When it comes to media cards, my weapon of choice is the Sandisk Extreme III 4GB CompactFlash card.
Why?
- Sandisk is one of the leading brands in flash cards.
- Extreme III is robust enough to fit my needs
- Extreme III is fast enough to keep up with my 20D and 5DmkII.
- 4GB will hold about 125 RAW images
- 4GB is not too much data to lose if a card goes down
- 4GB is about right for a model photoshoot
For the last few years I’ve been sourcing these cards through Play. Coming in at about £15-£17 they were also at a fantastic price point. In my view, these little cards are absolutely perfect. Lots of bang for buck and do the job just fine.
Now for the bad news. Not sure what has happened but these cards have suddenly become very difficult to source. It is hardly surprising really as they are about 5 years old now so must be at the end of their life. There is also a trend to move to larger and larger cards. Indeed I already have the 16GB version but it really bothers me to use it. Particularly for revenue images. 16GB is a lot of data to lose if a card goes down.
So what of the 32GB and 64GB versions that are now finding their way onto the market? I’ve even heard rumours of a 128GB card although I’ve not seen it myself yet. As a stills photographer these cards are way too big for my needs. A videographer would no doubt think otherwise, but I’m not a videographer. I shoot stills.
I much prefer smaller cards and for the 5DmkII, 4GB is a perfect fit for my needs. I’ll be upgrading to 8GB now albeit with some reluctance.
