CF Memory Cards...what to get?

[sondo2121]

I have a Rebel XTi and a 266x speed compact flash card (~40MB/s capable card). I am looking to possibly upgrade the size to a larger one and noticed that there are faster ones out there.

I shoot in RAW and I was just looking for some feedback on the speeds and brands and whatnot. Is the price for better speed worth it?

 

[PC_User]

I've been using Transcend for a few years now. They are quite fast and cost less than other brands (i.e. SanDisk). My cards are 133x and I haven't had any issues with speed. I personally don't mind if it takes a bit longer to write from the camera to my PC.

 

[SilverMK3]

The only reason I upgraded to a 30MB/s class 10 card with my T1i was because I was getting a slight buffering issue when recording 1080p video with my old class 2 cards.

I don't think a faster card is really necessary on an XTi unless its for the convenience factor when transferring a card full of RAWs. On a 7D you might see a slight increase in the number of shots you can shoot in burst mode, but that's more a factor of the dual Digic4 processors' ability to write to a card while they're also writing to the camera buffer.

 

[BillLeeLee]

Whether or not faster rated cards is better depends a lot on your camera. I don't have a Rebel XTi, but that camera tops out around 6 MB/s writes, so cards with fast write speeds are lost on it.

I use Kingston, Crucial, Sandisk Extreme 3s (IVs were super expensive at the time), they've all been good. My first card was a 512 MB Lexar CF, but that card became mostly useless after I got the D300, with its 10+ MB raws.

 

[sondo2121]

Whether or not faster rated cards is better depends a lot on your camera. I don't have a Rebel XTi, but that camera tops out around 6 MB/s writes...

That's kinda what I was looking for: what the camera tops out at vs transfer speed. I guess I'll stick with what I have for now speed-wise. Thanks