Compact Flash Recommendations?

Ohayo Gozaimas,

I recently upgraded my Olympus E500 to an E-510. (Frys had a sale) I've decided to also get more CF cards since I take most of my photos in RAW.

For the last year I've been using a Transcend 4GB 120x CF card and it has served me well. However even at 4GB it fills up pretty quickly. So I've decided to buy two additional CF cards that are 2GB each. My reason being that I would like to spread my pictures out across storage cards so I won't be totally screwed if a card gets fried.

So I'm looking for recommendations. I've seen cards from A-Data, Transcend, Lexar, SanDisk, Kingston, PQI, and a few others. Does anyone have any recommendations?

The E-510 can take up to 4 RAW frames in a row (can shoot continuously in HQ JPEG) I've found that my current 120x Transcend card can take about 70 frames of HQ JPEG in 30 seconds. That is a little off from the max 3 frames per second that the E-500 is capable of but it is very satisfactory for my needs.

Also, is there any advantage or disadvantage to using xD storage? Olympus cameras can use either CF or xD. So far the only significant difference I've noted is that xD cards don't come in sizes larger than 2GB.

Everyone will have their own 'champion' I expect, but for me it's got to be Sandisk Ultra II or Extreme III or IV

IMO I usually opt for Sandisk. I've used cards from Lexar, A-Data, and Kingston in the past and had them fail, corrupting a full shoot in the process.
With my Sandisks I've never encountered this problem (knock on wood). I'm always cautious though so I rarely use a high capacity card by any manufacturer so as to limit the possibility of loss.

Kat

おはようございます Sgt. Beavis. I have a Sandisk and a Kingston, both 4GB cards. So far neither one has failed, but I always default to the Sandisk simply because they have the biggest name in the business with the best rep. I imagine, though, that failure rate is just as possible with either.

Other than that, I would say you will want a pretty fast card since you're shooting in RAW, which will have a price premium, of course.

今日は。I have about a dozen or so Sandisk CF cards (mostly 2GB, a few 4GB; all Ultra II), and a few Lexar. I've been using some of them for over 2 years, and have yet to experience any problems with them. They seem to be very robust. I've heard of some folks who have even run them accidentally through the wash and dry cycle without failure.

As for which card model to choose, I would not spend more money on the faster cards (in the case of Sandisk, the Extreme series) because the fastest cameras today (the Canon 1D Mk III excepted) are not fast enough to make full use of that speed. It's like putting Hi-octane gas in a car that's designed to run on regular unleaded. My fastest camera is the Canon 40D, which shoots at 6.5 frames per second in burst mode, and the Ultra II seems to do just fine.

Beware buying any card from eBay or any shady merchant that you've never heard of. There are a LOT of counterfeit memory cards out there. Stick to the retail chain outfits like Circuit City, Best Buy, Staples, etc.

Here are some sites that you will want to review for further information:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/flash_memory.html

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007

fleurya said:

おはようございます

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EORI said:

今日は。

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Am I missing something?

CL33Zero said:

Am I missing something?

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It's just Japanese for good morning (ohayou gozaimasu) and good afternoon (konnichiwa), respectively.

Good idea sticking to multiple smaller density cards. Too bad others' don't take the same approach.
I'd stick with Lexar 133x or SanDisk Extreme III. They both run just over $30 per 2GB card where I work. One is $30 after rebate. not a bad price.

I have several 2GB Sandisk Extreme IV's and a couple of the Lexar UDMA 4GB Cards. Both have always worked well for me.

Another vote for Lexar here