Sandisk Ultra II vs Extreme III

PlaneMike

PlaneMike

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Mike
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Just ordered an 8Gb Sandisk Ultra II CF for £20.99 inc P&P to feed the voracious appetite of my 7D.

Also on offer (but just 4Gb) was the Extreme III for the same price.

Both cards are the 30Mb/sec variety.

What is the benefit of the Extreme III at twice the price?

Mike
 
IIRC the III had a greater temperature range for storage and use, although when released it was the transfer speeds that differed that was the main selling point, so you prob did the right thing lol.
 
When you say voracious appetite, do you mean the appetite for a fast transfer rate, or just the fact that you're taking lots of photos?

Just interested to know whether you're experiencing any transfer rate issues as I've just bought a 7D and I'm planning on buying a few of the Extreme III 30mbs cards as backups.

Cheers

Dave
 
I'm on the look out for a new card and I'd like an 8Gb but the price of an Extreme III is pretty steep at the moment so I was considering an Ultra II but I really don't want to compromise on the transfer speed and reliability. I use a D300 so any reviews from people would be appreciated.
 
The new Ultra (not the Ultra II) are 30Mb/s which is the same speed as the old Extreme III. The new Extreme range are 60Mb/s, and the Extreme Pro are 90Mb/s. Given the massive price difference over the range I would stick with Ultras.
 
Sandisk have been realigning their range recently and its getting a bit confusing whilst there are still stocks of the old ones about

Old
Ultra II - 15mb/s
Extreme III - early 20mb/s, later 30Mb/s
Extreme IV - 45Mb/s

New
Ultra (30mb/s)
Extreme (60mb/s)
Extreme Pro (90mb/s)

All jolly confusing !
 
When you say voracious appetite, do you mean the appetite for a fast transfer rate, or just the fact that you're taking lots of photos?
Click to expand...

It's the number of shots per card I want to increase but don't want to sacrifice transfer speed. If I'm out for the day, I find I may have to swap cards when using my 4Gb Extreme III's and they always fill up at just the wrong moment. So I went for an 8Gb.

The transfer rate is reasonable on the Extreme III - 14 shots @ high speed (< 2 seconds) kept the red light on for about 15 seconds or so. That's not a 30Mb/sec real world rate but if the Ultra is the same, that'll do me.

Mike
 
Thanks for that info Andrew - yes, looks like Sandisk have too much invested in those model names to want to drop them.
Also looks like I may have the old Extreme III's so maybe I'll even get a boost from the new Ultra.
Mike
 
This any use??

I know many cameras have low transfer buffer to card speeds. Not sure what the ceiling is for a 7D. I'd imagine it's around 20mb/s.

The new UDMA cards are also out and the latest 400X card is about £45. The value of super high-speed cards isn't realised in many cameras. For example 1DmkII's write at less than 10mb/s max.

So for many cameras ultra II's are about as fast as you need, others Extreme III's to reach the limit. So, you probably will be reaching teh cameras limit before the card with Sandisks fastest cards, so you could argue there is little point in going any faster. But having said that some cameras are the place you would see the benefit is the actual transfer from card reader to PC.
 
Arrived today. For info, the card supplied is the new Ultra 30Mb/sec and not the old UltraII.
Mike
 
andrewc said:
Sandisk have been realigning their range recently and its getting a bit confusing whilst there are still stocks of the old ones about

Old
Ultra II - 15mb/s
Extreme III - early 20mb/s, later 30Mb/s
Extreme IV - 45Mb/s

New
Ultra (30mb/s)
Extreme (60mb/s)
Extreme Pro (90mb/s)

All jolly confusing !
Click to expand...

is there any way of telling the difference between new/old visually? do the new ones have new branding, etc? just been looking at a host of different ones online and getting confused!
 
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