SanDisk SDCFH-512-901 512 MB Ultra II CompactFlash Card (Retail Package)

Nikon, for instance, has engineered their cameras around Lexar cards, and I've had good success with those cards in my Coolpix 4500. On the other hand, when I tried a Sandisk Ultra (rated fastest in those days) it was slower than the 12X Lexars on that camera.

Nikon now also supports Lexar's proprietary Write Acceleration (WA) technology, but only on more recent, up-scale cameras. Again, a waste of money to buy a 40x WA Lexar card if the camera doesn't make any use of it. At least Nikon publishes a list of tested cards in the back of their camera manuals (unlike Canon). You can also get info on recently tested cards on the Nikon camera tech site.

You should be able to extrapolate to larger size cards from there, but I wouldn't stray from the manufacturers listed there, unless you get a chance to actually check out a card in your camera in a camera store. Don't forget to be nice to the sales folks there, and buy something there, for their time and trouble, instead of saying, "Cool, now I can order this from Amazon!" After all, what good does it do you to save a few bucks on an initial CF purchase, if it doesn't do what you want? Kind of an expensive keychain charm, if you ask me.

I recently got a Canon EOS 300D, and was dismayed to find that Canon support wouldn't tell me what speed or manufacturer of card to use with the camera (I suppose the engineering department used core memory for their tests, for all I know). Since I bought a Digital Rebel before any flash tests with that camera appeared on http://www.robgalbraith.com, I was pioneering. I subsequently discovered that Canon was selling Simpletech 10x cards on their web site as 300D accessories (imagine that 8-), so I ordered a couple from Amazon (*much* better price 8-), and have been happy with them. Not the fastest in the world, but the price was right, and they work OK with camera.

Since then, I've seen the review on http://www.robgalbraith.com (as of 11/28/2003, they had tested with 16 different cameras -- also check out an older survey at http://www.dpreview.com, that may cover your camera), with the Sandisk Extreme topping out the list for the 300D. I ended up here, looking for Extremes, but Amazon doesn't seem to be carrying any. 8-(

Sandisk Ultra II's and the "new" Ultra (see the robgalbraith article) rated very closely to the Extreme, though.

If you have a Digital Rebel (EOS 300D), the Ultra II 512MB should work fine for you. Also, to all those folks that say you can get 100+ photos on a 512MB card, you obviously haven't discovered the benefits of shooting in RAW mode. Of course, if you shoot in RAW, you can't squeeze quite as many shots on a card (about 64, +/-) but it's still about the equivalent of two rolls of film, which is OK in my book.

If you do shoot RAW, do yourself a favor and check out Capture One DSLR Digital Rebel edition (http://www.pictureflow.com/). It's cheap ($49), fast (instant preview of your changes, and you can queue RAW conversions for background processing), and will make working with RAW photos a pleasure. Nothing like being able to fix an exposure problem +/- 2 stops *after* you shoot it, and the 'click here' color balance correction is golden. A RAW file is a lossless compression with 12-bits of data, so if you convert to 16-bit TIFF, you can edit to your heart's content without seriously degrading the image (unlike 8-bit JPEG).

If you have a 300D, you've bought a first-rate sensor and electronics (same as the more-expensive 10D). Don't cripple it by shooting JPEGs. Have fun, and explore what your camera can do.

I originally used a Canon 32MB card which performed horribly. It would take on average 10 seconds to write one JPG at the highest resolution.

With the 512MB Ultra II card it takes from 1-2 seconds to write the same image. It also allows you to shoot continuous shots longer.

With 6+ Megapixels--I think the 512MB card is the perfect size for a full day of shooting. I can get about 165-170 shots on a card. I am glad I did not get the 256MB card.

Lastly, it also allows quicker image previewing from the camera, flipping between images is so so much faster. I think the extra money for this card is well worth it.