CF Cards for D200

So I am making the plunge and upgrading my system from a D100 to the D200. I blew my wad yesterday on two of them plus another $700 in accessories. What I didn't get was any memory cards. Going from a 6.1 megapixel to a 10.2mp means that if I am shooting in RAW or even JPEG I will need more memory. I was curious what the recommendation is on compatibility and size. Is anyone using the 4gig card in the D200? Or is 2 gig good enough. What about speed? With larger file sizes I suspect that write time is an important consideration, particularily in RAW.

Any suggestions?

2GB was fine for the D70, but we went to 4GB with the D200....btw, we shoot RAW only

Karl

I'd go with 4GB too. I fill up my 4GB card in about 5% of my dives. But those are usually pretty extraordinary dives (or more usually model setups).

4GB is the one. I have never had a write speed issue in UW shooting.

Alex

How about compatibility issues? Anyone find complications with certain 4 gig cards?

Thanks for the feedback, Karl and Alex.

Hi Joe,

Wew use the Lexar 4Gb 133X cards in our D200s without any problem.

And if you have the right card reader, you gain in transfer speed too. We use the Lexar Professional CompactFlash Reader in its USB 2.0 version and are quite happy with its transfer speed.

Michel Gilbert

Hey Karl and Alex,

Right now, I'm using Lexar Pro 2gig/133x. If shooting RAW, it will give you around 120 shots. I'm looking at the 4gig and 8 gig ones though so I can carry less cards with me. BTW, the 133x write is super fast and works flawlessly with the D200.

4GB Lexar gets 240 pics on RAW only on the D200

I am using a Kingston 4GB card (80x I think) with good results.

200+ images using Raw and fine JPG combined.

I use a Sandisk 4GB Extreme III CompactFlash. I don´t think write speed is very important with the D200 buffer (maybe for downloads...). I would prefer 2x4 Gb than 1x8 Gb because of possible failure backup

I also have 2 x 4GB Sandisk Extreme III cards. While shooting frigates and boobies topside I did run in to the buffer limit a couple of times, but underwater I never did (and that was with at least 1 x 30 exposure sequence at 5 fps). I never came close to filling a card, I got about halfway on a couple of shark intensive sites.

I've been using a Lexar firewire 400 reader, and it is great. In comparison to the USB 2.0 high speed reader I also have as a back up, it is at least 1/3rd as fast again.

"What about speed? With larger file sizes I suspect that write time is an important consideration, particularily in RAW."

 

I can't imagine write speeds would be an issue underwater, but if you shoot the same body and cards topside you will want faster write times. I suspect we all beat up against write times and buffers in certain situations topside.

 

Like many here I use 4gb Sandisk Ultra Extreme IIIs (which gives me about 200 images in RAW on D2X) and have no complaints or problems. And the prices have really dropped since I bought mine. I think today you can get a high quality, fast 4gb for what a common 2 gb sold at 1 year ago.

 

I've been using a Dazzle Thunderbolt which transfers/copies a 4 gb card to my laptop in 3-4 minutes (I'm working with 2gig of RAM). That works fast enough for me and cost about 24 bucks if I remember correctly.

 

Here's a link if you're interested:

http://www.smartdisk.com/eWeb/smartdiskus/..._SingleDual.asp

Just returned from The Caribbean Explorer II using a D200 with a 4 gb Sandisk Extreme III card shooting in RAW.

Gotta' tell you this card rocks. It will take anything the the D200 throws at it and as fast as I can hit the shutter.

I tried to buy the Lexar 133 but B&H was out of it. I bought this Sandick 4gb Extreme III for $110. after rebate.

Immediately after each dive, I download my pix to my notebook computer.

I also carry a couple of Lexar 2gb cards.

I didn't think card write speed meant much till I used this Sandisk Extreme 3.

Dive cheerfully!

Ron

I use 4gb Sandisk Ultra II, very reliable and fast, but a lot cheaper than the ultra-fast ones.

I also use the Ultra II in my D200 and have never run into buffer issues UW or topside despite plenty of "blazing". The card might be slower when downloading, but then, I can go and have a coffee which can be rather nice.

A word of advice on the CF readers...don't assume all USB2 readers are built alike. I have a SanDisk Image Mate 8-in-1 that seemed quick enough to me with both SanDisk and Lexar cards. Then I read about the Lexar Pro CF Firewire reader and how fast it was...soon followed by another article I found about how SanDisk's latest CF-only USB2 reader, model SDDR-92 and marked on the packaging as incorporating "EPP" (I think that's the acronym) technology, is even faster than the Lexar Firewire. Apparently, a CF reader may well be optimized for peak performance with same-brand CF cards. So, for $20 I bought the SDDR-92 rather than spend $70-80 for the Lexar Pro Firewirereader, and I'm very pleased with the performance.

A co-worker who thought his Lexar Firewire reader would be much faster than my USB2 reader, recently brought it to work for me to try out. With a SanDisk Extreme III 4GB CF card loaded with 1GB of image files, the SanDisk unit read the files off to my PC in 1/3 the time of the Lexar. With a Lexar 80X CF card, the SanDisk unit read that card in about 1/2 the time of the Lexar reader.

So, before you rush to spend more for a Lexar Firewire reader, I suggest a comparison to a SanDisk USB2 reader is prudent. Looking at Lexar's website, they've got two Firewire CF readers, one being the Pro model, but neither of which look like the unit my co-worker had. So, it may well be that the read speeds are improved in the newer versions, and maybe that is why Craig is so pleased with his.

Meanwhile, echoing other comments, I too have been pleased by the performance of the Ultra II and Extreme III CF cards in my D200. The Extreme indeed supports a higher burst count than the Ultra II, but both support lower burst counts almost equally well. NEF file storage for the D200 is uncompressed NEF by default while compressed NEFs are the only option for the D70/D70s. That too affects how many raw files can be written to a given size card.

Daryl