Difference in Compact Flash brands for digital cameras?

[AluminumStudios]

Digital cameras can kind of be considered a peripheral so I hope this is an OK forum for this question.

Are there any quality or reliability differences between different brands of compact flash for digital cameras (specifically I just bought a Canon A85.)

Also, I see a speed rating associated with them. I've seen a variety from 4x up to 35x (I think.) Does this speed mean much to a digital camera? What is the minimum speed that one should get?

My camera can record video at 320x240 @ 15 frames/sec. A full quality photo (the setting I plan on using most of the time) is about 2 megs. It doesn't have RAW mode so images will never be bigger than this.

I'm not a pro photographer or anything so I'm not going to split hairs over a 1-2 second difference in the wait between taking pictures.

If I find a good deal on a brand I never heard of before like Dane-Elec can they be trusted for reliability as well as a company that I know and trust like Kingston when it comes to CF?

 

[Cheesetogo]

Originally posted by: AluminumStudios
Digital cameras can kind of be considered a peripheral so I hope this is an OK forum for this question.

Are there any quality or reliability differences between different brands of compact flash for digital cameras (specifically I just bought a Canon A85.)

Also, I see a speed rating associated with them. I've seen a variety from 4x up to 35x (I think.) Does this speed mean much to a digital camera? What is the minimum speed that one should get?

My camera can record video at 320x240 @ 15 frames/sec. A full quality photo (the setting I plan on using most of the time) is about 2 megs. It doesn't have RAW mode so images will never be bigger than this.

I'm not a pro photographer or anything so I'm not going to split hairs over a 1-2 second difference in the wait between taking pictures.

If I find a good deal on a brand I never heard of before like Dane-Elec can they be trusted for reliability as well as a company that I know and trust like Kingston when it comes to CF?

I bought a 60x times card and I love the added speed. I have probably about a 1/4 sec wait time between pictures (around 2 mb each). Speed is also nice for when you connect the card to your computer, as a slow card may take a long time to upload. I would not buy anything less than 30x (which is like 5 mb/s) YOu should look at the san disk extreme II cards, I belive that they are 60x. HOw much space do you need? This 512mb pqi looks great at 120x, which will alow you to transfer images to your computer in almost no time. 33.75 sounds like a pretty good price too. PQI 512MB Compact Flash (CF) Card

 

[Zepper]

I have an older HP digicam and I bought a 60x Kingmax SD card and noticed quite a difference between it and the 16MB of flash memory built into the camera - even though I'm sure my camera can't really take advantage of all the speed the new memory card is capable of.

.bh.

 

[nullshark]

I can't speak to the quality of different makes as I'm sure that there are some crappy cards out there but as far as name-brand goes... Don't worry about the speed of the card for anything other than the transfer rate to/from your computer. The "slow" cards on the market are going to be just fine for the A85. In fact even those cards are faster than your camera could ever operate. Example: A regular low-performance Sandisk card, the one's with the blue label, can handle 2.4 fps continuous drive on a 4MP camera no sweat. The video you're shooting there is low-res, as well: No challenge for the cheap Lexars and Sandisks. The card they supply with the camera is usually a very cheap card that has lower performance than most name brands, as well.

I've tested the "low speed," regular Lexars and Sandisks in about 50-60 cameras and they're all fine for continuous shooting. It's the buffer of the camera that usually slows everything down, especially on yours. You'll be able to do about 1.5 fps up until the buffer fills up which will be around 6 to 8 pictures, then you have to wait until the buffer clears until you can take more pics - The speed of the card won't help you there.

Faster cards are only needed for cameras that have fast buffers or high MegaPixels. (Or if you want to transfer pictures to the PC faster)