Which CF card for a 350D/Rebel XT?

[DDA]

Hello everyone!

I should soon receive an EOS 350D (I can't wait :p )

Do you have any advice to give me on the CF card I should buy? I know there are different types (I, II, III) and brands. And I have no idea of what is the best (CF II??). So any advice is welcome!

Thanks

DDA

[OiPaz]

Kingston Elite Pro 4GB, of course!
It's reliable, it's as fast as your camera is and it's the best Gibyte/EUR ratio I know. :-)

[EOSAddict]

Hey DDA , see you have an EOS 100, what a great camera! I still have mine, gathering dust unfortunately, wish they would make a DSLR equiv!

Anyway, Sandisk seems to have the best reliability reputation, but check out kingston, integral i-pro et al.

[DDA]

Thanks for your answers!

Hey DDA , see you have an EOS 100, what a great camera! I still have mine, gathering dust unfortunately, wish they would make a DSLR equiv!

Yes, it is a great camera. I am still using mine (waiting for the DSLR to come). I have the EOS 100 since 1993 and had to send it for repair only once since (in '97)... I hope the 350D will be as robust ;)

DDA

[Saudidave]

It's a bit of a silly question really. They are much of a muchness and often made in the same factory with a different label. The rest is called marketing. You do get different speeds, but that can be a con job too...................

[TeamSpeed]

Buy.com has the Elite Pro 1GB for $48 after rebate... It is a bit slower than the Ultra II cards, but should work great.

[DDA]

Thanks!

I know that many of them are the same, but is one brand reknown for reliability (or lack of it...)?

DDA

[kram]

Sandisk generally has a name for quality and is probably one of the widely used. I also have a Kingston which I use as a backup only coz its slower.

You could increase the size of a card and get it cheaper per MB - but you are betting on a single card. It may be a better option to split it into a few 1GB or 512mb cards.

[Mitcon]

Good options given already. I'd say Sandisk Ultra II 1gig card would be about as good as you get and need for that matter. No point in a faster/more expensive card. Kingston and Ridata are pretty good cards too. I've used alot of different brands, Lexar have had some problems with card firmware and the 350D/XT but in general are a good brand. Also stear clear of the Silicon Power ultra II range for use with the 350D/XT (not bad cards normally but that range has trouble with the 350D also).

[Bob_A]

I also use Sandisk Ultra II's. As Mitcon said, you don't need anything faster for the XT (or the 20D IMO).

[m3incorp]

Sandisk Ultra IIs and Kingston Elite Pros for me...In addition to the 1GB Kingston being on sale, the 2GB is on sale for $99 after $10 rebate.

[Jon]

Sandisk Ultra IIs here, too.

[DDA]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Very helpful!

DDA

[EOSX]

I own SanDisk and Kingston Elite. Both have worked great. Here's a link for a sale on a 2 GB Kingston for $97.50 after $20 rebate.

http://www.buy.com/prod/Kingston_Elite_Pro_2GB_CompactFlash_Card_CF_2GB_S/q/loc/101/10390647.html?adid=17662

[Petey]

Good options given already. I'd say Sandisk Ultra II 1gig card would be about as good as you get and need for that matter. No point in a faster/more expensive card. Kingston and Ridata are pretty good cards too. I've used alot of different brands, Lexar have had some problems with card firmware and the 350D/XT but in general are a good brand. Also stear clear of the Silicon Power ultra II range for use with the 350D/XT (not bad cards normally but that range has trouble with the 350D also).

OMG.. Silicon Power? What's this trouble that they have with the 350D's? Reason being is because I have one.. =_=;;;

[Mitcon]

Petey, which Silicon power card are you using ? not all of them have issues. In-fact Silicon power's cards are quite good cards indeed, it's just a slight in-compatability. I've not tried the suspect model card since the release of firmware version 1.03 which may have cleared the issue/problem anyway.

It's easy to see if you have a problem card from them, set your camera to large jpeg only, continuous drive mode. In good light take a burst of 10-12 frames outdoors at 1/1000 shutter speed or better. No need to rattle off any more than that, if all the images are fine you shouldn't have a problem. If you get mixed images and/or black horizontal areas in the top parts of the image well then you have a card issue.

If you do have this problem check your firmware version, if it's not the lastest upgrade it. If you do have the lastest and the card is giving you problems go to where you bought it from and talk to them, I think from memory Silicon Power give a lifetime warranty. As far as I know it was only the 66x model card, the slower ones are certainly fine and without issue. As for the faster ones they have I don't know as I've not tested them.

[Petey]

That was a good scare for me.
I'm using the 80X 1Gb Silicon Power Card, Compact Flash ULTIMA II, The good news is that the images are clear with no lines, or blackness. However I noticed that it needs time to write after 10 or so shot's. I'm still using the older 1.0.2 firmware (going to buy a card reader soon). Hopefully by upgrading I can speed up the traffic between camera and card.
Thanks ^_^

[Mitcon]

Most welcome Petey, glad your not having any problems with it. It's pretty normal for the camera to start taking a sec or so in writing times once you get above 10 frames in buffer memory as the buffer on the camera is rated at about 14 I think. You will find the amount varies though depending on detail/noise in the images, low noise/detail images seem to just shoot forever without filling the buffer up.

I don't think upgrading to 1.03 firmware will speed up the write process, but shouldn't do any harm in trying thats for sure.