I have been using a Hitachi 4gb Microdrive for the past 4 years without any issues (initially on Canon S1 IS) on a Rebel XT. However, I have been getting a bit concerned about it failing at some point given its age. I am interested in getting a high speed 266x (~ 30MB/s writes I think) compact flash card, but can the Rebel XT take advantage of this high speed? If not, what is the maximum speed that the camera itself can take advantage of?
This link should take you to the Rebel XT data. If not, there is a drop down box to find the camera of your choice. You'll see that there is a bottle neck effect from the body.
In my XTi, I've tried several types of cards, but the SanDisk 2GB Ultra II's seem about as fast as the body can take advantage of. I think the Ultra 2 GB II's are ~66X, and when compared to 150X cards (like the RiData), I just can't tell any difference, and I always shoot RAW files. However, the faster cards do transfer files to my computer perceptibly quicker, if that matters to you.
Agreed with Noah + Dean - I upgraded from the Hitachi 4GB MD to the Sandisk Ultra II CF and SD cards and the time required for moving images from card to the HD improved tremendously.
I usually transfer images using the camera. I don't mind the bit of extra time it takes. I am looking at a Transcend 16GB compact flash. Is this compatible with the Rebel XT? I understand that I cannot format the card with the camera (probably need to use windows to format it), but will it work well once formatted externally?
