Memory Cards

[FarQinell]

Quite a few available for DSLRs.
Any difference in performance?
In normal but heavy use do they deteriorate (ie image deterioration) after many many actuations?
If this subject has been covered before - apologies.

 

[Loswr]

I'd recommend Sandisk, with Lexar as a close second. Any card can fail, but they have the lowest rates.

 

[kiniro]

I've only used Trascend. Got 2 32gb sdhc class 10 cards and a 32gb cf card. No problems so far.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Another vote for Sandisk and Lexar. I have a Transcend, it does not meet specs for speed. I have it tucked away for emergencies only.

 

[NAshby]

Indeed I would go with Sandisk as top and Lexar just behind. Keep in mind that with memory cards you pay for what you get so always go for the pro level ones, you buy cheap cards and your asking for a card failure in the near future and a shoots worth of images lost I've seen it way to many times from people I teach.

 

[gary samples]

hands down "Sandisk" love them

 

[Mike Miami]

I've been shooting digital since my Canon Digital Rebel. I've had many differest digital cameras since then including Canon, Nikon, Fuji, Kodak and Poloroid. In that time i've only purchased 3 different brands of memory cards: Sandisk, Lexar and Transcend. Probably about 35 in total. I've had some problems some of the cards. All were the Lexars.
Cards I owned were mostly CF + SD.
I highly recommend Sandisk.
Transcend has so far worked fine but I mostly use the Sandisk now.
I would not recommend Lexar to anyone.

 

[Orangutan]

Re: Memory Cards -- Verify before you trust

I mostly use Transcend, but have a few others as well. There are three issues of concern:

1. Ordinary manufacturing defects that affect a few cells

2. Major manufacturing defects that cause card failure

3. Counterfeits made with inferior or deceptive parts (some cheap flash parts work great at first, then die after a few uses)

I always "stress test" my new cards. I either use a program I wrote to simulate the process of recording and erasing image-sized files, or I use a disk wipe utility like DBAN. I typically run about 20 passes. My understanding (I'm not a flash expert) is that many cards have small defects, and the card's "brain" will mark those areas off, and they'll never cause another problem. 20 passes should take care of that. Similarly, major defects or counterfeit cards should show themselves in 20 passes.

Most MLC cards I've checked are rated for 100,000 write/erase cycles. Even if it's just 1% of that in real life, that's 1,000 write/erase cycles. Running a 20-pass stress test will not diminish the real life or performance of your card.

 

[RunAndGun]

Like others have said ANY card can fail... I've been lucky and haven't experienced that with my Lexar's and few SanDisk's that I own, but see my post in another thread about SanDisk recently.

http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=5430.0

 

[RLPhoto]

I only Trust Sandisk. I Use 16GB Comapct Flash cards, not too big and not too small in size in case one fails and I dont lose my entire shoot.

 

[briansquibb]

This might help with the speed question

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-11676-12462

 

[Bosman]

Sandisk never fails
Kingston is extremely unreliable! Like someone said here you get what you pay for and Kingston is like half the price of others because their memory is bottom barrel quality. I had 2 out of 4 new 32 gig fail me 2 yrs ago. Never bought them again.

 

[jeffreyd00]

I registered just so I could give you some warning. Sandisk cards are great, so much so there are TONS of counterfeits out there.

Don't get scammed. There are lots of counterfeit (fake) Sandisk cards on Ebay and possibly on Amazon marketplace too. I found out the hard way and learned my lesson.

Genuine Sandisk cards only come in a retail package. If you buy a new card and it comes in bulk packaging (just a case or something), it is a fake (period).

Fake or counterfeit = less than expected performance, no warranty, no guarantee of quality which is why you purchased a sandisk card to begin with.

Use this link as a guide for spotting a fake.
http://reviews.ebay.com/FAKE-SanDisk-Extreme-Compact-Flash-Cards-Exposed?ugid=10000000001456539

And the best way to know you got the real deal is to buy from a reputable seller like Adorama, B&H, BuyDig or the like.

Jeffrey

 

[D.Sim]

SanDisk SanDisk SanDisk.

Original, of course... By far the best available imo.

I use 2 16GB CF cards and 4 8GB... all Ultra, with a 30MB/s write speed, more than enough for my uses.

Also, I use the smaller cards more often - in the rare case that something does go wrong, at least theres less loss. Needs swapping out quite often, but I can live with that.

 

[Wideopen]

Im using a Delkin 32gb 450x in my 7D and a Delkin 16gb 700x in my 5d Mark III no complaints here so far.

 

[ruuneos]

At the moment SanDisk 18GB and 8GB 60MB/s cards going to get slower 32GB with 30MB/s for time lapse w/ TC-80N3 but yeah those are my cards.