Lexar Professional ExpressCard CF card reader

[DPNow]

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In this review we have a look at the Lexar Professional ExpressCard CompactFlash Reader. This is compatible with Apple Mac or Windows laptops or other PCs fitted with either an ExpressCard 34 or 54 (mm) interface slot. Most laptops don't feature an integrated CF card reader any more, so from a practical point of view an ExpressCard reader is useful if your camera uses CF cards. It also promises to be much faster than conventional USB card readers, but is that how it actually turned out?

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[Ian]

It did dawn on me that many photographers who use laptop computers may not even know what an ExpressCard slot is or whether their laptop even has one

Does anyone here already use ExpressCard devices?

Ian

[devilgas]

used to use a PCMCIA to CF adaptor many years ago.
now i just use a multi card usb reader. it works with the desktop, laptop & netbook and takes all the cards i currently use.

[Ian]

Originally Posted by devilgas

used to use a PCMCIA to CF adaptor many years ago.
now i just use a multi card usb reader. it works with the desktop, laptop & netbook and takes all the cards i currently use.

It's a shame that ExpressCard devices generally stick out of the slot. You used to be able to insert a PCMCIA (PC Card) device fully in to the slot.

The multi-compatible SD/Memory Stick, etc. slot in my laptop is broken (the catch that keeps the spring-loaded card clicked into position has broken), so I have to use an alternative, and of course there is no integrated support for CF cards anyway.

Ian

[Stephen]

I tend to use SD cards for my photography, and though my camera also uses a CF card I rarely use it. Consequently I use an expresscard in my MacBook Pro to take the SD cards. It sits flush into the slot, unlike a CF version would, and negates the need to use a regular card reader.

The expresscard is a relatively cheap Kensington version and frankly it doesn't seem any faster than the regular SD card reader using a USB port. I'd be interested to know if there are faster versions available

[Ian]

Originally Posted by Stephen

I tend to use SD cards for my photography, and though my camera also uses a CF card I rarely use it. Consequently I use an expresscard in my MacBook Pro to take the SD cards. It sits flush into the slot, unlike a CF version would, and negates the need to use a regular card reader.

The expresscard is a relatively cheap Kensington version and frankly it doesn't seem any faster than the regular SD card reader using a USB port. I'd be interested to know if there are faster versions available

I may send you the Lexar ExpressCard CF reader I reviewed recently to find out if you see any major speed benefit...

Ian

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Ian

I may send you the Lexar ExpressCard CF reader I reviewed recently to find out if you see any major speed benefit...

Ian

I'll happily give that a go Ian, however as I see it, on a like for like basis I have always found the read/write speeds of the SD cards better than equivalent CF cards. I generally use Sandisk Extreme III cards, and this was the main reason for my use of SD cards over the CF ones.

I would however be able to see if the Lexar device was faster than using the same CF card in a USB card reader.

On a side note, I used the 16GB Kingston card yesterday (won on the Salon recently) it has a speed of 133x yet I sensed it was taking longer to write to the card than when using the EXIII card. It was a purely subjective thing and I may have been wrong.

[Ian]

Originally Posted by Stephen

I'll happily give that a go Ian, however as I see it, on a like for like basis I have always found the read/write speeds of the SD cards better than equivalent CF cards. I generally use Sandisk Extreme III cards, and this was the main reason for my use of SD cards over the CF ones.

I would however be able to see if the Lexar device was faster than using the same CF card in a USB card reader.

On a side note, I used the 16GB Kingston card yesterday (won on the Salon recently) it has a speed of 133x yet I sensed it was taking longer to write to the card than when using the EXIII card. It was a purely subjective thing and I may have been wrong.

I'm sure the Lexar Pro ExpressCard reader and a UDMA (300x or 600x) CF card will be faster than a Class 6 or Class 10 (20MB/sec or 133x) SDHC card. But by how much is the question as I found that other system factors eroded overall performance.

Ian