Since purchasing my 7d i have noticed that 8gig and 4 gig cf cards are simply not able to deliver what I need. Speed and storage size. My Sandisk extreme 3 cards are not able to empty my buffer fast enough to keep up with my shooting habbits. I am finding myself swapping cards every 125 shots for my 4gig cards and 250 for my 8gig cards. I'm going to need to fit 500 or so shots on each card at minimum so I have decided to upgrade to a few 16gig cards.
I have done some research, read some reviews, saw the benchmarks out there but what hasnt been covered is genuine personal experiences.
Sandisk 16GB Extreme 60MB/s - Sandisk cards have been very reliable for me over the years. Never had an issue so the reliability is not an issue. This card isn't the fastest compared to the others. According to Rob Galbraith's benchmarks this card isn't much faster than the Sandisk Extreme 30mb/s cards. These cards are just so damn expensive for what you get. I have to make sure it is going to be worth it before purchasing. http://www.amazon.com/Sandisk-Extreme-Compact-Flash-SDCFX-016G-P61/dp/B002PLBP56/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1262671888&sr=1-4
Others?
I have no doubt that these cards will perform up to spec using a UDMA card reader attached to my computer, however I am unsure about the in camera performance. Rob Galbraith's benchmarks clearly show excellent performance for the Sandisk 60mb/s and the G-Monster Cards.
I own a 16GB G-Monster 533X PLUS. It is very fast and quickly clears the buffer on the 7D. I've owned mine for a few months and it has been 100% reliable. It is a nice card.
If you are willing to go a little slower, I have two of the aData 533X 32GB cards. Very nice bargain at mydigitaldiscount.com for about $103. Also reliable, but write speed in camera is about half the G-Monster card (but, still very fast).
Which card reader are you going to be using on your computer? It is tough to get the most out of these cards in terms of upload times ... I wouldn't just assume that you are going to get very high upload speeds. I skimped a little on a Firewire 800 card and I've been limited to 40MB/sec upload times for now (40MB/sec is still pretty fast). The cards I own should be capable of 70MB+ times ... I'll upgrade my Firewire card later in the year and get everything tuned up (or just go to USB 3.0).
I normally use Sandisk Extreme range but splashed out on the Photofast Gmonster Plus 16gb due to recommendations I received. Haven't had any problems with them, great quality and they are very quick to clear the buffer of my 7D. Used them in very hot weather +45deg C.
I am just in the process of purchasing a few more and will be staying away from Sandisk until their price starts to match the Photofast cards.
I personally feel that 16GB cards are putting too many eggs in one basket. I HAVE had a card go wacky on me before (couple years ago) and I couldn't salvage any of the photos on the card, which was full. It was a 2GB card at the time but had it been 16GB it would have been that many more photos that I would have lost. The largest card in my comfort zone is 8GB. That's about 250 images.... plenty! 500 images is pushing it.
So, if you'll consider staying with 8GB cards, my favorite bang for the buck CF cards are PNY Optima Pro 266x UDMA. I've got four of the 8GB ones. They are plenty fast in my 5D Mark II and extremely fast in my SanDisk Firewire 800 UDMA reader too. Currently, Amazon has the 8GB ones for $59.99.
Check Galbraith's tests and compare. These cards are a good buy.
I said the same thing a few years back when the new 256MB cards came out. I don't want all my eggs in one basket (photos) and stuck with my 64Mb cards. In a few years we'll be saying the same about our 64Gb cards and not wanting to upgrade to those new 512Gb cards.
EB-1 wrote:
1Ds IV will devour 32GB cards for sure.
EBH
Devouring cards, I can accept. But the real challenge is finding enough hard disk space for all these freaking RAW files. Pretty soon we'll all need 50TB RAIDs just to keep a few years' worth of photos backed up.
Right now Sandisk is offering rebates. I just got an 8gb Extreme IV for $115, and the rebate is $60 for only one... if you buy more of the same card, the rebate per card goes up.
wickerprints wrote:
Devouring cards, I can accept. But the real challenge is finding enough hard disk space for all these freaking RAW files. Pretty soon we'll all need 50TB RAIDs just to keep a few years' worth of photos backed up.
I have well over 40TB of drives now and expect to reach 50TB by ~June. Hard drives are practically free now compared to all the FF pro bodies.
I have well over 40TB of drives and will reach 50TB by ~June. Hard drives are practically free now compared to all the FF pro bodies. EBH
I would be very interested to know how you get that amount of photo's organized. I am in the 'just 3 Terabytes' zone only and find keeping them organized no EOSfun. How does one keep track of that many files without redundant duplicates and traceable photo's over several disks? Would you mind to share with us? Maybe not in this thread, but if you could start a new topic in the appropriate board I am sure a few us would appreciate to learn from your experiences. TIA!
EB-1 wrote:
I have well over 40TB of drives now and expect to reach 50TB by ~June. Hard drives are practically free now compared to all the FF pro bodies.
EBH
EB, you my hero... . I just organized mine with a 2-bay 2TB HDs as my backup for selected files and my desktop has one 1-TB and three 2-TB HDs. They are only half full right now. Do you convert all your RAW files onto TIFF or selected only? Do you ever delete your files or do you keep every file regardless of the rating/quality? Just curious.....
Now to get back on topic:
UCSB wrote:
If you are willing to go a little slower, I have two of the aData 533X 32GB cards. Very nice bargain at mydigitaldiscount.com for about $103. Also reliable, but write speed in camera is about half the G-Monster card (but, still very fast).
50TB @ $100/TB = $5000. That's still a lot of money for disk space...granted, it's a lot more than I presently need but heaven help me if I start to take an interest in shooting video with my 5D2.
wickerprints wrote:
50TB @ $100/TB = $5000. That's still a lot of money for disk space...granted, it's a lot more than I presently need but heaven help me if I start to take an interest in shooting video with my 5D2.
Yeah I remember how much I paid for 8TB (plus applicable enclosure) 3 years ago. But I digress
OO7MIKE wrote:
Sandisk 16GB Extreme 60MB/s - Sandisk cards have been very reliable for me over the years. Never had an issue so the reliability is not an issue. This card isn't the fastest compared to the others. According to Rob Galbraith's benchmarks this card isn't much faster than the Sandisk Extreme 30mb/s cards. These cards are just so damn expensive for what you get. I have to make sure it is going to be worth it before purchasing. http://www.amazon.com/Sandisk-Extreme-Compact-Flash-SDCFX-016G-P61/dp/B002PLBP56/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1262671888&sr=1-4
I have two of these, and I've been pleased with them so far. If you think they're too expensive from Amazon, try HERE
OO7MIKE wrote:
Photofast G-Monster 533X 16GB - Faster than the 32gb model but still slower than the plus model. I'm guessing they are an even match for the Sandisk 60mb/s cards. Anyone with experience?
I tested one of these, the 16GB 533x (non-Plus) version, in my 7D and found write speed of about 37MB/s. For comparison, Rob Galbraith found the 533x Plus version to write at about 52MB/s.
I also measured:
16GB Sandisk Extreme III 30MB/s Edition, write speed of about 27MB/s.
32GB Sandisk Extreme III 30MB/s Edition, write speed of about 25MB/s.
My measurements were for shooting RAW only at max continuous speed, first formatting the card in-camera, then starting the timer when I pressed the shutter, {edit: releasing the shutter after the buffer filled}, and stopping the timer when the CF light went dark. Megabytes of data on the card divided by timed interval is what I am reporting.
UCSB wrote:
If you are willing to go a little slower, I have two of the aData 533X 32GB cards. Very nice bargain at mydigitaldiscount.com for about $103. Also reliable, but write speed in camera is about half the G-Monster card (but, still very fast).
Could you measure the write speed for these aData cards in the same way and report them? If it is actually "about half the G-Monster card," then I take that to be about 26MB/s (using RG's numbers for the G-Monster 533x Plus), which isn't really faster than Sandisk Extreme III. But if "about half" is a conservative estimate, and in reality they are substantially faster, then I'd really be interested in the aData card...
. I just organized mine with a 2-bay 2TB HDs as my backup for selected files and my desktop has one 1-TB and three 2-TB HDs. They are only half full right now. Do you convert all your RAW files onto TIFF or selected only? Do you ever delete your files or do you keep every file regardless of the rating/quality? Just curious.....