SanDisk Extreme Pro CF Card
I was in a bit of a jam. I had a Hasselblad H4D40 to test in Vietnam. This beast of a camera produces RAW files in excess of 50 megapixels. It demands that you not only upgrade your PC in order to be able to run its Phocus post processing software, but you have to use the fastest compact flash storage media available in order not to create a bottleneck when you are out shooting.
I didn't have any ultra fast cards available, so what do I do?
I prayed. And my prayers were answered when DSC World gave me a 16 GB SanDisk Extreme Pro CF Card to test.
The SanDisk Extreme Pro CF Card is claimed to be the world's fastest high capacity memory card capable of a Read and Write speed of up to 90 MB per second. This means that it should be able to read and write a 50 MB Hasselblad H4D4 RAW file in under one second. I'm glad to say that this is not an empty claim. Loaded into the Hasselblad H4D40 it can store 235 Hasselblad RAW files. And download of a full CF card using a Sandisk ImageMate All in One USB 2.0 Reader/Writer, takes just over four minutes. That is as awesome a performance as I've ever seen. My regular Ap***r brand card of HALF this capacity needs at least 15 minutes to download 8 gigs, so I'm very impressed with the SanDisk Extreme Pro. I believe the transfer speed could be faster if I can get hold of a faster transfer device than the USB2.0 Sandisk Image mate, which is rated at only 34 MB/sec compared to the SanDisk Extreme Pro CF Card's maximum rated speed of 90 MB/sec. Perhaps an e-Sata connection between the card reader and the PC will achieve the max rated D/L speed of the CF Card.
According to DSC World Sdn Bhd, who are the importers of this card, this lightning fast read/write speed is due to a new Power Core Advanced memory controller built into each card. The boost in speeds provided by the Power Core Controller is claimed to be TWICE as fast as earlier high end models from Sandisk. I believe that, because I've never seen anything this fast before. Sandisk makes these cards in sizes of 8, 16, 32 and 64 GB sizes. The 16 GB Card is priced at around RM800, and I guess the 64 GB card will cost almost the same as an entry level DSLR. I'd love to get my hands on a 64 Gigs CF card, but I know many photographers wouldn't like that because of a fear of losing all their data if something happens to the card. All I can say to that is that in my entire nearly 20 years experience with CF cards, beginning with IBM's 1 GB Microdrives in the early nineties, none of the CF cards I've used have ever failed. However I have lost a CF card which dropped out of my pocket during the hustle and bustle of shooting. And I have also jumped into a swimming pool fully clothed and without realizing a CF card (not this one) was in my trousers pocket. No problem. I simply shook the CF Card dry, left it overnight on a table in an airconditioned room, and the card was readable and usable the next day. These CF cards are tough, so card failure is very rare, which is why Sandisk usually gives a lifetime warranty for their cards.
Which suggests it is probably safer to use fewer higher capacity CF cards rather than more smaller capacity cards. If I can afford it, I'd prefer to use the highest capacity memory cards because with fewer cards to carry around, the chances of you losing one through carelessness is greatly reduced. With a 64 Gig CF card in my 5DM2 DSLR, I'd be able to get around 2500 RAW images before I needed to think about downloading. In my 1DM2, I can get nearly a thousand images from the 16 Gigs cards, and probably close to 5000 RAW images from a 64 Gigs card. The 64 Gigs cards would be extremely useful for people who use DSLRs for video duties.
I usually shoot around 100 GB of RAW images each time i go on our Week long PhotoSafari Experience Expeditions. With just 2 x 64 Gigs cards, I will no longer need to carry either a netbook, a lap top, or a Digital Wallet like Nexto.
BTW, With every purchase of an Extreme Pro CF Card, you also get also get a very useful Free Download of Rescue Pro, a file recovery software to recover lost files from memory cards. The digital wallet of one of the PMPE members on a recent trip to Vietnam was acting funny. Each time she inserted a CF card into her ageing digital wallet it simply reformatted the CF card instead of downloading and saving the files. This happened on two of her CF cards before she realised the malfunction. Enter Rescue Pro. The file recovery software managed to recover ALL of the lost files on her accidentally formatted CF card.
The new SanDisk Extreme Pro CF Card is an extremely fast CF card. I've never experienced anything faster than this before - either uploads speeds, or download speeds. Go get them. They are good.....but slightly more expensive than your regular CG cards laaa....
I was in a bit of a jam. I had a Hasselblad H4D40 to test in Vietnam. This beast of a camera produces RAW files in excess of 50 megapixels. It demands that you not only upgrade your PC in order to be able to run its Phocus post processing software, but you have to use the fastest compact flash storage media available in order not to create a bottleneck when you are out shooting.
I didn't have any ultra fast cards available, so what do I do?
I prayed. And my prayers were answered when DSC World gave me a 16 GB SanDisk Extreme Pro CF Card to test.
The SanDisk Extreme Pro CF Card is claimed to be the world's fastest high capacity memory card capable of a Read and Write speed of up to 90 MB per second. This means that it should be able to read and write a 50 MB Hasselblad H4D4 RAW file in under one second. I'm glad to say that this is not an empty claim. Loaded into the Hasselblad H4D40 it can store 235 Hasselblad RAW files. And download of a full CF card using a Sandisk ImageMate All in One USB 2.0 Reader/Writer, takes just over four minutes. That is as awesome a performance as I've ever seen. My regular Ap***r brand card of HALF this capacity needs at least 15 minutes to download 8 gigs, so I'm very impressed with the SanDisk Extreme Pro. I believe the transfer speed could be faster if I can get hold of a faster transfer device than the USB2.0 Sandisk Image mate, which is rated at only 34 MB/sec compared to the SanDisk Extreme Pro CF Card's maximum rated speed of 90 MB/sec. Perhaps an e-Sata connection between the card reader and the PC will achieve the max rated D/L speed of the CF Card.
According to DSC World Sdn Bhd, who are the importers of this card, this lightning fast read/write speed is due to a new Power Core Advanced memory controller built into each card. The boost in speeds provided by the Power Core Controller is claimed to be TWICE as fast as earlier high end models from Sandisk. I believe that, because I've never seen anything this fast before. Sandisk makes these cards in sizes of 8, 16, 32 and 64 GB sizes. The 16 GB Card is priced at around RM800, and I guess the 64 GB card will cost almost the same as an entry level DSLR. I'd love to get my hands on a 64 Gigs CF card, but I know many photographers wouldn't like that because of a fear of losing all their data if something happens to the card. All I can say to that is that in my entire nearly 20 years experience with CF cards, beginning with IBM's 1 GB Microdrives in the early nineties, none of the CF cards I've used have ever failed. However I have lost a CF card which dropped out of my pocket during the hustle and bustle of shooting. And I have also jumped into a swimming pool fully clothed and without realizing a CF card (not this one) was in my trousers pocket. No problem. I simply shook the CF Card dry, left it overnight on a table in an airconditioned room, and the card was readable and usable the next day. These CF cards are tough, so card failure is very rare, which is why Sandisk usually gives a lifetime warranty for their cards.
Which suggests it is probably safer to use fewer higher capacity CF cards rather than more smaller capacity cards. If I can afford it, I'd prefer to use the highest capacity memory cards because with fewer cards to carry around, the chances of you losing one through carelessness is greatly reduced. With a 64 Gig CF card in my 5DM2 DSLR, I'd be able to get around 2500 RAW images before I needed to think about downloading. In my 1DM2, I can get nearly a thousand images from the 16 Gigs cards, and probably close to 5000 RAW images from a 64 Gigs card. The 64 Gigs cards would be extremely useful for people who use DSLRs for video duties.
I usually shoot around 100 GB of RAW images each time i go on our Week long PhotoSafari Experience Expeditions. With just 2 x 64 Gigs cards, I will no longer need to carry either a netbook, a lap top, or a Digital Wallet like Nexto.
BTW, With every purchase of an Extreme Pro CF Card, you also get also get a very useful Free Download of Rescue Pro, a file recovery software to recover lost files from memory cards. The digital wallet of one of the PMPE members on a recent trip to Vietnam was acting funny. Each time she inserted a CF card into her ageing digital wallet it simply reformatted the CF card instead of downloading and saving the files. This happened on two of her CF cards before she realised the malfunction. Enter Rescue Pro. The file recovery software managed to recover ALL of the lost files on her accidentally formatted CF card.
The new SanDisk Extreme Pro CF Card is an extremely fast CF card. I've never experienced anything faster than this before - either uploads speeds, or download speeds. Go get them. They are good.....but slightly more expensive than your regular CG cards laaa....
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Yusuf Hashim
Yusuf Hashim
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