Cheap Compact Flash Card

[bill jarvis]

It's not the fastest card going but it's the cheapeast I've seen.
£36.25 for an 8GB card can't be bad.

bill

[coupekid]

Originally Posted by bill jarvis

It's not the fastest card going but it's the cheapeast I've seen.
£36.25 for an 8GB card can't be bad.

bill

WOW!

That is good value Bill.

Has anyone any experience of these lesser/unknown brands?

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/prod...ducts_id=64323

swa this as well...a fiver for a 1gig card aint bad!

[Ian]

Originally Posted by bill jarvis

It's not the fastest card going but it's the cheapeast I've seen.
£36.25 for an 8GB card can't be bad.

bill

Hi Bill - it's pretty amazing when I can recall trying a 1GB card just 3-4 years back thast was the best part of £700

And it was Type II only (the thicker CF form factor) - and I'm not referring to Microdrives, either.

Ian

[bigbob]

Bill if your going to use it on the S5 watch out for write speeds .
I found that standard cards take 6+ seconds to write a fine large Jpeg and RAW takes about 20.
I put in Sandisk extreme3 's and speeds dropped to 2 seconds .
In fact i've got rid of all my slower cards now including 100x cards and just use extreme3 x 2GB .
Good value if you don't need speed , but i'm scepical about putting all my eggs in one basket in case of card failure (and it's happened) so i use a few more smaller cards .

B..

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by bigbob

Bill if your going to use it on the S5 watch out for write speeds .
I found that standard cards take 6+ seconds to write a fine large Jpeg and RAW takes about 20.
I put in Sandisk extreme3 's and speeds dropped to 2 seconds .
In fact i've got rid of all my slower cards now including 100x cards and just use extreme3 x 2GB .
Good value if you don't need speed , but i'm scepical about putting all my eggs in one basket in case of card failure (and it's happened) so i use a few more smaller cards .

B..

I'd tend to agree with you Bob. These cards really are a bargain price, but I'd be unhappy using them for normal use as speed is an issue for me, especially when it comes to read/download speeds, and the sort of write speeds you are quoting for standard cards on the Fuji would be unacceptable for me. I tend to use the Extreme III cards all the time now, though I realise the price differential is significant.

At the moment with around 8mb Raw files, I'm getting around 120ish exp from a 1GB card. I would very rarely need 8x this, unless away from home for extended periods without the ability to download and free up space. I think I'd sooner have several smaller cards.

[bill jarvis]

I wouldn't argue with either of your opinions but speed isn't always an issue with me but with the files on the S5 being all but 30mb each, when shooting RAW + JPEG, size will be. If I find myself in a situation where speed becomes important, a card can be changed in seconds.
I am also sceptical as to whether many of these cheaper cards come from the same source as Sandisk or Lexar, with merely the name changed.

bill

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by bill jarvis

I am also sceptical as to whether many of these cheaper cards come from the same source as Sandisk or Lexar, with merely the name changed.

bill

Are you saying you suspect they are made by Sandisk or Lexar? Its a fact that some generic brands like the bargain basement 7dayshop ones are made by the big manufacturers. I used to have one that said Toshiba in Explorer, when it was put in the card reader.

[himmelblau]

MyMemory do their own branded memory cards with a lifetime warranty, a MyMemory 4GB 133X PRO Compact Flash Card £17.99 + £3.99 P+P; note this card operates at the same speed as the SanDisk Extreme III.

If you ordered 20 items, P+P would still only be £3.99 and they would be sent out indiviually so you don't get caught for VAT/Duty by HM Customs.

Brian

[himmelblau]

Oh, forgot a SanDisk Extreme III 4GB CF card is £39.99 at play.com and that includes postage.

Brian

[bill jarvis]

Tried the cheap 8gb card against a 2gb Sandisk Exreme IV card.
It took the Fuji S5 11 seconds to write a 25mb file to the cheap card and 5 seconds to write the same file to the Sandisk.
Quicker of course but not the 166X we're lead to believe (assuming the cheap card is 1X).

bill

[Stephen]

I have a cheapo SD card from 7DS and have just compared it with an Sandisk EXIII. My camera takes approx 8mb raw files, though frankly thats pretty irrelavant. The point is that the Sandisk is approx 4x faster. However download 1GB and you really notice the difference. Even a 1GB EXIII CF card takes around twice the time of an EXIII SD card I find.