

Originally Posted by Steve N

I went for the Lexar for my D300 from SanDisk (D80 SD) and have been very happy so far.
I've not tried the data recovery or Coral PSP but you do get a lifetime guarantee.

Tell me - where can you get the Lexar for £45. Cheapest I could find was £59 +pp ?

See mymemory.co.uk = £48.94 with P&P

[dazza74]

Going by my file sizes since getting a D300 shooting Raw + Jpeg you could comfortably get 200 pics on a 4GB card. I'd say extreme III should be fast enough, I've not noticed any problems sinced getting my card.

[Spooky]

Dazza, why the need for RAW and JPG? Also how many would a 4gig card hold just in RAW?

[willykatie]

Originally Posted by Spooky

Dazza, why the need for RAW and JPG? Also how many would a 4gig card hold just in RAW?

I'm using 2gb Ultra II for my D40x and that holds around 150-160 i think. So i think for 4gb will hold around 300-320

[dazza74]

Originally Posted by Spooky

Dazza, why the need for RAW and JPG? Also how many would a 4gig card hold just in RAW?

You don't need Raw & Jpeg really, I find it handy to have the jpeg as I can quickly review the image when I get back rather than having to fire up bridge the other advantage I have is that with the jpeg on the card I can plug it into my PS3 and review the images large on the plasma.

I've got my D300 set to capture 14 bit raw lossless compressed and based on the 300 pics I've took to date they very in size from around 13-19MB per file the vast majority of them falling between 14-16MB.