compactflash vs SD cards - DPChallenge Forums

01/21/2008 11:52:23 AM · #1

I'm going back to South Sudan for a traditional village wedding (no, not me!) and I want lots of memory. My camera takes for CF and SD cards. Is there a differnce? The SDs are certainly cheaper, easier to hide, easier to lose.

_eug

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D

01/21/2008 12:04:28 PM · #2

Personally when I'm doing long trip with lots of photography, I take the Epson P-2000 since it's cheaper than buying a memory card for every day.

As for SD vs. CF, I've never seen a comparison other than CF usually comes out in the larger memory sizes before SD. Not much help though.

robs

Canon EOS R6 Mk II

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

01/21/2008 12:04:33 PM · #3

Not sure there is any real difference if you are not using the secure features (not sure if any camera does). The SD has that nice do not write tab which I think is a nice feature. If your camera takes both - does it flip from one to the other?? In which case I would get some of both to reduce the card change times... change when both are full.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

01/21/2008 12:13:38 PM · #4

Originally posted by _eug:

Personally when I'm doing long trip with lots of photography, I take the Epson P-2000

Ooh I like that! Saves viewing phictures on the camera also. A lot of these people have never seen a photo of themselves. What kind of battery does it use? Recharging is also a problem.

scalvert

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

01/21/2008 12:16:20 PM · #5

Originally posted by _eug:

I take the Epson P-2000 since it's cheaper than buying a memory card for every day.

How do you figure that? 16GB high-speed SD and CF cards are available for about $60 each. Several of those would be FAR cheaper (and smaller) than an Epson P-2000.

ErikV

Nikon D7000

Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR DG IF-ED

01/21/2008 12:33:22 PM · #6

Originally posted by scalvert:

16GB high-speed SD and CF cards are available for about $60 each.

Where do you get high-speed 16 GB SD cards for about $60? (My camera only takes SD, so CF is not an option.)

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

01/21/2008 12:36:51 PM · #7

The cheapest CF I have found so far is $40 for a 4GB and I can't find SD's in 16 GB. Anyone have good sources for SD and CF cards?

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

01/21/2008 12:40:46 PM · #8

CF cards use pins (in the camera) for contacts, while the SD cards have flat metal plates which slide against the contacts in the camera. Especially when you are rushing at a critical moment, it is possible to bend one of the pins in the CF card bay in the camera, and make all your CF cards unusable.

On the other hand, the SD cards are ejected with a tiny spring/clasp arrangement which could fail, while CF cards are ejected by a physical lever mechanism which seems a bit more reliable to me.

If I was going to be "away from civilization" for a week, I'd probably take some of both.

_eug

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D

01/21/2008 12:42:16 PM · #9

Originally posted by scalvert:

Originally posted by _eug:
I take the Epson P-2000 since it's cheaper than buying a memory card for every day.

How do you figure that? 16GB high-speed SD and CF cards are available for about $60 each. Several of those would be FAR cheaper (and smaller) than an Epson P-2000.

Sorry. I should have been more specific. There is a break even point to be accounted for.

I figured out that for a 16 day trip in 2006 I'd have to spend $1000-$1200 for 1 or 2 Gb a day. I ended up with 25Gb on the Epson and carried a 1Gb and a 2Gb card which I swapped.

FireBird

01/21/2008 12:44:37 PM · #10

Originally posted by scalvert:

16GB high-speed SD and CF cards are available for about $60 each.

Wow! Really? I've been out of circulation for a while, buying wise that is. Some links to some good 4 and 8 GB CF cards for
less than 60 bux would be neat.

_eug

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D

01/21/2008 12:45:31 PM · #11

Originally posted by emorgan49:

Originally posted by _eug:
Personally when I'm doing long trip with lots of photography, I take the Epson P-2000

Ooh I like that! Saves viewing pictures on the camera also. A lot of these people have never seen a photo of themselves. What kind of battery does it use? Recharging is also a problem.

The battery is a special item. It's a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery. You can buy extras, but it's easier to get a cheap car power inverter and plug the AC cord into the inverter to charge when you need to.

Spork99

OM System OM-1

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro

01/21/2008 12:45:31 PM · #12

I've heard that SD cards have faster write times, but I can't say for sure. I just put one of each in my camera.

scalvert

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

01/21/2008 12:56:58 PM · #13

Originally posted by _eug:

I figured out that for a 16 day trip in 2006 I'd have to spend $1000-$1200 for 1 or 2 Gb a day.

Maybe in 2006 (and even then, that sounds ridiculously expensive). I recently paid about $25 for a 4GB SandDisk Ultra II (retail, not eBay).

Here's a fast 4GB Sd card for $10, a 16Gb for $60, and a 16GB CompactFlash card for $76 (a recent $60 deal expired yesterday)

Message edited by author 2008-01-21 12:57:50.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

01/21/2008 02:25:37 PM · #14

Wow, thanks for the links. Now I have to sleep on it because i WANT -eug's gizmo but do I NEED it??

jaysonmc

Nikon D200

Nikon MF 105mm f/2.5 AIS

01/21/2008 02:51:33 PM · #15

If you are just worried about capturing pictures than either SD or Compact Flash will work since your camera supports both.

SD does have some features not available in compact flash. You can have things such as a USB connector built into the card. There are things such as Eye-Fi which has built in wireless in the SD card so you can automatically upload your pictures to your website or server just by walking into the door.

Compact Flash on the other hand is generally found in the "pro" equipment because 1) larger sizes, you can find 64gb cards already (though quite pricey) and 2) they have the latest speed enhancements. The newest high cards are super fast, but you need a camera or a very new card reader to take advantage. Compact flash can hit 40mb/s (soon to be 133mb/s) on the high end. You can also have a Compact Flash Hardrive. There is no Security enhancements with Compact Flash.

The only issue with SD that you have to watch our for is the different types as they are not all compatible (SD versus SDHC). SD is a max of 2 gigs.

TLL061

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

01/21/2008 07:53:00 PM · #16

Originally posted by scalvert:

Originally posted by _eug:
I figured out that for a 16 day trip in 2006 I'd have to spend $1000-$1200 for 1 or 2 Gb a day.

Maybe in 2006 (and even then, that sounds ridiculously expensive). I recently paid about $25 for a 4GB SandDisk Ultra II (retail, not eBay).

Here's a fast 4GB Sd card for $10, a 16Gb for $60, and a 16GB CompactFlash card for $76 (a recent $60 deal expired yesterday)

Shannon, But would you buy those no name cards ? or spend a little more and get a better card

zarniwoop

Nikon AF Nikkor 35mm f/2.0D

01/21/2008 08:24:39 PM · #17

If you're just looking for extra storage capacity for a trip, then why not? They're probably slower than fast branded ones, but they're probably more than reliable enough for a one off trip.

eschelar

Canon EOS-7D

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

01/21/2008 08:34:20 PM · #18

The cards shannon linked to appear to be mostly adata cards. That's not a small brand. I've been using a few Adata cards for a while with no trouble.

I'll be looking for a 32GB CF in the summer myself. I wouldn't think twice about Adata. Lifetime warranty and a huge company. I've seen Adata cards at their booths in shows that at the time could spin circles around Sandisk products...

David Ey

Nikon D80

Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f2.8D

01/21/2008 08:40:31 PM · #19

Originally posted by jaysonmc:

.....The only issue with SD that you have to watch our for is the different types as they are not all compatible (SD versus SDHC). SD is a max of 2 gigs.

Interesting you say that....it's true. I have one Lexar 4gb sdhc and it works great in my cam but my reader won't recognize it. Is there a reader you know of that will read it?

Message edited by author 2008-01-21 20:41:43.

eschelar

Canon EOS-7D

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

01/21/2008 08:45:35 PM · #20

that's probably not to do with the brand of card.

SDHC is a new format of card that is not compatible with older SD technology. It's pretty likely that your card reader needs to be replaced with one that handles SDHC.

It's notable that they did actually figure out a way to make SD and SDHC compatible, but they opted against pursuing this direction since it was easier and more profitable to simply kill standard SD and allow all devices that use it to die off. Oh well. I guess when my P&S dies out, I'll just have to be glad when I get a new one that has more noise and diffraction problems. w00t

ErikV

Nikon D7000

Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR DG IF-ED

01/21/2008 09:00:15 PM · #21

If I were using phrases such as "going to Sudan" and "wedding", I would opt for high reliability. The customer reviews for many cards complain a lot about the cards stopping working suddenly -- yes they are under life-time warranty, but that does not help if you are in Sudan taking wedding photos, and your place of purchase is thousands of miles away. Don't have any experience with anything other than SanDisk, so I have no idea what is and is not reliable.

In case anyone is interested, I bought a SanDisk 8 GB Extreme III SD card at Adorama today for $40 after rebate (price $80 minus $40 rebate, maximum of 3 allowed for the rebate -- the rebate is also good on CF cards). At this price, 5 SD cards = 40 GB = $200, which is half the price of the Epson P-2000 -- but you don't get the nice screen.

Bud

Canon EOS-550D Rebel T2i

Sigma 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM

01/21/2008 09:06:13 PM · #22

I agree with

ErikV and the others, just buy lots of memory and SD or Compact Flash, there really is no documented difference in speed or reliability that I know of.

Spork99

OM System OM-1

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro

01/22/2008 12:38:46 AM · #23

Originally posted by aguapreta:

I agree with ErikV and the others, just buy lots of memory and SD or Compact Flash, there really is no documented difference in speed or reliability that I know of.

As for the speed diff between CF and SD, it's just something I read.

In terms of reliability, the difference is in the connection to the camera, if you insert the card once and never remove it, it's no big deal. I can think of several people that have bent or broken the little pins on the camera that go into the CF card. If that happens, you are SOL.