CF Cards - Advice needed please

[JeffSmith]

I need to buy a new CF card and I see there's a difference in price, which is not only dependent upon size, but also read/write speed.

I've just bought a 5D MKII and I'm looking at the Sandisk 16Gb card, there are two speeds: 60/Mbs and 90/Mbs. The price diff is around £70 and I wondered if the extra read/write speed is worth the difference in money?

Any help is much appreciated.

Cheers,

Jeff

[Elmo]

an yoy tollerate a lower download speed and do you have a reader to read a faster card.

[jdepould]

It depends. 5D2 files are pretty big, so the faster speed is good to have.

[ressalg]

My understanding is: If you're going to be shooting a lot of rapid succesion shots (such as sports photography) you should go with the card that has the faster read/write speed.

[sk66]

I don't think your camera can even write at 60Mbs so camera performance differences will be nil. If you have a FW card reader then it might make some difference in transfers to the computer.

[JeffSmith]

Given what's been said, would it be better to go for the 32Gb 60/Mbs which is around the same price as the 16Gb 90/Mbs?

[sk66]

Depends, larger cards take longer to format and hold more images before you are forced to download them. If you regularly fill up smaller cards, then yes. If not, then get two of the smaller 60Mbs cards and have a backup in case one goes bad on you.

[inkista]

Here. Take a look at Rob Galbraith's testing data for different cards with the 5DMkII. It might help you decide what's worth the money.

[JeffSmith]

Many thanks Inkista, but that's an old test not including the newer UDMA cards at 60/Mbs and 90 /Mbs. We can conclude, at that time, Sandisk were the fastest card. My question is on assessing the value between the Sandisk 60Mbs and 90Mbs cards.

I know the 90 will be faster, but is it worth the extra money for use on the 5D MKII?

[JeffSmith]

Shoting in RAW, my current card will only allow a burst of 7 shots, then it waits to write. Would this still happen with the 90Mbs and is there a difference shooting video?