Fastest compactflash card for 7D

[Rat]

I haven't tried the 1000x cards so can't comment on them, but I find these buggers hard to beat for price/performance: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Duracell-32GB-Speed-ProPhoto-CompactFlash/dp/B005THGNCS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347356753&sr=8-1

Thanks for the tip - apparently, mr. Galbraith is pretty happy with 'em too. Surprising no-one mentioned this site to the TS yet, has a comprehensive list on the 7D. I got myself a few Transcend 400x's (with udma 7 support ) which are a little cheaper than the Duracells still, very happy with those. However, the Lexar 1000's are a serious lot faster than what we shoot with

 

[xps]

I tried the Lexar CompactFlash Card (CF) Professional UDMA 1000x 32GB (LCF32GCTBEU1000) - 200 Euros in Europe. Very fast. Downloading and uploading with an cardreader was faster than 70MB/s.

Last, I bought the Transcend CompactFlash Card (CF) 400x 32GB (TS32GCF400). Only 48€, about 50Mb/s.

But @ my Eos 7D, the speed for saving the pics was nearly equal.

 

[xps]

In an german photomagazine a test was published last month: (MB/s writing/ MB/s reading)
1. Lexar CF 32 GB (U1000) (78/108)
2. Lexar CF 32GB Professional (...U400)(58/87)
3. Transcend CF Ultimate 32GB (62/82)
4. Lexar CF 32GB Professional (...U600) (54/84)
4. Transcend CompactFlash Card (CF) 400x 32GB (TS32GCF400) (55/78)

 

[adhocphotographer]

Great info guys, thanks!

 

[Richard8971]

Guys this is a steal!

I bet - here in Europe, cheapest I can find is double that price and importing them is not much cheaper unless I buy a dozen or so in one go

Why can't you just have a friend here in the States buy one (or more) stick them in an envelope and mail them to you?

Have them mark the package "sample" or "gift" with a zero dollar value for import/export purposes... We did that all the time with eBay and sending items overseas without too many issues.

D

 

[wild1photo]

I own the Lexar Professional 16GB 1000x cards UDMA 7 (150 MBs) and San Disk Extreme Pro 16GB UDMA 6 (90MBs) and have 5D mark III and 7D with the 2.0 firmware upgrade which enhances frame rate for the 7D.

In testing: Both cameras were set at 1/800 f 2.8 using the new 16 -35mm L II lens. Also using camera settings of high speed continuos shooting. AI servo mode with shutter release, being priority over focus, for both first and second images, which will give you highest frame rate. In the field others may be using focus priority or equal priority between focus and release, then frame rate will go down as camera searches for focus longer before releasing shutter. Which means burst will be longer due to lower frame rate.

In testing on 7D, I found no difference in frame rate, or number of shots till buffer is full, between using the Lexar and the Sandisk memory. Shooting RAW I get 8 fps and the buffer is full after 28 shots (3.5 seconds of shooting). Confirms what Canon says that the 7D cannot exploit the UDMA 7 higher transfer rate of the Lexar and will transfer at UDMA 6 rate regardless of using faster rated card.

However on the 5D mark III, I was expecting to see a difference before the buffer was full between using these two cards. The 5D mark III is supposed to exploit UDMA 7 and be able to transfer files at higher rate. In fact I bought a couple of the Lexar cards wanting longer burst rate when shooting birds in flight. Using the Sandisk I got 22 exposures (aprox 3.5 seconds) Well the surprise was on me Lexar got the same fps and burst of 22 exposures. No difference between the two cards. I repeated this experiment several times and got the same results.

Other surprise, the 5D mark III by Canon's spec should only get 13fps with the Sandisk UDMA 6 card and 18 fps with the Lexar UDMA 7 card and I am actually getting 22 fps burst rate for either card.

Based on this test, when using these two cameras there is no benefit in getting the newer cards. I am hoping for the benefit, when they upgrade the firmware for the 5D mark III, like they did for the 7D, which increased the burst and frame rate.

Irony is the 7D gives me same burst until buffer full at 3.5 seconds that the 5D Mark III does. However I get higher frame rate with 7D of 8fps vs the 5D mark III at 6fps.

In the field when Autofocus is likely to be more priority, I am anticipating will be speed of the new 5D mark III autofocus system that will help keep frame rate high while 7D frame rate will drop as it searches longer for focus.

Positives:

a) Currently no need to upgrade to faster more expensive cards for either 7D or 5D mark III

b) Getting higher burst rate on the 5D mark III than what Canon claims it should using either card.


Cheers

Wild1

 

[Rat]

Why can't you just have a friend here in the States buy one (or more) stick them in an envelope and mail them to you?

Have them mark the package "sample" or "gift" with a zero dollar value for import/export purposes... We did that all the time with eBay and sending items overseas without too many issues.

Customs actually sample mail and if they find taxable stuff, you get billed anyway - and that happens more and more lately. They apparently read forums like this one too ;D Worse, USPS loses a lot of mail, is my eBay experience - I've found no other country postal service to be this unreliable. And that's ok if there's just a few bucks in the envelope, but $130 is another story.

Anyway, sooner or later someone I know will actually make the trip so yeah, I'll ask someone to bring a card or two. If I don't pick up one myself next year. But I still think those gargantuan price differences are pretty dumb.

 

[kaihp]

Just a quick update. My new Lexar 32gb 1000X card showed up today from Adorama ($139.00)

Mine still says "backordered" at B&H and I ordered on Aug 30th as well. I emailed B&H about delivery time they sent back a zero-value answer ("usually ships in 3-9 days". Sure, that's for new orders. What about MY order?)

Crap. I just got notice from B&H that my Lexar cards, ordered the same day as Richard, are delayed until 21. September, and only 1 week for shipping is not enough to reliably get them to China.
Now for Plan B.