Customer Reviews

SanDisk SDCFX3-1024-901 1 GB Extreme III CompactFlash Card (Retail Package)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

So to answer the questions to "frenzel" and "Izzybee" none of you two would be able to utilize high transfer speed of this card nor for ie. Lexar's 80x , you are simply limited with your Camera Writes to buffer speed. It is often hard if not possible at all to find that information and Camera Manufacturers do not disclose this information. You can gain the speed for transferring the images from these cards to your computer if you use USB 2.0 or Fire Wire card readers, but that is all the gain you will see, so to gain fast response of your Camera you may need New Cameras that support faster writes to Camera's buffers, something like Nikon D70 or New Canon Digital Rebel 350, I am taking about "Prosumer level" of DSLR's hope this would help...

I have never noticed any in-camera performance difference between my SanDisk Extreme III 1GB and SanDisk Ultra II 1GB cards.
But, Extreme III consistently gives me about 50% faster download speed with both USB2 and USB1 (yes, unfortunately I sometimes have to use such old hardware). Eventually, we all need to transfer the photos from compactflash to somewhere else, and the extra time needed for the slower cards is so annoying to me I plan to never again buy any card slower than Extreme III.
--- Brent

This is the fastest card yet as of March 28, 2005. Using the data collected at: http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/index.asp in the CF Database. I was able to make a more informed decision. I had my heart set on the Hitachi Microdrive 3GB when initially purchasing my Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT 350D. However, after reviewing the results of the write speed tests, I immediately switched to the San Disc Extreme III. For my camera write speed using this CF is 4.888MB/sec JPEG and 6.263MB/sec RAW compared to the Hitachi Microdrive 6GB 3.466MB/sec JPEG and 4.584MB/sec RAW. Its highly recommended that you check out Rob Galbraith site to help sift through the confusion of which CF Card performs best with your camera.

this card is very fast. on my rebel xt, my 2nd gen lexar 80x pro and my extreme III card are neck and neck. the speed is a bit faster on the sandisk card though. doesn't really affect real world performance, unless i'm shooting a lot of bursts in RAW.

the card also comes with a neoprene card holder that can hold 2 cards. nothing to get too excited over.

it also comes with software on a mini CD, unlike other manufacturers that put them on the card itself. cough, lexar, cough.

It's no wonder that people aren't seeing a big difference in speed; point and shoot, prosumer P&S, and entry-level dSLR cameras aren't going to be able to write to the card fast enough. Take a look at Rob Galbraith's CF database:
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007

The SanDisk Extreme III is almost always the fastest when the card becomes the limiting factor.

Yes, that's true you may not feel the difference in speed between Ultra II and III when you using it in modern D-SLRs, but... what a difference in access speed when you plug it in to your PC's USB2.0 port with the card reader. You can browse and preview your pictures directly from the card and not notice that it's not your hard drive. Also I'd like to stress on the size of this 1GB CF. Benchmark tests show that this is fastest card when used in DSLR even when compared to the same Extreme III 2,4,8 GB sizes. As the memory size grows seek time is extended. Another reason for me to by this particular size is that I'm leaning toward the expression "Do not put ALL eggs into one basket". I'd rather have 2 separate gigs then one 2GB piece. Imagine 2 or 4GB full of images got lost or broken or....
Extreme stands for DURABILITY against high temperatures and shock resistance.
In my opinion it is good investment as DSLR world constantly improving and read/write speeds of the camera bodies are growing. One day these speeds may match and you will not have to go and spend another hundred to get most out of your new camera.
Hope this helps.

Very fast CF card (x133 20mb/sec) with a free recovery program installed if you mistakely erase your photos. Some cameras can not even match its speed so you have to check with www.scandisk.com if your camera is listed. If you want the fastest card on the market with the latest technology buy this card. if not buy a Scandisk Extreme for less.

Ok My point is it really improves the performance in my Sony DSC-R1. I can take pictures faster, I miss fewer shots. The software on the mini-CD is actually useful and the little case is cool too...A really nice touch.

Granted this card may be faster than your camera's ability to write to it, but keep in mind:

(1) It comes with a lifetime warrantee
(2) It comes with free recovery software that I assume can be used with your other cards
(3) Someday you may move to a faster camera (although by that time you may want a card with vastly more storage space, but hey...)

If previous reviewer's camera cannot utilize the faster speed of this card, they should be noticing a difference when then put it in their firewire reader and start downloading the pictures to their computer. So no matter what this should speed up your flowtime.