I have tried something else: on Ebay there are these SD -> CF card adapters. I bought a fast SDHC 32 card (133x) these are significantly cheaper and tada: in the Leaf Aptus 12 it works really good, of course slower than a 600x card, but hey if you need to get even larger sizes for these 80 Mpix stuff, I think for a non action shooter this is an alternative ! Price is about half and there are now SDXC versions which are pretty (up to 300x/Sandisk ) fast with 128GB (200 $) . Interesting in this connection: when you use a Camera like the Canon 5D MK3 which offer SD+CF Slot the faster card (mostly the CF) will run only at the SD speed anyway so if you plan to use your cards in your 35mm too, this may be a good way to go.
I STRONGLY suggest against using adapters to use other card types in the CF card slot of a Phase One or Leaf back. This method is not (and will not be) in regular testing at Phase One as they revise firmware and should be considered entirely unsupported. Does that mean it won't work or that I'm saying it's not safe - no. In all likelihood it will work great.
But when you're talking about accessories you have two options:
- walk down the same path the manufacturer walks (
list of thoroughly tested/vetted cards)
- make your own path into the wilderness
The
last thing I'd plow my own path for is CF cards. I do NOT want to think about CF cards. I want them to be invisible. I never want to see a quirk, have a question in the back of my mind, or otherwise have any doubts about my card. I never want to see an error message.
To be clear, the vast vast majority of cards (any brand) will work perfectly for as long as - they are generally a very low failure rate device. I have no well-collected scientifically-vetted data but from experience I'd guess roughly that sticking to what the manufacturer tests lowers your chance of running into a CF card issue from 1% to 0.2%. That is to say for 99% of people there would be no difference. But that doesn't change my recommendation. I fear for the 1%!
If you can't afford (or can't justify) the latest, greatest, largest SanDisk or Lexar cards my suggestion would be to find last-generation SanDisk or Lexar cards and/or smaller capacities.