xD Picture Card or Compact Flash, which is faster/better?

[zen_man]

Get one of these:
4 GB

SanDisk | Products | Memory Cards | Compact Flash | Extreme® IV CompactFlash®

SanDisk | Products | Memory Cards | Compact Flash | Extreme III CompactFlash®

2 GB

SanDisk | Products | Memory Cards | Compact Flash | Extreme® IV CompactFlash®

SanDisk | Products | Memory Cards | Compact Flash | Extreme III CompactFlash®

and be done with it.

They have up to 16 GB cards but I don't know if there is a limitation on that camera's firmware regarding size capacity. And yes, the xD will be disappointing as far as speed.

 

[jeraldjcook]

Get one of these ... and be done with it.

Without a doubt the best card money can buy. I, however, have had great luck with the bulk CF and SD cards from Micro Center. 2 GB cards run about $13. They don't post a speed on the cards, but I've done some transfer tests using a card reader and my computer and they've beaten my higher priced 133x cards (20 MB/s). With cheaper cards, you run the risk of the card dying (at least this is the argument for higher priced cards) but I've never had a problem and don't rely on the images for my livelihood, so for me it's not an issue.

 

[Empty V]

Thanks for all the info everyone. I read online while deciding to buy my new camera some reviews stating that the CF slot was useless due to the write time. Hopefully this camera writes at the same speeds to both slots. I can't imaging having a 2nd processor dedicated just to another memory card slot, I would think that would significantly add to the price of the camera and would serve no purpose. So those people(might have only been one, can't remember) must have either been smoking crack or just using old CF cards that have slow write times.

I used CF cards in a DSLR at a wedding reception I was shooting for a friend and didn't notice any lag in write times but they didn't want me to shoot RAW.

Well it looks like it's CF Cards for me!!

Billy

 

[bladephotog]

Thanks for all the info everyone. I read online while deciding to buy my new camera some reviews stating that the CF slot was useless due to the write time. Hopefully this camera writes at the same speeds to both slots. I can't imaging having a 2nd processor dedicated just to another memory card slot, I would think that would significantly add to the price of the camera and would serve no purpose. So those people(might have only been one, can't remember) must have either been smoking crack or just using old CF cards that have slow write times.

I used CF cards in a DSLR at a wedding reception I was shooting for a friend and didn't notice any lag in write times but they didn't want me to shoot RAW.

Well it looks like it's CF Cards for me!!

Billy

My Canon 1DMKIIn's have two slots. The second slot is a back up. If you fill one card the camera will automatically start writing to the second card. Your's may do the same. FWIW I only use the CF slot. Write speed is mostly determined by the card and the bigger CF cards are easier for me to handle.

 

[RonFrank]

Ultimate write speed is a function of a lot of things. This is true both when shooting, and when downloading.

High End DSLR bodies are amazing animals. The D200 write speed is blazing! The way it handles the image buffering, and writing is amazing. Without going into technical details, the D200 does a lot of things in parallel which allows it to shoot around 40 JPG images, or 21 RAW+JPG at 5.5fps. Once you hit 40 images (jpg) it drops to around 1.7fps for as long as you want to shoot. Rather impressive, and new DSLR's are even better.

PnS write speeds are rather pathetic in comparison, but then they are not designed for or used by folks with such high performance expectations.

The newest and fastest cards are designed for use by high end DSLR's, and it's generally rather pointless to spend a lot of $$$ on a high end card for non DSLR models as the camera can't begin to take advantage of the write speed.

Unfortunately the Fuji S9100 is on the low end of the performance spectrum shooting at 1.5 fps up to four frames. With that type of performance, I think just about any card on the market will out perform that body.

 

[Empty V]

Unfortunately the Fuji S9100 is on the low end of the performance spectrum shooting at 1.5 fps up to four frames. With that type of performance, I think just about any card on the market will out perform that body.

Is there any other reason besides capacity to go to a CF card then? With that in mind it seems that the bottleneck is at the camera's processor and will undermine any type of solid state memory device's speed.

Billy

 

[RonFrank]

Is there any other reason besides capacity to go to a CF card then? With that in mind it seems that the bottleneck is at the camera's processor and will undermine any type of solid state memory device's speed.

Billy

It depends upon future use, and other camera's you may purchase. I like CF cards because they fit in all my camera's including my wifes Canon S70.

I'm not recommending that you go purchase the cheapest junk card that you can find. What format is really up to you, but it never hurts to have a card that is faster than your camera, just don't overspend.

I was in wolf camera the other day, and the salesman sold this woman an extreme III (scandisk) for her new digital PnS. It was about 2X as expensive as the middle of the road card. I *Almost* said something. :11doh:

 

[jeraldjcook]

Is there any other reason besides capacity to go to a CF card then? With that in mind it seems that the bottleneck is at the camera's processor and will undermine any type of solid state memory device's speed.

Billy

Don't forget that after you take the photo, you still need to transfer them to your computer. Depending on your method of transfer (using a USB cable to connect your camera vs. a dedicated card reader) you can still benefit from from a faster card. Why transfer a 2gb card at 4 MB/s (xD type M speed, 9 minutes) when you could do it at 40 MB/s (CF 266x speed card, 50 seconds).

 

[vondo]

While not of use to the OP (since his camera is not listed) this is a great resource for those of us with DSLRs: Rob Galbraith DPI: CF/SD Performance Database

It gives you timings for various cameras vs. various memory cards and will tell you when spending the extra $$$ on an Extreme XIV is worth it and when it's not.

My general strategy is to buy memory for the camera I have, not the one I think I might get later. Prices are always dropping and what you save now can probably buy a faster/bigger card outright later on.

 

[zen_man]

While not of use to the OP (since his camera is not listed) this is a great resource for those of us with DSLRs: Rob Galbraith DPI: CF/SD Performance Database

It gives you timings for various cameras vs. various memory cards and will tell you when spending the extra $$$ on an Extreme XIV is worth it and when it's not.

My general strategy is to buy memory for the camera I have, not the one I think I might get later. Prices are always dropping and what you save now can probably buy a faster/bigger card outright later on.

I've seen that site before. Too bad it hasn't been updated since 2005.