Thunderbolt CF card reader anyone know ?

[Eddie1]

Does anyone know if there is a CF reader available that utilises apple thunderbolt read speeds ?
Have had no luck googling this am currently using a lexar firrier 800 reader and curios to see if faster speeds available.

thanks

 

[mpe]

You'll have a better chance finding an USB 3.0 reader.

However, if you already have a firewire 800 reader the speed increase will be rather small or none (unless using 1000x cards). In best case it'll save you a few seconds in several minutes long Lightroom import.

In fact here is one, but you won't like the price

http://www.eastwoodsoundandvision.com/sonnet-qio-cf4-4-x-cf-media-reader-thunderbolt

 

[Eddie1]

That's a ridiculous price
Will stay with FireWire 800 in that case
Ta for info

 

[TareqPhoto]

I finally have a Mac with Thunderbolt port, but i will use that only for Hard drives transfers rather than CD/SD photos transfers, i use USB 3.0 and it is quite fast enough for me over Firewire 800 until one day there are more Thunderbolt options out there.

 

[mpe]

The best compact flash cards are 1000x (150MB/s).

USB 2.0 real-world max speed is approx. 30-40 MB/s
Firewire 800 real-world max speed is approx. 70-80 MB/s
USB 3.0 real-life world max speed is approx. 300-400 MB/s
Thunderbolt 1 real world speed is approx 1 GB/s

For still photography I don't think even a USB 2.0 reader can be a bottleneck of my import workflow. What I normally do is import pictures in Lightroom, generate 1:1 and smart previews and apply a preset and then go one by one and edit them. The image operations are far slower than copying pictures from the card reader. Copying can continue on background, so I can start working on images while they are still being copied. Thus I have no problem copying images from card even at USB 2.0 speed.

I think having a fast card reader is far more important for video users that for still photographers.