compact flash or fast SD card? which is the best value

[mrjames]

I'm looking for new cards as i'm shooting some events with a tight turnaround
and i'd like to cut down my import time from card to computer

I shoot raw and shoot with 2 cameras, one's a 5d and the other's a 1d3, so both take CF, and I also have a CF to SD adaptor

I have a USB 3 card reader that takes CF and SD, I also have SD build into my laptop

I have a kingston 133x CF card, and a transcend wifi class 10 SD, the CF card is so much quicker to import, even over usb 2- for some reason the CF card won't work in my usb 3 reader

From my testing usb 3 is no faster than usb 2 for pulling photos off the SD card, i.e. still slower than pulling off the CF card over usb 2

so i'm looking for new cards to replace both the old CF and the transcend wifi, Ideally i'd pull photos in from both cards simultaneously so I could buy another usb 3 CF reader or I could shoot a fast CF card in the 5d and a fast SD card in the 1d (or the other way round) and import both at the same time with the same reader

I think my 133x CF reads at around 20 MB/s, and the class 10 SD is half that- so i'm looking for an SD card that's at least as fast as that, but preferably faster- although I don't have a lot to spend so i'd rather not spend any more than I have to, and I want to buy at that sweet spot between performance and value

Capacity i'm looking at is 16gb, maybe 32 if it's not too much more

so yes my question is really this: Is CF still the performance king? Is SD still the value king? Out of a similarly priced CF/SD which will perform best under real world conditions?

thanks

 

[mrjames]

to add to this i'm really not concerned about write speed- i'm rarely hammering the shutter, all i'm really concerned with is reading the photos off the card, and compatibility with my cameras

 

[psenior1]

I can't comment on write speeds but I shoot professionally with both CF and SD cards, I've only ever had two cards fail/become corrupt, both were Sandisk extreme pro SD's. It might be a co-incidence, but never had any reliability issues with CF's, which is more important to me than write speeds (as long as they are adequate).

 

[mrjames]

I can comment on write speeds but I shoot professionally with both CF and SD cards, I've only ever had two cards fail/become corrupt, both were Sandisk extreme pro SD's. It might be a co-incidence, but never had any reliability issues with CF's, which is more important to me than write speeds.

fair point

thanks

for what it's worth i'd most likely be shooting a CF in the 5d and shooting to both card slots in the 1d- so if the SD did crap out on me i'd still have the photos written to the CF card



advantage of getting one SD and 1 CF is that I can use the same reader, if I had 2 CF then i'd have to use 2 readers

 

[psenior1]

readers are cheap and last forever, I use an old firewire CF reader and a usb one for any sd's. I tried to get USB 3 working but was nothing but hassle!

 

[Byker28i]

Personally I'd say cf cards are quicker. For that reason I write raw to the cf and small jpeg to the sd cards in my 5d mk3. The sd becomes easy to import into the iPad for initial checking or quick web upload. I've never had sandisk cards fail on me, cf or sd but I have had other brands so I stick to sandisk now.
Just bought a 32gb extreme 60gb sec for £89, import speed isn't bad, but then I just plug it into my card reader and click import on Lightroom and make a coffee. It doesn't take that long to import 800 images.
Another thought would be to shoot smaller raw files, could you compromise that way at all if load speed is really important to you?

 

[mrjames]

readers are cheap and last forever, I use an old firewire CF reader and a usb one for any sd's. I tried to get USB 3 working but was nothing but hassle!

my laptop doesn't have firewire now
and i'll be editing and uploading in the field so would be easier to use 1 reader, less cables, less things to lose/break etc but it's not the end of the world to shoot with 2 readers, but that being said CF cards are more expensive, so 2 CF cards, and a new reader is...well I know it's not a lot of money at all, but i'm pretty broke ha ha

Personally I'd say cf cards are quicker. For that reason I write raw to the cf and small jpeg to the sd cards in my 5d mk3. The sd becomes easy to import into the iPad for initial checking or quick web upload. I've never had sandisk cards fail on me, cf or sd but I have had other brands so I stick to sandisk now.
Just bought a 32gb extreme 60gb sec for £89, import speed isn't bad, but then I just plug it into my card reader and click import on Lightroom and make a coffee. It doesn't take that long to import 800 images.
Another thought would be to shoot smaller raw files, could you compromise that way at all if load speed is really important to you?

even if they're rated for the same speed? like say 400x?


I think i'll have an hour to grab all my stuff and get out of there, find a starbucks, import, edit, and send out after the event is done- so a couple of minutes wait won't kill me but importing off my class 10 SD is a nightmare, takes forever!


Could shoot small RAW, but I think the compromises are too great- if I knew they were only going for web use then i'd probably do that, but i'd rather keep the ability to crop or make big prints

 

[Byker28i]

Could shoot small RAW, but I think the compromises are too great- if I knew they were only going for web use then i'd probably do that, but i'd rather keep the ability to crop or make big prints

That's where a dual card camera really comes in
Sounds like you've make up your mind what you want anyway

 

[mrjames]

That's where a dual card camera really comes in
Sounds like you've make up your mind what you want anyway

ha no I really haven't

although I think I will probably spring for these

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0042VSTZQ/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&psc=1&s=computers

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lexar-Profe...e=UTF8&qid=1394014931&sr=1-2&keywords=800x+sd

there's a lexar 800x CF but it's a lot more expensive, or a cheaper 400x transcend card, but I figured I might as well get both cards to be 600x, and the price is pretty good