CF cards

Adow2

Adow2

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Name
Alan
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I'm just wondering how long do you get out of a CF card?

I understand there will be a certain life span on these cards, but does the quality start to deteriorate over time? I usually upload all shots at the end of the day to iPhoto, and during that process I opt to delete from card. Therefore every time I take my camera out I start with an empty card. Is this the best way of doing things or am I over using the card which will lead into a shorter life span?

Sorry if this is a silly question.....:)

Thanks for taking the time to read my thread.

Alan
 
well until recently i'd been using the same Cf card for about 8 years - its still fine, i just upgraded to larger capacity cards

which is the bottom line - in 99% of cases cards from decent manufactuers will become obsolete before they fail from old age (though of course any card can fail at any time)
 
I thought that might have been the case but I had read somewhere they only good for a certain amount of shots and deletions. Glad I got a 4gb sandisk when I got my camera nearly opted for a smaller cheaper one!
 
Adow2 said:
I thought that might have been the case but I had read somewhere they only good for a certain amount of shots and deletions.
Click to expand...

This is true. However, it's not worth worrying about. Each memory site can handle between 10,000 and 100,000 write/erase cycles.

Adow2 said:
Glad I got a 4gb sandisk when I got my camera nearly opted for a smaller cheaper one!
Click to expand...

So, assuming 10,000 cycles, you'll be able to write 40,000 GB of data to that card. If you shoot RAW then they're going to be less than 25MB per file. That's 40 files per GB and 1,600,000 files per card. If you shoot 250 images per day, every day, then your card will die in just under 20 years. I seriously doubt you'll still be using it then.
 
And your camera shutter will pack up far sooner
 
I alwYs shot to 4gb cards, easier to manage and back up...
 
I've never thought about this. Just thought it's gonna last forever. I think it will last you at least enough time to wait for the next generation cf card (or whatever new format) comes out. ;)
 
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