Help me with CF's

[Bryant]

I'm looking to get myself a new big cf to add to my small 2GB. I am looking towards a 16, I am mainly into snowboarding photography, shoot for Burton, Forum, Academy, etc... at many events finding myself in sports mode shooting 6.5 frames per second in raw creating a big amount space needed. I don't have the time to switch in between so the bigger the better. I like this because it's great price.

http://flashmemory-store.stores.yahoo.net/qmemory-compact-flash-150x-16gb.html

I understand that it's not brand name like the Sandisk III and such, but it has a large amount of space for a great price. The 150X is fine for me, I don't find myself in a hurry when downloading so it's all good. Is there any reason not to get a non name brand? I've boughten from here for other SD's and they are totally reliable.

 

[SpeedTrap]

Ok, so you have build up a reputation, have good clients, and love what you do.
Now you are going to risk that to save a few seconds changing a card. Big cards can fail the same as small ones, so if you shoot all day on a critical shoot for a client and your one big card fails, there goes your reputation, you would be better to shoot with 4gig cards, big enough and if one goes bad you do not lose your whole day of shooting.

One more thing, I would rather stick with the name brand, if it does go bad and you are out on the road you can get it replaced almost anywhere, try to do that with an off brand.

 

[penfold1]

^^^ what he said ^^^

 

[Bryant]

I understand where your coming from... is it worth paying the extra for multiple small ones? When you buy bigger ones they do offer better deals for getting a larger size.

For example: 4GB- $20
8GB- $35
I don't mean for these to be exact figures, but you get my point.

 

[Ejazzle]

i have 5 two gig CF cards each one is numbered. it is well worth it, after a long day of shooting you dont want to loose ALL of your pitctures just b/c your card malfunctioned.. so i would say get a few smaller cards your better safe than sorry,

and before you buy a card from anywhere. look at ebay. i got my 2 gig SD IV cards for 12.95 +shipping

 

[Snapper Sparkes]

Lets put the cost of compact flash cards into perspective shall we.

If you are shooting that many pics but worried about storage costs just think how much you would have spent 5 years ago on film!!!!! + processing + scanning :-D

Would you have trusted an un-branded film for you projects - I agree with the other comments of multiple 2 - 4 GB cards, just shop around you will find a branded bargain. I paid £17 for a 4GB SD III in stead of the £60 RRP - I also got a SD CF firewire card reader copies off 4Gig in 5 minutes!

Also on changing card times - if time was a real factor in getting the shot you would have 2 or 3 bodies to 'save time', I think 20-30 seconds on a card change is very short.

Good luck with the shots.

 

[Overread]

Certainly get your cards online - in shops they tend to be one of the overpriced accessories (often like snapper said by large amounts).

After that I would say several 4GB cards or even 8GB cards would be better than a massive one. I know some who shoot with cards up to 32GB and whilst its great at not having to change cards, there is the risk that a small error can lead to you losing everything - if its your hobby its painful - if its your job it is damaging

 

[Village Idiot]

As above, I agree that the multiple smaller cards are better. The max I'll shoot with is 4gb. That's about 500ish photos for me, iirc. 16gb would be about 2000. Could you imagine losing 2000 photos?

Plus not all cameras can handle the larger cf cards.

 

[Bryant]

Okay, thanks for all of your input guys, it really helped.

 

[SpeedTrap]

Certainly get your cards online - in shops they tend to be one of the overpriced accessories (often like snapper said by large amounts)

One thing to be aware of is the really good deals, on name brand cards, Many times they are fake. Most of the cards I see on eBay are fake. I had a co-worker get a couple of high end SanDisk cards on EBay, the boxes looked good, the instructions and warranty card were poor reproductions, and the serial number on the cards were the same. The cards were fake we managed to trace them to re-labeled transcend cards.
Memory is one of the least expensive things in photography and easiest to counterfeit, Buy from a reputable source (Not EBay or fly by night shops) and pay for quality, you will never go wrong.