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What 32gb CF Card to buy??

kuau

Workshop Member
Hi everyone, in the market for a 32gb CF card for my A900. I assume the A900 supports UDMA, but is it worht the extra money for a 266x card over a 133X card? I am using a FireWire 800 card reader which makes a huge difference when transfering files off the cf card.
Any thoughts on what to get?
Steven
 

Braeside

New member
Its the Kingston Ultimate that I use now Douglas. I had a Transcend 16GB 133X and it locked up the A900 a couple of times, so I switched to the totally reliable 8GB Kingston 266X cards.
 

douglasf13

New member
Whoops, I made a typo. I have a 16GB Transcend, not a 32GB. Interestingly enough, I have also had problems with it locking up on me. It worked fine with the A700, but every once in a while it locks on the A900. I THINK that I may have isolated the problem to me getting too impatient and pressing the image view/zoom buttons while the camera is still writing to the card, but I haven't done a very scientific test yet. I've still been able to get to the images on the card after it locks, but I basically only use that card as a last resort now.
 
H

hardloaf

Guest
Whoops, I made a typo. I have a 16GB Transcend, not a 32GB. Interestingly enough, I have also had problems with it locking up on me. It worked fine with the A700, but every once in a while it locks on the A900. I THINK that I may have isolated the problem to me getting too impatient and pressing the image view/zoom buttons while the camera is still writing to the card, but I haven't done a very scientific test yet. I've still been able to get to the images on the card after it locks, but I basically only use that card as a last resort now.
Hmmm. I have Transcend 16GB x300 UDMA and so far had no problems.
 
H

hardloaf

Guest
By the way - does anybody use that weird memory stick duo slot in A900? I'd like to use it for a permanent backup card, but never had those cards and have no idea how fast they are.
 

douglasf13

New member
Yeah, I use the slot, but I just have an older, 2GB card, so it's a bit slow, and doesn't hold much. I'm planning on getting a faster, bigger one, as it is convenient, IMO.
 

Braeside

New member
Douglas, same experience with the Transcend - it was OK on my A700 but trouble on the A900. I stuck an 8GB in the MS slot as a reserve tank.
 

Eoin

Member
I'm using a sandisk extreme IV 16gb 45mb/s in one body and a old type extreme III 4gb in the other, all I can say is the Extreme IV is so quick I've never hit the buffer limit on that camera (reasonable shooting rate) but the one with the Extreme III seems to bog down quite a bit.

The a900 is supposed to have a 45Mb/s write speed hence my choice of the IV, the III was just an old card I had from my Canon time. When I get over the expense of the new printer & spare ink I'll look to add another Extreme IV, they are very good for sure and I'm keeping my eye out for some special offers.

You Guys in the USA seem to get killer deals on CF cards, Adorama is showing this for $145 after rebate, it's about £150 in the UK. Anyone fancy posting a couple over to me?.
 

kuau

Workshop Member
wow. to much information. I am looking at rob's website I guess I will figure out something yet it loks like 16gb is the sweet spot right now.
Thanks everyone
Steven
 

kuau

Workshop Member
I just purchasaed 2 Sandisk SDCFX3-016G-A31 Compactflash 16 GB Extreme III on ebay for 94.99 each including free shipping. Seemed like a good deal.

Steven
 

edwardkaraa

New member
I have 2 Extreme III 16GB cards. At 30mbps they are fast enough for my needs and they're incredibly cheap. I have yet to fill 1 card in a single shoot.
 

Bill Caulfeild-Browne

Well-known member
I'm hooked on Sandisk Extreme IV 8 and 16 gig cards. Expensive but totally reliable and faster than I need even when shooting wildlife at 5 fps. The only trouble I've had was hastily inserting a card into my Sony which had been formatted for Phase. Don't try this at home!

Now I keep the 8 gig cards exclusively for the Sony and the 16s for the Phase.

Incidentally I will never again buy CF cards on eBay. Most of them are fake in my experience. Test any you buy for speed! I had a genuine Sandisk IV card which I compared with several forgeries which looked astonishingly genuine - but recorded (and downloaded) at half the speed or less. By half speed I mean they took twice as long!

Fortunately the seller capitulated and refunded my money - I reported him to Sandisk as they ask.

There are many good sites which show and tell, such as

http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/FAKE-SanD...lash-Cards-Exposed_W0QQugidZ10000000001456526

Bill
 

stephengilbert

Active member
I had a similar experience with an eBay card purchase. I bought two Sandisk SD cards, and both were fake. I read an estimate that 90% or more of the flash memory cards sold on eBay are fake.
 

kuau

Workshop Member
I had a similar experience with an eBay card purchase. I bought two Sandisk SD cards, and both were fake. I read an estimate that 90% or more of the flash memory cards sold on eBay are fake.
Oh no!!!!!
I hope mine ar enot conterfit.
I should have them next week.

Steven
 
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