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A850 observations

Beyond about 300x the only benefit will be faster transfers to the computer, if you're using a UDMA reader. You mention 133x -- Kingston 133x are known to be unreliable in Sony FF cameras.
 
Thank you very much! :thumbup:

The Lexar 300x 32GB looks like a decent pick for $140 at B&H. I don't have a super fast reader (I have the Lexar Dual USB on RG's card reader page) so no significant benefit on that end, either...
I've had no complaints with my Lexar(or SanDisk) 16GB 300x cards. If the reader you are referring to is the one pictured below, Lexar specifically calls it out as the one to get for 400x and faster cards, so it's not going to hold you back with 300x. I have the same reader and I'm very happy with it.


(click image to go to product page)
 
T

Tony Beach

Guest
I've had no complaints with my Lexar(or SanDisk) 16GB 300x cards. If the reader you are referring to is the one pictured below, Lexar specifically calls it out as the one to get for 400x and faster cards, so it's not going to hold you back with 300x. I have the same reader and I'm very happy with it.
Have you measured it? I'm getting 30 MB/s right now from my Sandisk Imagemate, and no difference between UDMA 300x and non-UDMA 200x. It works out to about one second a file -- I can live with that.
 
Tony, I get about the same. Actually 31-32 MB/s. I'm surprised you're getting 30MB/s out of that 200x card though... sounds like a real overachiever!
 
Beyond about 300x the only benefit will be faster transfers to the computer, if you're using a UDMA reader. You mention 133x -- Kingston 133x are known to be unreliable in Sony FF cameras.
Hmm, I haven't had any problems. We have two 16GB 133x Kingston cards and I personally have 2 266x Kingston cards and have not had a problem with either. Generally I reach for my Sandisk Extreme III cards first, but that is mostly because it seems like a good size (about 200 images/card).

I have a few trips coming up and will probably get the Transcend 8g or 16g 400x cards.
 

Jan Brittenson

Senior Subscriber Member
The Lexar 300x 32GB doesn't work properly in the A850. It works for about 5-10min, after which the camera hangs and produces a "card error". Having only used SD cards the last 5 years I had totally forgot about all this CF card compatibility crap...
 

Jan Brittenson

Senior Subscriber Member
I got tired of putzing around with this silly card stuff, so dashed over to Calumet SF on Bryant St. for a Calumet ProSpec 420x 32GB card - and it works flawlessly. I just had a 20min smoke test the Lexar would never have made it through - shoot continuous (uncompressed raw, no JPEG), review, delete a bunch, shoot, review, repeat. Reformat after a little bit, then start over. Not a hiccup. :thumbup:

Performance wise I get 16 shots at 3fps on the A850, then it delays about 0.5 sec on the 17th. At the flush-limited rate it continues at about 1fps. It takes 13 seconds until it's done flushing after the last flush-limited shot. This is just watching a wall clock, so nothing particularly precise. :lecture:

At $150 it's not a terribly cheap card, but so far so good! :salute:
 

Braeside

New member
Only card I ever had problems with in the A900 was a Transcend 133X 16GB, I changed to multiple Kingston 8GB 266X and no problems at all.
 

Jan Brittenson

Senior Subscriber Member
On the suggestion of a very helpful forum member (thanks, Giorgio!) I repartitioned the Lexar card using Disk Utility and reformatted (in camera). It now works flawlessly! I suppose it may come with a bad partition table, or some other funk... So anyone with a similar problem, try the same before returning, selling, or throwing away a card!
 
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