Compact Flash Cards - 2 or 4 GIG with D70

Hi,

Up to now I have been using 1 gig Sandisk Ultra II Cf cards in my D70 with no problems. However, I will be heading over to Lembeh in a few months and anticpate shallower dives and shooting an seemingly infinite variety of macro subjects. So I have been pondering picking up one or two larger capacity CF cards.

Other than price, has anyone any pros and cons to using a 2 gig card as compared to a 4 gig. Also, specifically with Sandisk brand, using the Ultra II's compared to the Extreme's?

Best regards, Jett

I used 2gb Lexar 80x and Sandisk Ultra II in my D70's. I had no problem holding a full day of shooting RAW on one card.

I would think a 4gb would be overkill for a D70....now a D2X or a D200 might be a different story

Some people are nervous about having a full days work on one card, but I'm not too worried about a good CF card going bad.

Karl

You probably won't see much performance difference in the Ultra II vs Extreme III cards on a D70. I prefer to not have to open my housing between dives on a boat to change cards. I would much rather wait until I am back in my room and can control the environment around me ie no dripping wetsuit sleeves or other divers bumping about me. I shoot with a 6GB microdrive with several 2GB Sandisk Ultra II cards as backup for my Canon 20d.

Doug

Try this link:

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_pag...p?cid=6007-6816

Cheers

James

Also, specifically with Sandisk brand, using the Ultra II's compared to the Extreme's?

 

Best regards,  Jett

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I use a 4gb ultra II on my D2x and it is very fast. I never had to wait for it to write the picture. I also never had to change it in the middle of the day. It holds about 160 RAW+JPG D2x files, so I think a 2gb would hold at least this much RAW+JPG from the D70.

Luiz

The Extreme don't suppose to work faster as far I know, its suppose to work better in hard conditions like cold and so on.

I concur with Karl. A 2Gb card on a D70 should give you around 350 shots, which should be enough for one day of shooting.

Thanks one and all! Really appreciate the feedback/comments.

Cheers, Jett

A few months ago I was in the market for larger cards as I was about to depart on a long but non-diving trip. I ended up getting two 80x Ridata 4GB - the cost per GB was quite a bit less than the 2GB at the time. I got 650 raw + jpegs in my D70 with them, FYI. I think 2 GB cards are a bit better now but because 2 GB is the max size for older cameras I gather that demand is still relatively high so the deals are not so good, yet. 1 GB cards seem rather cheap now compared to two years ago. Buy what you need at the time is my advice. B)

Happy Thanksgiving

Tom

Hi,

I have a kingston 4gb Elite Pro, also very fast and bought it 2 months ago for 198,- Euro. I think the 2 Gb will also do but if you think about upgrading to the D200 as I will the 4gb is the way to go.

Rob

Thinkig to to upgrade and go with a 4GB Sandisk Ultra II or Extreme III

I was thinking that extreme maybe be better for times that the camera bag is in the sun and the temperatures rise very high

but i dont know if this is nececery or just waist of money

Thinking that new cameras as Nikon D200 have a 20mb per Picture (RAW +JPG fine) a 4 GB card is a minimum , if you like to use it all the day..

In Sweden there diference between 4 GB Ultra II & 4 GB Extreme III is ca 30 usd

lambis

The only value to the faster cards IMHO is in downloading shots to the computer. The buffers on these cameras (even the D70) are much deeper than your strobes can keep up with. I doubt that even in fast sequence shots like the diver entry sequence that Alex showed the buffer did not fill. So the card speed never played into the equation. In rare instances when you want a huge sequence you can always shoot JPG. This is particularly true of the D200 20 shot buffer, but even the D70 4 shot is enough.

So if you don't mind waiting for your computer you can go with the cheapie sandisk basic model. Pricegrabber shows the 2GB Ultra II cards at $169 and the standard lexar at $133, so for $30 more you can download faster. A good deal if you aren't buying more than 2 cards.

Get the size that allows you to shoot a full day's diving with your camera and your shooting style. For me 2 GB should be good for 4-dives with D70 RAW+JPG. I wouldn't worry about loosing your shots. It hasn't happenned to me so far. My bigger fear is ruining the camera by opening the housing on the boat, with drippy wetsuits and a rushed/dirty environment to put it all back together. I think your chance of a flood due to user error is more likely than loosing images.

I use 1GB cards because I only dive 2/day. The afternoon is reserved for playing with the kids on the beach. Everything in moderation.

My shooting still is very wariable..

There are times that i am 6 houers in the sea without posability to change cards.

I 4gb is a minimum becauce i remember on time that i have fill my 2gB card and i have use my d70s.

Immaging if i go with a D200 and from 6mb files to 15-20mb

But you are right, a ultra II is enough in speed and quality

Lambis

Generally I would go with the biggest card I can afford. I think CF type I card is very reliable that I am not very concernd about losing pictures due to bad card (micro drive might be a different story). If I remember correctly, D70 NEF file was about 5-6mb so you get about 3-400 shots per 2GB card.

When I was last in Lembeh, I can shoot anywhere from 50-60 shots to 100+ shots per dive. So 2GB card should last 2-3 dives for you easily. With 4GB card on D2X or 2GB card on D70, strobe batteries become more of the limiting factor, I think.