CFII or Microdrive for EOS20D

IanC_UK

IanC_UK

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Ian Cook
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Having picked up my nice shiny new 20D this afternoon, i obviously had to try it out ;) but found my weedy 64mb cf cards are just a waste of space now ! lol they were good enough for my Nikon 995, and can stay with it !

My question being, i know Sandisk Ultra II CF cards are blinding fast, but am i better off with them or a microdrive with its larger storage ? (Now up to 6gb from Hitachi)

Decisions decisions, i appear to be keen to destroy my bank balance this month ! lol

Thanks in advance for nice shiny words of wisdom :)
 
The general opinion is that the 20D is at its fastest when used with Sandisk Ultra II cards although there are currently many other suitable cards available that will work very well indeed. In use it is not worth buying the Ultra III as in terms of speed on the 20D there is very little improvement. Try to buy something with a speed of 40X or faster but be aware of buying Lexar Pro which write at 80X as there have been a few complaints of the write acceleration technology causing issues with the 20D. There have also been reports from people not having any issues with Lexar and the 20D, so it could be the luck of the draw?

As to size, I would recommend 2Gb as that is a nice balance between usable storage space verses speed. The larger the storage size the slower the card but with the 20D having a large sensor and saving quite large files anything less could cause you to require frequent card changes. Also consider that a micro drive is made from moving parts so is not only more susceptible to failure from damage or bad knocks but will also draw more power to spin up the parts.

One last thing, CF cards and Microdrives do fail from time to time. If you have invested in a 4 or 6gb card and have filled it on an important shoot then it should fail you are going to loose a lot of valuable photos, if you are using 2 or three 2GB cards while its still not good at least you are only losing a few pictures rather than them all.

Hope that helps?
 
NP glad to help but don’t discount other makes either as some of the lads here have got some great deals and are totally happy with their purchases. Have a look in the suppliers and shopping forum for the threads on CF cards and you will soon see what I mean. :)
 
To add to what has already been said... I don't believe in putting too many eggs in one basket, so I go for 1GB cards - there's no great economy of scale at the moment - but 2GB would be fine. Some card readers have a 2GB limit.

I've found Sandisk Ultra II to be fine, and also Transcend. Microdrives are more fragile than solid-state CF, consume more battery power and also tend to get rather warm. Unless you need >2GB on one card, I don't really see the point. :wink:
 
I posted a link to the blankdisc shop the other week after I found and bought one of their Integral i PRO cards

I opted for the 2.0gb card which was delivered in a couple of days for under 100 quid!
jessops wanted 175 for their 2.gb card which only had a 20x write speed iirc.

I used the card yesterday for the first time in anger while at a friends wedding, I managed to use a mere 1.3gb !!!!

At no time did the 20D lock out on me, even when doing a couple of 5 frame bursts during the confetti storm 8)

Well worth the money :D
 
digitalfailure said:
I posted a link to the blankdisc shop the other week after I found and bought one of their Integral i PRO cards

I opted for the 2.0gb card which was delivered in a couple of days for under 100 quid!
jessops wanted 175 for their 2.gb card which only had a 20x write speed iirc.

I used the card yesterday for the first time in anger while at a friends wedding, I managed to use a mere 1.3gb !!!!

At no time did the 20D lock out on me, even when doing a couple of 5 frame bursts during the confetti storm 8)

Well worth the money :D
Click to expand...

Yeah it was your post that pointed me to blankdisk ! :)

Hmmm, now i definitely need to order one ! ;) i found out today if i run my 20d in raw mode i can get 3 or 4 pics max on the 64mb cards, whereas i could get 88 from the nikon ! mind it is only 3.34 megapixel and didnt do raw ! lol so at the moment i am having to run at low res, or keep changing cards !

I saw Jessops prices while in there, and was not going to pay that for a memory card, specially knowing i could get so much cheaper almost anywhere else ! Even pc world are cheaper i think ! lol
 
I just found this while mooching the interweb ! lol

http://www.mx2.co.uk/acatalog/MX2_co_uk_Integral_Compact_Flash_Cards_253.html

They have the Integral 2gb for £95.99 and free postage ! or they have 512mb for £30.99 delivered !

and another one ! lol

http://www.flash-memory.co.uk/pp/Dealtime/Integral_2GB_x_40_Speed_Compact_Flash_Cards.html

£95.49 delivered for the integral 2gb card !

Have never used them so cant say if they are any good or not, but free postage at that price cant be all bad ! lol
 
The only thing I've found about MX2 is their appalling stock level, the number of times I've seen a good deal and ordered it from them only to be told 2 days later that it's out of stock!
 
I've had that from MX2 in the past, but on the whole they've been quite reliable.

I managed to order my card from SVP while they had a postage offer on, it came to £98 and a few P delivered.
Packaging was a little OVER protective, infact I could have got 100 of them in the box they sent :eek:
 
IanC_UK said:
I placed an order from flashmemory today for an integral 2gb cf card, will keep you posted re delivery etc ! :)

Was £95.49 including delivery.
Click to expand...

Cool, let us know how you get on with it when it arrives. Switch you 20D into continuous drive and see how many shots you can get before you get buffer lockout
 
Steve said:
IanC_UK said:
I placed an order from flashmemory today for an integral 2gb cf card, will keep you posted re delivery etc ! :)

Was £95.49 including delivery.
Click to expand...

Cool, let us know how you get on with it when it arrives. Switch you 20D into continuous drive and see how many shots you can get before you get buffer lockout
Click to expand...

Ok, wheres the manual ! lol

Right with the sandisk 512mb cheapo thing i bought today so i could actually take pics with it ! lol

In sport mode, continous shot, it will take 30 pics before buffer throws its toys out the pram !

Will do the same trick with the Integral when it gets here ! :)
 
Havent got it in me grubby hands yet, but the CF card arrived at my brothers this morning ! Not too bad really, Ordered Sunday afternoon, think was dispatched yesterday.

Should hopefully be able to have a play Saturday when i see him ! :)
 
I use the Integral ipro 2G card in the 10d.

A marked differance over the 4G microdrive.

No complaints with these cards from me.
 
IanC_UK said:
Havent got it in me grubby hands yet, but the CF card arrived at my brothers this morning ! Not too bad really, Ordered Sunday afternoon, think was dispatched yesterday.

Should hopefully be able to have a play Saturday when i see him ! :)
Click to expand...

Cheers, look forward to reading your findings :D
 
Just checked their site, they have put the price up to £97.53 now so just sneaked in at 95 !!! :) Price still includes delivery tho !

Yeah have heard good things about integral, had a couple people on here recommend them, and for the price couldnt argue really, Ultra II cards are still about 50 quid more expensive if you buy them from the UK, unless you are prepared to order from abroad, where you can save a fortune, think i would rather book a flight and buy while i was there, least you could test it ! lol ebay is dangerous ! ;) lol i keep seeing things i want (decent lenses and a 580ex) but fortunately just bought the 20d so cant afford anythign else at the mo ! lol
 
If Andy Rouse uses the i PRO cards solely!!!!

thats good enough for me 8)
 
IanC_UK said:
Yeah just found one thanks to the supplier forum, 40* CF 2gb £95.99 ! not bad at all ! considering jessops want that for a 1gb card ! lol

http://www.blankdiscshop.co.uk/acatalog/Digital_Media_.html

I am glad IanW pointed me here ! :)
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Don't buy Jessops branded CF cards!!!!!! Write speed 1.2Mb/sec.... that's RUBBISH!!! Plus... Jessops want 83 quid for a 1Gb card of that crappy spec, which is more than I paid for a 1Gb Sandisk Ultra II 60x card.
 
IanC_UK said:
digitalfailure said:
If Andy Rouse uses the i PRO cards solely!!!!

thats good enough for me 8)
Click to expand...

That was another thing that moved the swingometer for me !!! :)
Click to expand...

I know ANdy Rouse... he sometimes lectures at my old college.. nice guy... if a little mad.
 
Pook said:
Don't buy Jessops branded CF cards!!!!!! Write speed 1.2Mb/sec.... that's RUBBISH!!! Plus... Jessops want 83 quid for a 1Gb card of that crappy spec, which is more than I paid for a 1Gb Sandisk Ultra II 60x card.
Click to expand...

Dont worry i saw the price ! saw it wasnt platinum coated and thought blow that ! lol

I like the integral one though ! does me fine :)
 
milou said:
I've always had CF cards but I've just bought a 2.2gb microdrive for £60 delivered after seeing an ad in Photography Monthly: http://www.vtec.co.uk/product/84_633.asp - thought it'll be worth a punt at 60 squids. It's on special offer as the usual price is £115.
Click to expand...

Thats a good price for a microdrive ! specially 2gb one !

I paid 95 for a 2gb CF card !
 
digitalfailure said:
If Andy Rouse uses the i PRO cards solely!!!!

thats good enough for me 8)
Click to expand...

He gets paid to say that!!!!!!



plus free cards!



probably!
 
I'm not bothered if he is paid to say that, if he trusts those cards to earn his crust then you can't ask for much more.

You only get one chance at the shot in his line of work, 8)






:LOL:
 
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