Please Recommend CF and SD cards

[docsmith2k1]

I need your recommendations for both CF and SD cards. I have never had one of these fail, and have just bought the cheapest and largest capacity that funds would allow.

But I have a few overseas trips coming soon and want to get a little stock of high capacity storage media that will be reliable.

Are there brand differences or are they all produced in the same asian factory and rebadged?

Is there any advantage to fast read/write speeds, and would I notice if there was. I shoot mainly landscapes, but also occasional wildlife.

Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[lowmans100]

I use Sandisk Extreme III bith SD & CF in both DSLR & Compact Camera. I also have a Sandisk Ultra 2 CF as a spare. The price for these is good at both picstop and Play.com

I've never had issues with writing speed to these cards for either jpg, RAW or jpg+RAW

 

[TarMoo]

The latest 4Gb Sandisk Extreme III are 30 Mb/Sec and around £20. See here

 

[kendoll]

Just wanted to point out that the 30MB/sec is for the CF only, the SD(HC) is 20MB/sec.

 

[docsmith2k1]

rasputin, do you notice a lag or delay when actually shooting, that would encourage you to buy a "fast" card, as opposed to a slower (and usually cheaper) card

Andy

 

[Chris83]

Buy a fast card. The first time I was shooting motor sports I had a Sandisk Ultra II and a slow Kingston card. When the Ultra II was full I began to get seriously frustrated with the slower card as I could only shoot a few photos at a time then I had to wait 20 - 30secs for the card to catch up. With the Ultra II I didn't notice any of this.
Ultra II is now the slowest CF card I own, it is worth paying the extra for.

 

[TarMoo]

rasputin, do you notice a lag or delay when actually shooting, that would encourage you to buy a "fast" card, as opposed to a slower (and usually cheaper) card

Andy

I don't have any "slow" cards, so I don't notice any frustrating delays. I have a 4Gb Sandisk Extreme IV (40 Mb/Sec) and 2 x4 Gb Sandisk Extreme III (30 Mb/s). I haven't noticed and difference in performance between the two, despite the Sandisk IV being twice as expensive.

What is cheap? My first 64Mb Sony Stick cost me over £60 back in 2000. My latest 4Gb cost about £20 which is 200 time cheaper per megabyte. Personally I think that £20 for a 4Gb card is cheap.

 

[druidvideo]

I need your recommendations for both CF and SD cards. I have never had one of these fail, and have just bought the cheapest and largest capacity that funds would allow.

But I have a few overseas trips coming soon and want to get a little stock of high capacity storage media that will be reliable.

Are there brand differences or are they all produced in the same asian factory and rebadged?

Is there any advantage to fast read/write speeds, and would I notice if there was. I shoot mainly landscapes, but also occasional wildlife.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Is it for your 5D? It can pretty much shoot 3fps untill Christmas with its massive buffer. The card wont affect the actual speed you shoot at, just how long it says on with the images writing to the disk after you stop.

 

[mansell]

All my cards for my D80 are Sandisk extreme III's, never had a problem and wouldn't buy anything else.

I bought a 4gb card from Amazon for about £17 a few weeks ago.

 

[Triggaaar]

Buy from a reputable company. I bought a sandisk CF from ebay (power seller) and it was fake. Seller new it was, but wouldn't help at all. Lots of hassle.

 

[docsmith2k1]

Is it for your 5D?

It is.

Of most interest is reliability - but I do always wonder if I am missing something by not getting the fastest (most expensive) cards. I must admit I have never had to stop shooting 'cos the camera was writing to the card, and I have shot birds in flight and white water rafting recently using SanDisk cards (not the extreme editions). Following the suggestions here 4GB seems to be a sweet spot for good deals at the moment so the extreme III seems the best deal.

 

[milkmanchris]

It is.

Of most interest is reliability - but I do always wonder if I am missing something by not getting the fastest (most expensive) cards. I must admit I have never had to stop shooting 'cos the camera was writing to the card, and I have shot birds in flight and white water rafting recently using SanDisk cards (not the extreme editions). Following the suggestions here 4GB seems to be a sweet spot for good deals at the moment so the extreme III seems the best deal.

As a side 4GB are always nice and easy to dump to DVD too, one card=one disc for archiving.