# Is there a difference between Sandisk Cards and cheaper models?



## christm (May 27, 2009)

_Hi Guys, 

I havn't posted for a while due to life being very hectic. 

However I have a quick question. _

I need to upgrade from my Sandisk 4gb Compact Flash 133x Ultra 4 I think. I need the speed as I shoot sports in RAW at 20mb per file or more. I am looking at an 8gb card, is there a different between a card from brand 'X' that states its speed is 133x and from Sandisk that state its 133x ?

A quick example from a UK site:

Transend Brand - Cheap - 7dayshop.com - Online Store

Sandisk Brand - Expensive - 7dayshop.com - Online Store

Just 2 examples. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

Once again - is there a difference, or am I paying for the name?

Thanks


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## bigtwinky (May 27, 2009)

I try and stay away from the non name brand cards.  Read a few reviews and you'll find more than a good share of people with issues.

I made a post a week or so ago very similar to this one about another brand that I was questionning.  The consensus is that can you really afford to have your third party cheap card crap out on you in a shoot, where you lose whatever you have stored?

SanDisk is tops.  I personally use Lexar cards, which have been great for me.


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## adamwilliamking (May 27, 2009)

I've heard that they are all made under the same roof.


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## musicaleCA (May 27, 2009)

adamwilliamking said:


> I've heard that they are all made under the same roof.



While this may be true for some brands (that is, a cheap brand might be made a few assembly lines down from SanDisk, say), the cheaper brands are not made to the same specs, and usually have *terrible* quality control.

Stay away from no-name and cheap brand names like they were a mad hellhound on fire trying to tear you limb from limb. They often have bad sectors, poor design, and will be prone to failure and data corruption (which is, of course, devastating in photography). They'll also probably have fewer read/writes before they start failing.

To be honest, memory is probably going to be one of the cheapest pieces of gear you buy, compared to software, lenses, camera bodies, flashes, tripods and ball heads. It's really, really, really not worth it to skimp on something that is relatively cheap but of such paramount importance.

Stick to SanDisk and Lexar. For memory those are the top brands.


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## KmH (May 27, 2009)

I don't think you'll see any marked improvement in buffer write speed but you will when you download to your computer system.

The limiting factor is your camera's buffer not the memory card.

As far as name brand over off brand. IMO it doesn't matter.

What matters is how you treat your cards and being sure you always format your cards in camera and before your next shoot.


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## KmH (May 28, 2009)

I found some information you may find useful.


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## christm (May 28, 2009)

Thank you very much for all of your replies. It seems that as Im serious about photography and will end up in a career involving photography I may as well buy something half decent. I will look into Lexar cards as well as Sandisk. The link on the speed comparisons was very useful, I was quite surprised at the differences. 

Thanks again. I will update you on what I choose.


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## B Kennedy (May 28, 2009)

christm said:


> Thank you very much for all of your replies. It seems that as Im serious about photography and will end up in a career involving photography I may as well buy something half decent. I will look into Lexar cards as well as Sandisk. The link on the speed comparisons was very useful, I was quite surprised at the differences.
> 
> Thanks again. I will update you on what I choose.



As an FYI if you buy sandisk extreme 4 8gb cards there is a current rebate on them.  I just bought (3) of them from b&h and that comes with a mail in rebate for $200.  It's one heck of a deal and the cards are *fast*!  The rebate is up in July I believe so order up.  I think the cards come out to be like around $60 a piece.


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## KmH (May 28, 2009)

B Kennedy said:


> christm said:
> 
> 
> > Thank you very much for all of your replies. It seems that as Im serious about photography and will end up in a career involving photography I may as well buy something half decent. I will look into Lexar cards as well as Sandisk. The link on the speed comparisons was very useful, I was quite surprised at the differences.
> ...


 
Here's the link, I think. Looks like you can buy them 1 at a time.


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## B Kennedy (May 29, 2009)

Yup that links correct, just click on the rebate form and when you open it up you see that you can buy either 1, 2 or 3...60 back on 1, 130 back on 2, 200 back on if you buy 3.


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## Dao (May 29, 2009)

Not sure about others, the Sanddisk Extreme III CF cards that I bought came with data recovery software.  In case you once on a life time photos in the memory card are gone.  You maybe able to get them back with the software.


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