The beauty of CF cards.

[dolina]

When prices are that low, CF cards will no longer be all that important. In fact, people may have already started talking about the 1DX Mark III by then.

Plus, if you are using a Canon camera with a CF card in it, then it is unlikely to shoot 4K which means that there is very little reason to have a 256GB card in the camera anyway.

It is hard to fill 64GB on a normal day and even harder to fill 128GB in a day even when shooting an all day-sports event.

I delete all pictures from my cards daily. I use 2x 64GB 1066X (Lexar) and have no need for 128GB, and definitely not 256GB and I shoot video too. That will only change when I start to shoot 4K video.

I often take week-long trips for wildlife photos and prefer not to bring the added weight of a notebook with me or bring extra cards that I may probably misplace for 6 years.

I predict prices to be that low by 2019. By then CF cards will be phased out from Canon's 2019 lineup in favor of CFast.

It is really difficult to find CF cards from where I live so I am able to sell them at the value I got them for from BH. There is a certain threshold where in pricing is acceptable and I have pegged it at nearly $100.

Diagram below better explains my market.

I would say less than 3% of camera owners using CF cards will upgrade to a 2019 cameras that use CFast cards. People who buy my cards tend to be the "late majority" and laggards.

I expect that by 2030 is when CF cards will be phased out but I could be wrong. If you check BH the 2GB-limited SD card is still being sold at $5.

My one wish is that all pro gear used one CF card replacement. Splitting it between XQD and CFast just makes it more expensive to buy.

It would be better if there was one singular memory card form factor and standard to leverage economies of scale but this is not possible.

 

[Maiaibing]

Today, when visiting the site I just scroll down to the bottom and just pick whichever card it recommends excluding the KOMPUTERBay.

For CF cards the fastest are those Sandisk 160MB/s and Lexar 1066x. While SD cards the Lexar 2000x are to have. These two brands are the only game in town. All others are too expensive or slow as they do not have the economies of scale to lower the price as much as Sandisk and Lexar.

Use a Komputerbay 1066x 256GB CF card and a PNY 256GB cheap but reasonably fast SDXC Class 10 card.

In real life shooting I can do 18-19 full RAW on the CF card and 14-15 full RAW on my 256 GB Class 10 SDXC card. This is the in fact same shooting speed that I get with the currently fastest 128 GB Sandisk SDXC card (that I also have).

Don't think it gets much better than that. Also not sure I have ever shot that many frames at once in my life (except when testing).

With 512 GB "on board" I never ever expect to run dry during a day's shooting.

 

[Don Haines]

I often take week-long trips for wildlife photos and prefer not to bring the added weight of a notebook with me or bring extra cards that I may probably misplace for 6 years.

+1

Carry 4 or 5 spare batteries, head out for a week (or more), shoot lots of stills and a few video clips, and that 128G card is full and the spare card is getting close....

 

[dolina]

+1

Carry 4 or 5 spare batteries, head out for a week (or more), shoot lots of stills and a few video clips, and that 128G card is full and the spare card is getting close....

I guess I'm not that odd after all.

Use a Komputerbay 1066x 256GB CF card and a PNY 256GB cheap but reasonably fast SDXC Class 10 card.

In real life shooting I can do 18-19 full RAW on the CF card and 14-15 full RAW on my 256 GB Class 10 SDXC card. This is the in fact same shooting speed that I get with the currently fastest 128 GB Sandisk SDXC card (that I also have).

Don't think it gets much better than that. Also not sure I have ever shot that many frames at once in my life (except when testing).

With 512 GB "on board" I never ever expect to run dry during a day's shooting.

I am happy that Komputerbay and PNY works out for you.

At $93/card the Komputerbay 128GB 1066x is a steal.

 

[expatinasia]

I would say less than 3% of camera owners using CF cards will upgrade to a 2019 cameras that use CFast cards. People who buy my cards tend to be the "late majority" and laggards.

I expect that by 2030 is when CF cards will be phased out but I could be wrong. If you check BH the 2GB-limited SD card is still being sold at $5.

I must say, you do make some rather obvious statements and at other times rather bizarre predictions, and you make those predictions sound as if you know what you are talking about - as if you are an analyst, which I do not think you are!

None of that is really important though, just my observation.

Notebooks are so light and small these days, I would much prefer to have a back up somewhere, and if that is not possible I would use 64GB 1066X cards instead of 128GB.

 

[dolina]

Woah, tone it down a bit. Who made you grumpy this Sunday?

I am not saying what you are doing is wrong but I am just sharing a different workflow to your conventional one.

Or are you mad that I am able to sell my old cards at a price people are willing to buy them for?

CF cards are nearing end of life as a format standard and not a lot of people know this.

If anyone has cards that are smaller than 64GB it may be time to sell em before they become worthless as betamax tapes.

Today, Canon sells 4 bodies and Nikon sells 3 bodies with CF slots. I expect this to be reduced to 3 Canon bodies and 2 Nikon bodies by the end of the year.

CFast and XQD will replace CF and I really wish they just consolidated it to a single replacement to leverage economies of scale.