CF or UDMA ?

[Martyn]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum and the Magazine. I'm running a 5D Mk11. I've searched the forum and haven't been able to find the answer to this.
I have several CF cards inc: 8GB Silicon Power 133X, 8GB SanDisk Extream IV and 8GB Sandisk Extream (Ducati). Should I move to UDMA?
I mainly take Landscape and Equestrian pictures (and I promise to put some up soon). I have a major holiday coming up in the USA and want to make sure I have enough memory.

Thanks in advance

Martyn

[briansquibb]

Re: CF or UDMA ?

I would suggest that the 5DII does not require highest speed cards unless you are going to be machine gunning.

Shooting on the 5DII I get about 500 full sized RAW pictures on a 16mb card - or over a 1000 sRaw.

[MX5]

Re: CF or UDMA ?

Remember you'll need a CF-UDMA Card Reader to get the maximum speed for downloading if you use an external card reader. I use the Lexar one (it’s backward compatible with none UDMA) and supports SD and SDHC (which my G10 uses).

But if you are thinking of buying a batch of cards ... then to future proof it'll do no harm buying UDMA. Or if you are planning to get a 7D to complement your 5D2 it’s probably a very good idea.

[EOS_Jim]

Re: CF or UDMA ?

THe only reason to get a fast card is when you are shooting rapid. I have been caught out with slow cards a couple of times as the 5D RAW files are pretty big. Also the speed of the card affects the download speed to your PC .

I'd suggest a 30Mb/sec speed is reasonable especially if doing equestrian stuff. Faster is better and slower can mean you have to wait for the buffer catching up - depends what you shoot though and if you use Raw or Jpg.