We recently looked at 13 different high-end Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) flash memory cards that can be used for all sorts of consumer devices, such as prosumer digital cameras or video cameras, photo frames, car stereo solutions, and much more. However, the professional world still relies on CompactFlash (CF) memory cards, which deliver much more performance thanks to built-in controller logic. When we requested SDHC card samples for our earlier roundup, we also asked for the very best CF cards. Here are eight of them.
CF Is Professional Storage
An increasing number of digital camera product lines have been modified to work with SD or SDHC memory cards instead of CF cards. The reasons for this shift include physical requirements, which speak against the larger CF format, but also cost considerations. CF cards are more expensive than SD/SDHC cards due to the fact that an UltraATA interface is part of the memory card, while SD memory cards require a compatible controller to operate them. For this reason, the CF format has experienced a noticeable decline, which certainly has had a negative impact on prices. CF cards are much more expensive than SDHC devices today when you look at them on a price-per-gigabyte basis, and especially when looking at high end parts. Despite this, all professional devices that require fast and small random access storage devices use CompactFlash memory cards.
CF Is Flexible
To devices that use them, CompactFlash cards appear as IDE/UltraATA devices, which makes them rather easy to access: the host device simply has to create a file system such as FAT32 and you are ready to go. This also means that it is possible to plug a high-end 32 GB CompactFlash card into an old camera, while SDHC memory cards do not work in cameras that were not designed specifically to support them. UltraATA, as old as it is, still works just fine, and multiple revisions of the CF standard have made sure that the standard is kept up to date. Today’s capacity limit is 32 GB, but the first 64 GB products have already been announced.
CF Is Fast
The performance of SDHC cards is typically limited by the accessing device. In our case, the bottleneck was a USB 2.0 card reader, which maxes out at approximately 20 MB/s. Other devices have so far failed to deliver better performance. Still, this is more than enough for most prosumer digital cameras and other applications, and the cards have not yet reached 20 MB/s write performance either.
CF cards are much faster: the best product in this roundup reached almost 43 MB/s write throughput and 47 MB/s of read performance. We used a CompactFlash-to-SATA card reader to make sure that there was no bottleneck for the eight contenders from Kingston, Lexar, PNY, San Disk, Silicon Power and Transcend.
- Compact Flash Powerhouses Reviewed
- CompactFlash Basics
- Kingston Ultimate 266X 16 GB
- Lexar Platinum II And Professional
- PNY Optima Pro Ultra High Speed 266X (8 GB)
- SanDisk Extreme Ducati Edition 8 GB
- Silicon Power Professional Compact Flash Card (32 GB)
- Transcend Extreme Speed 300X (8 GB), Ultra Speed 133X (32 GB)
- Comparison Table, Test Setup, Card Reader
- Benchmarks: Access Time, I/O Performance
- Benchmarks: Throughput
- Conclusion: Kingston Wins
The test has a valid point if one is going to use the CF's the same way as a hard drive, outside of a camera. Inside of each different camera the write speeds can vary a lot. Also, for transfering images to a computer, you should test small (jpg) and large (raw) files. I find, as did Rob Galbraith, transfering a load of larger raw files does yield higher transfer rates from my firewire 800 card readers. USB card readers just aren't fast enough when you come back from a job, and want to go to sleep ASAP before the next job.
You need to look a little closer. As Kjeld pointed out, it depends on the camera. On the Sony DSLR the Kingston does quite well. What Robs chart really shows is that the performance will depend greatly on the camera and its internal controller. That said, when it comes time to download your pics to a PC, wouldn't you want something that works fast in the PC? Well, the Kingston does great with that hence the win. Personally I hate Kingston as they've always been over-priced. I'd much rather pick something with acceptable performance that costs half as much.
The reason they recommend "industrial" CF cards is for the SLC memory and wear leveling. Same reason that I want to know. So look up those stats when you look at an option. I believe the faster Transcend model fits the bill.
I understand not wanting to use a USB adapter, but wouldn't a purely electrical adapter from CF to IDE have been even better? Plug the card direcly into the mother board and see how it handles? I wouldn't think a CF-to-SATA adapter would slow it down too badly, but I would rather see no signal conversion at all.
To be really useful, it should have fast 4 Kb random read/write.
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0903/09030602preteccfcard666x.asp
This CF stuff on Tom's hardware is a bit outdated if they claim that these cards they've tested are the biggest and fastest cards available.
They also got info incorrect about the SanDisk Extreme IV's. The Ducati versions do promise 45MB/s while the Extreme IV's at the time was rated at 40MB/s but when they pulled the Ducati off of main stream North American market shelves, they also improved the Extreme IV's. All the current Extreme IV's boasts 45MB/s and not 40MB/s.
Because this article specifically says it is aimed at DSLR use and that writing is primary. With the sony kingston does not lag behind that much but still firmly behind, and with the mayor player Nikon and Canon only has half the performance. On a site that recommends overclocking to get 5% more fps I would say it is huge, sandisk has 100% improved writespeed over kingston in the latest Canons and Nikons. or 100% more fps if you will.
Recommendaiton for next tests: Table of cards incl. memory type and other specifications. For the read/write/IO tests - maybe redo speed tests for all cards with for example: Canon 5DII, Nikon D700 and a least two card readers (for example a usb2 and a firewire based reader) - now that could be interesting... As it is I feel more confused (from this test..) as to which card would fit my needs...
Anyways - I normally find Thomshardware testing excellent, this test should never have happend...
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/camera_multi_page.asp?cid=6007-9784
The Kingston 266x Ultimate is well below the competition, which would be the current San disk Extreme III 30MB/sec. CF Cards and the Lexar Professional 233x. Patrick and Achim I am afraid you are incorrect and recommending the wrong cards to your readers.
1. Background on why you need a SATA CF reader/converter, and some tests that "show" why the SATA is needed comparing internal and external USB readers to teh Addonics SATA reader.
2. Where are the other fast CF cards, like the Ridata 233x Lightning series--been out about 2 years now--the SanDisk Extreme III cards, at least one SanDisk Ultra II for comparison, and the the Ducati isn't much faster, if any, than the MUCH cheaper SD Extreme III. What about the SanDisk Extreme IV announced in 2006? Are you guys smoking crack?
It seems like you had a couple CF cards lying around your office, decided to roast a cone early on Friday, have some fun, a couple beers, and accidentally published this rubbish.