High Speed CF Cards..Worth it?

[kevinbythebeach]

Does anyone here use a high speed CF cards ..can u notice a difference in the camera to card write speed? I know on older cameras that they are not worth using becasue the camera buffers are too slow to take advantage of the speed...

[Colin Southern]

Hi Kevin,

You might like to have a read of a similar thread

[Raycer]

Hi Kevin,

check out Rob Galbraith's CF/SD card performance data base.
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/mul...e.asp?cid=6007

[Bill44]

I use Sandisk Extreme III 30Mb/s SD cards in my D90. Apparently it is one of the few cameras that can use the speed, some can't. At 4.5 FPS my camera has a buffer of 9 shots RAW, but the card sucks up the shots that quick I've never been stuck for a burst.

I don't know about CF cards and your cameras ability to use the high speed.

[Colin Southern]

Hi Kevin,

check out Rob Galbraith's CF/SD card performance data base.
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/mul...e.asp?cid=6007

On a side note, when I last checked Rob's database in commection with the Sandisk cards I use and my camera, he had some really weird figures -- off memory I think it was even showing the SD card as being faster than a CF card, which I can assure you is NOTHING like I get in reality (I have an Extreme IV CF card and a Class 6 SD card and the CF card is about 5 TIMES faster) (a Class 6 SD card in a 1Ds3 is for "desperation" use only).

I know my camera maxes out at around 15mb/s (1Ds3 - and same figures with 1D3) so 30 and 45mb/s cards should be more than adequate.

My usual question for those who need sustained high-speed bursts is "are you shooting stills or a movie?"

[kevinbythebeach]

Yah I think SD cards caught up and surpassed cf cards in speed sometime last year?
So maybes hes showing some more recent model?
I like to shoot action surfing , birds...and dolphins..and often especially for dolphins I am never sure how long they are gonna stay surfaced and if they are gonna jump or do a flip often if they are in a tight group i just shoot away as soon as I see the first sign of them surfacing and hope to get a good shot...so I often get slowed down by my buffer...I am more or less asking the question for future refernce when i get a 50d...I am wondering if i am gonna run into my buffer prblem even ealrier with a faster fps speed and if a faster CF card will alleviate the problem...I could always shoot in jpg...but I dont think so..hehe

I'll have to check that link out...thanks guys

[Bill44]

My usual question for those who need sustained high-speed bursts is "are you shooting stills or a movie?"

Ever tried shooting a netball game to capture action shots? I get through 300+ shots in an hour shooting in bursts of 3 to 5. Bloody hell those girls are fast.

[kevinbythebeach]

what is net ball? volleyball? that reminds me a few weeks ago i shot a professional womens and mens volleyball tourney...talk about some....well...nevermind...

[Colin Southern]

Bloody hell those girls are fast.

You should give up trying to catch them Bill (sigh, they're too fast for me too!)

[Colin Southern]

Yah I think SD cards caught up and surpassed cf cards in speed sometime last year?

Not that I've heard of, The fastest SDHC card that I know of is 20MB/s -v- 100MB/s for a Pretec 666x CF card.

[kevinbythebeach]

OK but what is netball?

[kevinbythebeach]

yah ok i did a yahoo search...hmm i guess thats kidna like our basketball , except you dont use a backboard...and the shorts are shorter...

heres a AVP volleyball tourney

[Bill44]

Not that I've heard of, The fastest SDHC card that I know of is 20MB/s -v- 100MB/s for a Pretec 666x CF card.

The latest incarnation of Sandisk Extreme III SDHC cards are 30Mb/s, these are what I use.

[Bill44]

yah ok i did a yahoo search...hmm i guess thats kidna like our basketball , except you dont use a backboard...and the shorts are shorter...

It's the most popular female sport in Australia, similar in some small part to basketball in that it uses a ball and has a hoop, but the rules are vastly different. It's supposed to be a non-contact Ladies sport, Ha Ha!

[Colin Southern]

The latest incarnation of Sandisk Extreme III SDHC cards are 30Mb/s, these are what I use.

I must think about getting some (my camera takes both SD and CF). I thought that Class 6 was the fastest SD card, but apparantly class 6 is only 6MB/S, which would explain why it takes 4 or 5 seconds per image to write to it! (when I use it - it's really just an "automatic over-flow")

[Colin Southern]

It's the most popular female sport in Australia

Popular as in "women playing" or as in "guys watching"?

[kevinbythebeach]

i am in where do i sign up?

[Bill44]

Popular as in "women playing" or as in "guys watching"?

Both.

They play in very short skirts and the attitude of the blokes watching changes depending on the age of the players. For the youngsters up to about 18 it's a "No I'm not a paedophile, I'm watching my Grand Daughter", for the 18+ games it's a sort of panicky "I hope I don't look like an old perv".

I quite often get a bloke come up to me after a particularly revealing bit of action in one of the 18+ games. "Did you get a shot of that?" is quite often the question. My reply is usually an explanation that I have an agreement with the Netball Association to delete any Knicker shots that get captured. SWMBO would kill me, or worse, if I didn't.

[kevinbythebeach]

lol thats what makes professional womans vollyball (AVP) better in a way....every shot is a "knicker" shot....see above photo......But i ofcourse have an agrrement with the AVP and delete those shots....

[Colin Southern]

i am in where do i sign up?

You'd have to wear a skirt though Kevin - will that be a problem?

(I've got first dibs on being event photographer for that game!)