Customer Reviews

SanDisk 2 GB SDSDX3-2048-901 Extreme III SD Memory Card (Retail Package)

5 star:		(218)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

With my equipment, this 'Extreme' card is faster than an 'Ultra' only in a few situations. Usually, the two cards perform identically, and you can buy three Ultra's for the price of two 'Extremes'.

The 'Extreme' captured 29 RAW images in 30 seconds, while an Ultra captured only 23 (the camera supposedly can capture 3 frames/second). Using the computer's USB 2.0 card reader, the Extreme uploaded just a tad slower than the Ultra (1.2 seconds/frame, vs. 1.15 seconds/frame). When capturing JPG's, the two cards were about equal (85 vs. 86 frames in 30 seconds) with the Ultra a tad faster... a negligible difference.

If the camera could capture 5 frames/second instead of 3, or the card reader were faster, the 'Extreme' card might have been faster than the 'Ultra'; but this is the equipment I have.

So, if you know your equipment can take advantage of the extra speed and you'd rather have the slight speed advantage than have three cards ($29/each) for the price of two ($43/each), consider the 'Extreme'. Otherwise, I'd recommend using the 'Ultra'.

Most Digital SLR's including those below 1000.00 dollars have an integrated buffer system that allows for minimum 3 shots per second. Because of this, the photos are not directly being written to the card immediately and this type of card is not needed. If you are shooting in burst mode - (As many shots continuously), then this card makes sense. Think of it as pouring water into a pitcher that has a hole in the bottom. if you fill the water faster than the water leaving the pitcher, you will need this card. It allow's the buffer memory to transfer more quickly to the card.

If you have a digital SLR and taking a shot every minute or so, you don't need this card. Go for an inexpensive SD card with more memory. It would be fine.

I would also recommend the Extreme card to someone who has a point and shoot camera since there is next to no buffer memory that transfer's the photo data to the card and the camera is more dependent on the write speed of the card.

i'll cut to the chase. the sandisk extreme is comparable to the lexar professional series. both are recommended for professional sports shooters and maybe wedding photographers. for everyone else, it might be better to be ultra than extreme. i'll explain: unless your camera shoots at 5 fps or faster you don't need this -- the next-speediest sandisk card, the ultra II, is plenty fast for any dslr 3 fps or slower. the only place the extreme makes a real-world difference is in burst speed, which will vary depending on the size of your camera's buffer and, of course, your camera itself. oh, and the downloading speed from camera to computer via usb might be a bit quicker with this. other than that, it's a high-quality memory card from a reputable company. used to be more expensive but prices are falling fast, so for the price it's not a bad deal (although it wouldn't hurt to search other sites for deals).

If you are buying a several hundred dollar camera, then at least have the sense to take advantage of it by buying a FAST memory card. I didn't expect much from this card, or for there to be a noticable difference. Well, was I shocked from my recent vacation when I was shooting photos left and right, and the people in my group were waiting 2-3 seconds before the could take another photo. Not only does it allow your camera to shoot faster, but it lowers your blood pressure as well, because you didn't miss the shot. I can never go back to using a regular speed card. The card worked as advertised. I love it.

Someone else said it well in a previous review: this might be more than you need. Unless you are a sports photographer or normally shoot tons of photos in continuous mode, the 2 GB Extreme III actually has more speed than you need. The 2 GB Ultra II card SanDisk SDSDH-2048-901 2 GB Ultra II Secure Digital Memory Card (Retail Package) has plenty of speed for most photographers (about 98% of the shooters out there). I own both, and they both work well.

That said, the 2 GB Extreme III is extremely fast in my D40; 20-25 large/normal JPEG shots in continuous mode write to this card almost instantaneously, with perhaps a 0.5 second lag at the end. RAW or RAW + JPEG continuous shots would write a tad slower, but still amazing. Read/transfer speeds are similarly swift.

SanDisk memory cards are very reliable, and well-priced. You can't go wrong with this product, you might just want to order the Ultra II to save a few bucks. You could also make due with the 1GB Ultra II card SanDisk SDSDH-1024-901 1 GB Ultra II Secure Digital Memory Card (Retail Package) if you are a casual shooter with a 4-6 megapixel camera. Whatever you get, make sure you have at least two of them, so you won't run out of memory and have a back-up in case of failure.

Almost forgot to mention: the Extreme III card retail package comes with the latest version of Sandisk's "RescuePRO File Recovery Utility" (v3.2) on a mini CD, plus a small memory card carrying pouch. Nice extras, included in the price.

[UPDATE 8/26/07: Just checked the prices on both cards. With a one-dollar 34-cents difference, you might as well get the Extreme III. Right now Amazon has the best price out there...]

I really like this card. It's made well for professionals in real-world conditions. The package comes with a free neoprene carrying pouch, a plastic hard case, literature, and a cd-rom for the recovery & back-up software programs.

As far as speed, I'm not sure how fast it is, but I'd say it's equal to another brand of 2GB SD card that's rated at 150x speed. Of course, your camera's processing speed also factors in.

In my 10 MP Panasonic DMC-FZ50 camera, the SanDisk 2GB Extreme III SD card gives me exactly 399 shots. This gets interesting: my Leica M8 gets exactly 539 shots at the finest jpeg setting!

So far, I have not had any data loss problems, and that to me is very important.

I have plenty of SD cards and the Sandisk Ultra III is one of the fastest around. When tested with my Nikon D80 against the Sandisk Ultra II version (and other 80x SD cards), the Ultra III was about twice as fast in being able to clear the camera's internal buffer. This may be a factor if you do lots of burst mode shooting.

That being said, I also have a Transcend 2GB 150x SD card and it is just as fast and reliable as the Sandisk Ultra III for about half the price. So if you want speed on a budget, get the Transcend. If you must have Sandisk, then this is the card to get.

You get what you pay applies when it comes to secure digital SanDisk memory cards. You can pay less, but if your using the card for photography you could loose a shot if you're using a standard(speed) sd card with a high(10 megapixel)digital camera. So the combination of speed and reliability, SanDisk stands behind their product with a lifetime guarantee, is well worth the slight premium you'll pay. Think about it like this, back in the day when we would pay a premium for our favorite film, over and over and... Well with this card(film)you pay once and it keeps giving.

I purchased the Extreme III SD Memory Card in the hopes of improving the speed at which my photos were saved on my Nikon Coolpix L11. In all honesty, though, I haven't noticed any difference between the speed when using this memory card and when I was using the Kingston SD Memory card that I had before.

I am an avid photographer and take hundreds of photos on a monthly basis. I probably won't ever be testing the extreme limits of this memory card, but at least I know that if there is a read/write issue - it's likely due to my camera and not the memory card.

Based upon the price I paid, I'd say the purchase was probably worth the money I spent. However, if I had paid full retail price, I'd be contemplating returning the card for a refund.

If you have a mid-level or less expensive camera, I'd say definitely make sure your issue is the memory card, not your camera before purchasing this if speed is your only reason for purchasing this high-end memory card.

I bought this accidently while on vacation, thinking it was another ultra card. For me, there was a big difference between this and an ultra. My camera is a Canon S2IS. There is a very noticeable difference using this card, and I can get a lot more pictures off in less amount of time than with an ultra card. Is it worth the price difference? For me, it is. I hate to miss a nice picture of my kids doing something because the camera is not "ready," so, for the extra bit of money, I am very happy. Also, I would like to note that downloading the pictures and vvideo to my laptop, was also much faster, another pleasant surprise after taking several hundred pictures. The card reader in my laptop (which is almost 3 years old) reads the card with no problem. Lastly,the idea of safely getting back deleted pictures is nothing new, and software can easily be found (for free), with little effort, to get back whatever you accidently deleted (just don't write over the card, as you may not be able to get it back then). I know some people said they did not notice a big difference with their setup, but the few reviews I read did not say what their setup was, and I have to wonder how full the card was. I think that as the card gets more full, you will see a bigger difference. I will only buy these cards (unless faster ones come out that will work on my camera) from now on......oh yes, and a quick search will find the 2gig card for around $35 with free shipping elsewhere.

update: I just bought two more from Amazon. The price is awesome, and they are great!