As many of you know, one of my memory cards crashed while in the World. Any preferences on brands? I shoot with an XTi so Ill be using a CF card.
you can often get a good deal on san disk ultra 2's. since you have a rebel you don't need the fastest and more expensive cards. 2GB ULTRA 2 - $14.95 (click) 8GB ULTRA 2 - $34.95 (click) 4GB ULTRA 2 - $26.50 (click)
Lexar is good too. If you spend a little bit more for the lower end professional line, I think both those brands throw in a image rescue program.
I'll recommend the Lexar Professional cards too. I've never had a problem with them. And you get their image recover software free with the cards.
If you can, I'd wait until the next rebate comes out for Extreme III cards (not that you need Extreme III, but they are the best, and the rebate makes them cheap). I got in on this deal a month ago: http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread ... &t=1178411 and got 3 8GB SDHC cards for ~$12. I don't need three 8GB cards, so I'll sell two on eBay for about $25 each. I don't mind getting paid $38 to take an 8GB card. Granted, CF cards typically run a bit more, but it's still a great deal. You want to get in on the deal right when the rebate starts being offered, because once a couple days pass, all of the eligible retailers raise their prices. I recommend registering at SlickDeals and setting up an alert for it.
I have had great luck with the Extreme III's. Has anyone had any problems with Kingston cards? I just bought a couple of 4 GB SD cards for a couple of p&s cameras we have and a 16 GB CF card for my 40D. They were pretty reasonable and seem to work great. I am using the 16 GB card as a backup to my Extreme cards. I figured it was a cheap insurance policy against running out of space.
i've used kingston through several sizes, 2gb, 4gb, and now 8gb, in a couple of different speeds/versions and never had any problems at all
So far the Kingston has worked great. I went with the 133x model because I just needed a spare card. It really works great in settings like a family vacation, but I would go with a faster card when shooting sports.
Thats the one I got. I got a 4 GB 133x for 12.99. I went to test it out and will probably order another one as a backup. I was going to get a 2GB but I think the jump for 2 GB to 4 GB was only like 3 bucks. I am my own enabler!
I've started using the inexpensive Transcend cards: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820208337 I first picked one up when I was facing a week long trip into the wilds of Northern Minnesota, with no way to offload my pictures I wanted to get a really big card. I expected that it'd be slower than the Ultra 2 cards I had been using, but my focus was on capacity, not speed. They're not bad, really. The uber deal involving the Extreme III cards is still unbeatably good, I'm going to see about getting in on that the next time it happens, but outside of ridiculous discounts like that I think these Transcend cards are decent. Testing suggests that they're roughly on par with Sandisk Ultra 2 cards in terms of write speed, and their read speed is significantly faster. Which doesn't mean anything for in camera performance, but at the end of the shooting day you'll appreciate the faster offloading if you have a fast enough reader. I was a little iffy about going with a new unfamiliar brand like that, but so far they've been just fine for me. I've put 60 gigabytes or so through them without any problem. When I checked Newegg to find the link to the specific model I noticed that Kingston has a 16 gig card for about $10 less, that's intriguing as well. The numbers I'm seeing on a benchmarking site suggests that that card should have roughly similar in camera performance. One note, beware the speed claims printed on the card. In the same price range as the 16 gig Transcend (described as a 133x card) you'll find a Ridata 16 gig card that claims 233x speed. But the numbers I'm seeing out of real world testing suggests it's really about the same speed. And Kingston has at least two types of cards described as 133x, their Elite Pro 133x cards are slower than their Ultimate 133x. http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_ ... p?cid=6007 Which is why I go there to get an idea of how fast these things really are. Even then you can never be sure.. I got a second Transcend 133x 16 gig card that some testing suggests is faster than the first, I'm wondering if maybe they improved the hardware but kept the model name more or less the same.
I use the Lexar & find they work pretty good, but I am going to get in on these deals on the Extreme III. I could definitely use the faster card.
i think that when i am out to purchase more cards, i will be going either the kingston 16gb or kingston 32gb route... least expensive way BY FAR, even with the sandisk discounts. 16gb = $29.84 32gb = $59.95
Hey I just got a 150 dollar VISA gift card for Teacher Appreciation Month....GIANT memory card here I come! Just kidding!
The Extreme III CF cards worked out to being about $8 each at the 8 GB size after rebate, when the Spring Rebate first started. The rebates/prices are rarely as good on the larger models (I don't even remember if those sizes offered rebates). I'd really recommend waiting if you can (and are willing to settle for 8 GB).
Too bad I missed out on that deal. I did register @ Deals Extreme though. If you hear of another Great deal like this, shoot me a PM. I definitely want to get in on this.
Buy 3 8GB Extreme III SDHC cards for $6 each AR: ; http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread ... &t=1294599
By the way, if anyone wants an new-in-box Extreme III 4 GB SDHC card, I'll sell you one for $15 shipped.
