5D Mark III -- Compact Flash (CF) or Secure Digital (SD / SDHC)?

[Bosman]

Re: Best cards for 5D Mark III? SD & CF

this is extremely confusing for me. on amazon the sandisk extreme pro 16gb SD at 95 mb/s is 70$ the CF card at 90mb/s is 110$ .... why would a faster/smaller card be cheaper? why wouldnt everyone just buy the SD?

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extreme-Performance-SDSDXPA-016G-A75-Packaging/dp/B006FKD01K/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1330793569&sr=8-15

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-16GB-Extreme-memory-card/dp/B002OL80UK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1330793653&sr=8-3

Durability and size, easy to break easy to loose.

 

[unkbob]

CF has a huge durability factor in it's favor as well. I've cracked a few SD cards in my time. Not too mention what my kids have done to theirs!

As a connector design engineer, I'd be more concerned with damage to my camera, since a trip for repair and replacement of the CF header is very expensive.

I think it's like £100 to replace the CF component, so it's not the end of the world. Use a backup camera and you can carry on shooting, or you can possibly still use the SD slot. I've never had the CF card slot fail, touch wood, but then I'm never shooting in particularly difficult conditions.

I will probably stick to CF for video, although I am concerned about the increased storage requirements with ALL-i and the 64GB 45m/b Sandisk SDs look good value.

 

[grahamsz]

My father worked on some of those photo kiosk things you see in grocery stores. This was probably close to 10 years ago, but he did observe something interesting about the technology.

CF works very much like a hard disk, there's a bunch of circuitry on the device that translates the signals coming in from the camera into signals that write to the physical memory chips.

SD is much more like RAM, there's very little in between the camera and the memory chips. This can be bad because there's a lot more potential for incompatibility between the SD card and the reader/camera. A faulty card reader could effectively wipe the card, and that's less likely on CF.

However, I suspect if you use Sandisk SD cards and a Sandisk branded reader (or just transfer off your camera via USB) then you'll be fairly safe. SD cards also seem more durable to me because they don't have pins that can bend.

 

[m3tek44]

If I am spending $3.5K for camera I want to make sure I am capturing photos without worrying if CF/SD cards are working. Over the course of the yrs. I have used MANY SD cards and CF cards. SanDisk is simply the best in my opinion and you get what you pay for. YES they are $$$$$. I have seen others used Transcend or some other cards but really??? You can ask professional and they will tell you to use SanDisk or Lexar cards. Last thing I want is to lose photos I took. Did I also mention SanDisk Extreme Pro CompactFlash Cards 90MB/s (or 100 MB/s for 128GB) are FAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Mike Ca]

Note that the 95MB/s Extreme Pro SDXC is UHS-1 standard, it's still unknown if 5D3 supports UHS-1, if not, maximum speed will be capped at around 30MB/s

On page 32 of the 5D III manual it says:

"Although the camera does not comply with the UHS (Ultra-High Speed) speed class standard, UHS SDHC/SDXC cards can be used."

I assume this means you can use UHS cards, but they will operate at some lower speed.

 

[wickidwombat]

If I am spending $3.5K for camera I want to make sure I am capturing photos without worrying if CF/SD cards are working. Over the course of the yrs. I have used MANY SD cards and CF cards. SanDisk is simply the best in my opinion and you get what you pay for. YES they are $$$$$. I have seen others used Transcend or some other cards but really??? You can ask professional and they will tell you to use SanDisk or Lexar cards. Last thing I want is to lose photos I took. Did I also mention SanDisk Extreme Pro CompactFlash Cards 90MB/s (or 100 MB/s for 128GB) are FAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had a lexar card fail and i've had sandisk cards fail i've never had a transcend card fail yet I used to use only sandisk but now i think they are much of a muchness

 

[peederj]

And I've had transcend and lexar fail but never sandisk. Anecdata, no question...be sure to baby your cards because they are fragile! I do think Sandisk has earned a bit of a premium...better real performance I think...but I nearly never work in continuous shooting mode, and even the 5d3 ALL-I video apparently doesn't tax an old transcend class 6 SD card.

 

[Bosman]

CF has a huge durability factor in it's favor as well. I've cracked a few SD cards in my time. Not too mention what my kids have done to theirs!

As a connector design engineer, I'd be more concerned with damage to my camera, since a trip for repair and replacement of the CF header is very expensive.

I've had three cameras with bent or broken CF pins in the camera, plus one that was shorted by a bad CF card and needed a new internal power supply board. Two were p&S bodies that I threw out, I was able to repair the DSLR since I do have repair tools.

The pin in camera concept violates all the reliability and safety rules for pin and socket arrangements. The pin side of a connection should never have power applied while disconnected. Bend one against another and your camera can be damaged or ruined.

Cracking a SD card would be the least of my worries, it would let me keep on taking photos by merely using another card and tossing the broken one. Soiling one is nothing, just wipe it off. but contaminate the sockets of a CF card and you may not see they are blocked up, and it can ruin your camera.

Wow, to bend those pins you had the be shoving it in the wrong way trying to make it fit!

 

[eeek]

CF has a huge durability factor in it's favor as well. I've cracked a few SD cards in my time. Not too mention what my kids have done to theirs!

As a connector design engineer, I'd be more concerned with damage to my camera, since a trip for repair and replacement of the CF header is very expensive.

I've had three cameras with bent or broken CF pins in the camera, plus one that was shorted by a bad CF card and needed a new internal power supply board. Two were p&S bodies that I threw out, I was able to repair the DSLR since I do have repair tools.

The pin in camera concept violates all the reliability and safety rules for pin and socket arrangements. The pin side of a connection should never have power applied while disconnected. Bend one against another and your camera can be damaged or ruined.

Cracking a SD card would be the least of my worries, it would let me keep on taking photos by merely using another card and tossing the broken one. Soiling one is nothing, just wipe it off. but contaminate the sockets of a CF card and you may not see they are blocked up, and it can ruin your camera.

Wow, to bend those pins you had the be shoving it in the wrong way trying to make it fit!

I agree with this. The design of the slot to accept cards is very tight. I've had 7 cameras that use CF, always used a CF reader, so I've taken the cards out 1,000's of times and never had any issue in the cameras whatsoever. Now, stand alone card readers..... I've broke a lot of those.

 

[Bosman]

Just found this article on Rob Galbraith's site. He tested the 1000x Lexar.
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-11673-12268

 

[CanineCandidsByL]

Just found this article on Rob Galbraith's site. He tested the 1000x Lexar.
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-11673-12268

Interesting but it was only 10% faster on canon. However I wish he would have used the more modern cameras, like the 7d. Thanks for posting that, but I still prefer sandisk (guess I'm a fanboy)

 

[kdsand]

Just found this article on Rob Galbraith's site. He tested the 1000x Lexar.
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-11673-12268

Hip hip hooray
Hip hip hooray

Market competition is a wonderful thing for us.

Nifty interesting article.

 

[wickidwombat]

i got a couple of these a few months ago they have been pretty good
they were half the price when I got them though
wish i had bought more now..

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/32gb-Compact-Flash-Card-Duracell-Memory-600x-/320746552853?pt=Digital_Camera_Memory_Cards&hash=item4aadfbfe15

 

[kdsand]

i got a couple of these a few months ago they have been pretty good
they were half the price when I got them though
wish i had bought more now..

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/32gb-Compact-Flash-Card-Duracell-Memory-600x-/320746552853?pt=Digital_Camera_Memory_Cards&hash=item4aadfbfe15

Duracell --
I'm in north america and I don't think I've ever seen duracell cards - duracell batteries sure. It's funny how things are the same yet different.

 

[wickidwombat]

i got a couple of these a few months ago they have been pretty good
they were half the price when I got them though
wish i had bought more now..

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/32gb-Compact-Flash-Card-Duracell-Memory-600x-/320746552853?pt=Digital_Camera_Memory_Cards&hash=item4aadfbfe15

Duracell --
I'm in north america and I don't think I've ever seen duracell cards - duracell batteries sure. It's funny how things are the same yet different.

funny they are from the USA

 

[tt]

600x Sandisk CF card definitely clearing the buffer faster than a 95MB/s Sandisk SDHC card once you're shooting in bursts

 

[kdsand]

i got a couple of these a few months ago they have been pretty good
they were half the price when I got them though
wish i had bought more now..

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/32gb-Compact-Flash-Card-Duracell-Memory-600x-/320746552853?pt=Digital_Camera_Memory_Cards&hash=item4aadfbfe15

Duracell --
I'm in north america and I don't think I've ever seen duracell cards - duracell batteries sure. It's funny how things are the same yet different.

funny they are from the USA

Go figure.
Most electronics around here are from china.

 

[vWings]

Note that the 95MB/s Extreme Pro SDXC is UHS-1 standard, it's still unknown if 5D3 supports UHS-1, if not, maximum speed will be capped at around 30MB/s

On page 32 of the 5D III manual it says:

"Although the camera does not comply with the UHS (Ultra-High Speed) speed class standard, UHS SDHC/SDXC cards can be used."

I assume this means you can use UHS cards, but they will operate at some lower speed.

I just ordered one of those and it was delivered today. SanDisk 16GB Extreme PRO SDHC-UHS-1

Now I am reluctant to break the seal and open the package because something ?? half the price may yield the same write result. Capped at 30 MBS really? If true, this thing is heading back for refund.

So where are we on the fast SD cards and exactly what product is top dog on the new 5Diii?

 

[unkbob]

I just ordered one of those and it was delivered today. SanDisk 16GB Extreme PRO SDHC-UHS-1

Now I am reluctant to break the seal and open the package because something ?? half the price may yield the same write result. Capped at 30 MBS really? If true, this thing is heading back for refund.

So where are we on the fast SD cards and exactly what product is top dog on the new 5Diii?

I would just stick to the 45mb/s read/write Sandisks, they are pretty good value.

 

[vWings]

Thanks for that option to consider. Interesting how this plays out if firmware may later add support for USH-1 or if that is a hardware barrier.

I also purchased (got a pretty good deal) on eight SanDisk 8GB Extreme SDHC CLASS 10 (30MB/s), yes eight of them. I plan primarily plan on using the CF for raw and dropping a L jpeg on the SD, mainly as a poor mans backup. I figured those would be plenty fast enough to record the jpegs and video too for that matter. Really, I suppose if all I ever used the SD slot for was jpeg backup, those SanDisk Extreme cards would be plenty fast enough.

The idea of buying that USH card was having very fast write speed to back up my raw from time to time when continuous shooting is likely.

Thanks again Bob and Scrappy