Customer Reviews

SanDisk Extreme CompactFlash 8 GB Memory Card SDCFX-008G

5 star:		(59)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Short story: the card is superb. If you are thinking of buying it, don't hesitate.

Long story: Capacity is just shy of 30GB due to overhead. It it is v e r y fast; your camera will be the bottleneck, not this card! I tested in in 2 cameras: a newer Canon and an older Canon 20D. To my surprise, the large capacity works well with older cameras! Used with new cameras, there's nothing to know other than it is fast and works as expected. Thus, the remainder of this review will be from the standpoint of the older Canon 20D.

I had been using an 4 year old Lexar Pro 8GB 133x WA (back then, fast and high tech & costly). The performance of the 20D has actually been greatly improved using this card. To the point, I would recommend upgrading to any brand of 400x card even if you don't need the storage. There are no negative surprises but a few caveats to know for large cards in older cameras...

If you use large cards in older cameras, follow one simple rule: If the card is over 8GB, do not format it in the camera. It will be reduced to an 8GB card. If you ignore this rule, go to download dot com and search for this app: HP disk storage format tool

Because... Neither the camera nor Windoze can restore the card (not explorer, not disk admin, not XP pro, and not win7 entprise 64bit). But, the free HP utility is perfect. Newer cameras can format past 8gb. PS: I used a $12 usb card reader from Amaz to format mine: The Kingston 19-in-1 USB 2.0 Flash Memory Card Reader.

I'm using this CF card with my Canon 40D. Previously I was using 4gb Lexar 300x cards, (equivalent to about 45mb/sec) which also work just fine, but they're only 4gb each. I found myself wanting more memory and a 3rd card to go between my two camera bodies (other is a rebel xti).

There's nothing at all wrong with this CF card, it works just perfectly. Not even a hiccup. So that's good.

I was hoping to be able to take much longer continuous sequences of photos on the 40D at 6.5 frames/sec. With the Lexar 300x cards I was able to get 15 consecutive images at full resolution raw+jpg before the camera's image buffer filled up. With this card I was disappointed to find that number only rose to 17. I later looked up the stats on the 40D and found that 17 consecutive full res images was the maximum the camera can do anyway, so I know the card is faster than the camera. If I was to get a faster card it wouldn't help me at all.

So, unless you really need to take lots of fast sequences at full resolution raw+jpeg, save yourself the money and get a slower 8gb CF card, like the 15mb/sec 8gb card for $30.

I'm happy with the card though. It won't be holding me back.

I've done some write benchmarks on the 16GB version of this card and others with my Canon 40D. Here are the results:

SanDisk Extreme 60 MB/s 16GB (400X)
17 RAW, 17 seconds to clear

SanDisk Extreme III 30 MB/s 8GB (200X)
18 RAW, 17 seconds to clear

Lexar 133X Pro 1GB
20 RAW, 16 seconds to clear

Kingston Ultimate 133X 4 GB
19 RAW, 21 seconds to clear

Kingston High Speed 1024 MB
18 RAW, 37 seconds to clear

For this circa-2008 DSLR, no card over 133X improves write speeds. No benefit was expected; cameras of this vintage max out at about 12 MB/s. All but two of the current crop of Canon and Nikon DSLRs perform at near full speed with a 200X (30 MB/s) card. These cameras reach 35 MB/s at best, so a 400X (60 MB/s) card offers only slight improvements, if any. Canon's 7D and 1D IV, both capable of 60 MB/s or more, will clear the buffer as much as twice as fast with a 400X card.

The bump from 200X to 400X has no effect on general shooting speed or movie recording. Movie recording at 1080p/30 takes about 5 MB/s or as much as 8 MB/s with custom firmware. Autofocus, turn-on speed, JPEG writes, image review, and so on are almost completely unaffected. The only benefit to the higher rating with a modern camera is reduced buffer clearing time with continuous high-speed raw.

There are, however, speed variances even among cards of equal rating. Size matters. Cards 8 GB and smaller tend to perform somewhat faster in-camera than larger cards of the same family. Brand also matters. Cameras from Canon, Nikon, and Sony perform best with cards from SanDisk and Lexar. Other brands, even if capable of rated speed in a card reader, tend not to rival those two in-camera. Rob Galbraith's CF/SD database, current as of early-2009, is invaluable in determining which cards work best with which cameras.

Card-to-computer transfer rates will be limited by the card reader interface. USB 2.0, the most common, caps out at about 30 MB/s. Firewire 800 is about three times as fast and will max out this card, as will USB 3.0 and IDE/SATA converters. As well, all CF cards rated for 30 MB/s or more support UDMA, though this is of no consequence in-camera.

In short, this card is for you if you have a 7D or 1D IV and regularly hit a buffer limit in raw, or you shoot so much that card-to-computer times slow your workflow. Everyone else can spend half as much on the 30 MB/s version of same.

I purchased this card for use with a Canon 5D Mark II DSLR and compared to the Extreme 3 cards that I owned prior to this, the increase in speed is noticeable. I wasn't really able to notice any difference in-camera (I don't usually shoot at high frame rates) and recording 1080p video at 30fps works fine on both cards, but I did notice an increase in transfer speeds with my UDMA enabled USB2 card reader. I can realistically transfer 1.5GB of files in about 40 seconds (transferring to a 7200RMP firewire 800 hard drive on my Mac) To transfer those same files from the Extreme III card, it takes about 53 seconds. Definitely not 2x as fast, but technically this card costs less than the Extreme III! So, for the money, I am satisfied. Highly recommended.

We got this for our canon 7D, and wanted something big that would handle the video. I'd read some opinions that we didn't need to go this fast with the card, but others that thought we did.. so, we got one, just to be safe. So far so good. Seems to be high quality and reliable. A little more than would have preferred to spend on a memory card, but so far, I think it's going to be worth it, not to have to worry about corrupted data, or choppy videos, or running out of room any time soon. It takes nice long, smooth video and doesn't have to break them up. Also, just really nice to have 32 gig. Good product. Can't say for sure, but PROBABLY worth the $$ if you're needing a fast card.

Using severalof these cards with a NIkon D700 and D200(with batt pack) and it is able to keep up with both on CH shooting. Like 8g over 16 as 16 puts you at risk of losing so much more if a card fails or goes missing. 8g is a couple hundred shots in raw with no comp, perfect for most applications.

upgraded from 2gb extreme iii to this 8gb extreme...double the speed, a must-need for my 5d mkii churning out files at 85MBs..noticed a huge imprvmt over the extrm iii.

The SanDisk Extreme 32GB CompactFlash card worked flawlessly on a movie project I worked on for class. We shot all day and had plenty of space left. I used this card with a Canon 7D.

I purchased this as my starter card when I bought my Nikon D300s. As I shoot in RAW, having a 8GB card at the minimum was required. It works great, is fast and provides more than enough space for a leisurely day shooting. In RAW format, it will hold 370+ photos, depending if I have or take any videos.

Would highly recommend and have purchased multiple other sized cards (2 - 2GB and 1 - 16GB)

I read all the review's and was swayed to the Sandisk Extreme Compact Flash for use on my Canon 7D. At 8pfs these CF card more than perform what was promised. Reliability and UDMA was a definite plus, the price was reasonable compared to Best Buy and other retail stores. I can't wait to purchase more CF card in the future. I have used several Sandisk Extreme III and Ultra II SD cards for my canon T1i and the card keep with my Camera during burst photography. I ordered this product and it took 2 days by regular mail delivery. The package was mailed by USPS and well wrapped as with all my other order.