Fast and reliable CF memory cards

Transcend CompactFlash 400x 64 GB

A line of flash drives with a speed index of 400x will suit owners of computers whose motherboard does not support the USB 3.0 interface. Accordingly, the maximum speed of reading and writing data on such PCs is limited to 30 Mb / s.

The actual performance of the memory card (60 Mb/s read and 30 Mb/s write) fully corresponds to the declared values. Reading data is even a little faster - at speeds up to 67 Mb / s. Only a few instances that write files twice as slowly cause complaints from the owners of memory cards. Such devices are subject to replacement, since the manufacturer gives a five-year warranty on his offspring.

The flash drive is best revealed on SLR cameras of the penultimate generations, for example, Canon EOS 5D Mark III body or Nikon D3s. 64 GB of memory can accommodate 1500-1800 RAW files in maximum quality. For shooting high-definition video, Transcend 's lineup has smarter models: Transcend CompactFlash 800x 64 GB Price from 1 860 up to 3 149 ₴ or Transcend CompactFlash 1000x 64 GB .

Numerous owners of the memory card characterize it as a reliable and trouble-free assistant, with whom you do not have to worry about the safety of the footage.

Reference. The speed index of CompactFlash memory cards is indicated as a multiplier (for example, 1000x), where the value of 150 kb / s acts as an x. It was chosen for a reason - this is the minimum playback speed of a CD (the main storage medium in the early days of CF cards). Deciphering the speed indicators of the drive, knowing its index, will not be difficult. So, the model with the 600x prefix provides a data processing speed of 90 Mb / s, and with the 1000x index - 150 Mb / s.

Kingston CompactFlash Ultimate 600x 64 GB

The spacious data storage from Kingston has a claimed read and write speed of up to 90 Mb/s.

In practice, the data reading speed is even 25% higher than the declared figures - according to the results of testing the memory card by the Kaddr.com resource, the real speed indicators reached a value of 112 Mb / s. Recording is traditionally slower (about 58 Mb/s). These figures are confirmed by other authoritative sources. When using the "native" Kingston FCR-HS4 card reader, the write speed rises above the declared figures and is almost 100 Mb / s.

In real shooting conditions, the memory card installed in the camera Canon EOS 1D X body was able to capture a series of 19 frames in RAW+JPEG format (378 MB) in 15 seconds. By simple mathematical calculations, we managed to find out that the average data recording speed is at around 25 Mb / s. In RAW format, 35 frames with a total weight of 637 MB fit on the flash drive, which were written to the buffer for 22.5 s - the final recording speed was 28 MB / s.

The memory card also allows you to record video files. But it should be remembered that the FAT-32 file system, which comes out of the box, limits the maximum volume of one file to four gigabytes. Therefore, if you decide to write videos with a high bitrate, you need to format the drive in a different format (for example, exFAT).

When idle, the memory card automatically enters standby mode, thus reducing power consumption. The flash drive works in tandem with all top cameras that support the CF format. True, some camera owners Nikon D800 body Price from 73 000 ₴ and Canon EOS 7D body still note compatibility issues with individual instances. The manufacturer guarantees a 5-year uninterrupted operation of its product.

Transcend CompactFlash 1000x 64 GB

The 1000x model is the fastest CF card in Transcend 's fleet. It is designed to quickly process large amounts of data, whether it is a series of RAW photos or 3D video.

The actual data reading speed is a little short of the out-of-the-box values and is 130 Mb / s instead of 160 Mb / s. Recording occurs at a speed of about 100 Mb / s with a declared rate of 120 Mb / s. Despite discrepancies with the declared values, the memory card is one of the fastest of its kind.

The manufacturer was not too lazy and endowed the flash drive with several interesting features. Firstly, the memory card supports the VPG-20 standard - with its help you can shoot videos in professional quality and not worry about dropping frames. Secondly, the device has a built-in error correction algorithm that effectively recognizes and corrects errors during data transmission. And thirdly, the flash drive feels great at sub-zero temperatures down to -25 ° C.

Transcend gives a lifetime warranty on its product, but specifies that the life of the memory card is limited to 10,000 plug/unplug cycles. Despite a serious approach, the percentage of marriage among the representatives of this model is still high - this is confirmed by numerous reviews about the flash drive. However, professional photographers and videographers favor the memory card as it provides high performance at an attractive price.

SanDisk Extreme Pro 160MB/s CompactFlash 64 GB Price from 3 257 up to 3 799 ₴ →

A high-speed memory card from SanDisk is an indispensable accessory for reportage photographers and videographers who are primarily interested in stable and high data processing speed.

The stability of video recording is confirmed by support for the VPG-65 standard - the memory card provides stable video recording with a continuous speed of at least 65 Mb / s. Drawdowns are not the forte of the drive at all. Its real speed indicators are fully consistent with the declared ones: reading files occurs at a speed of up to 160 Mb / s, and writing - up to 150 Mb / s.

In the course of testing the drive by cameramemoryspeed.com resource experts, the actual write speed when using cameras Nikon D810 body Price from 72 000 ₴ and Canon EOS 5DS body Price from 59 900 up to 64 948 ₴ has reached 100 Mbps. Earlier models of cameras showed more modest results.

SanDisk stands behind its product and gives it a lifetime warranty. In addition, the flash drive is protected from vibration and can operate in a wide temperature range (from -25°C to +85°C). With such characteristics, any corner of the planet will not remain unexplored.

With the SanDisk Extreme Pro 1067x 64 Gb, the maximum frame burst is limited only by the camera 's own memory buffer. Videos are written to the bitter end, i.e. until there is no free space left on the flash drive. For long-term shooting in 4K format, the storage capacity of the drive may not be enough, but its older brother in the face of SanDisk Extreme Pro 160MB/s CompactFlash 128 GB .

Reference. The VPG (Video Performance Guarantee) specification excludes frame drops from the video sequence. It was developed in 2011 specifically for high quality video recording. There are two versions of the standard: VPG-20 and VPG-65, the numbers in which indicate the minimum guaranteed data recording speed (respectively 20 Mb / s and 65 Mb / s).

Lexar Professional 3400x CompactFlash 64 GB

The high requirements for read and write speed when shooting ultra-high resolution video forced manufacturers to reconsider the capabilities of memory cards and create a new CFast 2.0 format that boasts fantastic data processing speed.

Lexar 's flash drive is three times faster than the closest competitor in the CF card market. The declared data recording speed is a record 510 Mb / s. In synthetic tests, the speedometer needle really lies at the maximum values. In practice, we managed to achieve a result of 420 Mb / s, which is also an excellent result. Recording is carried out with a real speed of up to 260 Mb / s.

When shooting video in 4K format with a bit rate of 60 fps, uncompressed RAW files will clog all memory cells in 3 minutes with a small tail. Therefore, for long-term video shooting, it is better to stock up on a 256 Gb flash drive (Lexar Professional 3400x CompactFlash 256 GB ), which will allow you to record video for an hour and a half in a row (subject to reducing the frame rate to 24 fps) .

The highest quality of the product is backed by a lifetime warranty. The flash drive also comes with Image Rescue utility for data recovery. The memory card will become an indispensable assistant in pair with the latest models of professional DSLRs (Nikon D5 kit or Canon EOS 1D X Mark II body Price from 140 000 up to 237 144 ₴ , as well as 4K camcorders Blackmagic URSA EF or Canon XC10 ).