Royalty free photographs http://www.focaldepth.com
Compact Flash Speed Comparision Test
April 9th 2010
June 20th 2012 Added 2 more cards
Having recently bought a Canon 7D camera and needing to buy some Compact Flash cards I scoured the web for information on which card would be best for this fast camera.
I found the following tests:
Lexar rejoins speed race with Pro 600X CompactFlash
High Performance CompactFlash Benchmarks on Canon 1D Mark IV
I then decided to cary out my own tests.
Background and explanation
All DSLRs including the Canon 7D take photogaphs and process the pixel data in an internal buffer.
The buffers uses fast memory and can hold a number of frames.
After processing the data needs to be stored on a slower flash card.
Hence in the case of the 7D it can manage to take a burst of about a dozen frames (raw + jpeg) at 8 frames per second then has to wait to empty some buffer space before taking another frame.
Or to look at it another way, if you take 12 frames of one event, you may have to wait a minute before you can take the next burst of 12 frames.
This is why most photgraphy forums recommend that you buy the fastest most expensive flash cards available.
Test method jpeg:
- Camera on tripod
- Lens Canon 100mm F2.8L IS Macro.
- f stop f3.5
- Shutter 1/200s
- ISO 200
- Jpeg (Fine) only
- Focused in manual at 10m on a garden bench and hedge.
- Format each card in camera.
- Press shutter for 15 seconds (timed by wristwatch)
- Record number of frames taken.
- Record total time to write to card.
Test method jpeg+raw:
- Camera on tripod
- Lens Canon 100mm IS Macro.
- f stop =3.5
- Shutter 1/200s
- ISO 1000. (Later in the evening)
- Jpeg + raw
- Focused in manual at 10m on a garden bench and hedge.
- Format each card in camera.
- Press shutter for 15 seconds (timed by wristwatch)
- Record number of frames taken.
- Record total time to write to card.
Compact Flash Cards used:
| Card | Price | Store | Case | |
| Hama 4GB High Speed Pro | £19.99 | Local camera store | No case | |
| Kingston 4GB | £9.56 | ebuyer.co.uk | No case | |
| Kingston 8GB 133x elite pro | £20.91 | ebuyer.co.uk | Case | |
| Lexar 8GB Professional UDMA 233x | £36.34 | ebuyer.co.uk | Case | |
| Lexar 8GB Professional UDMA 300x | £47.47 | ebuyer.co.uk | Case | |
| Lexar 8GB Professional UDMA 600x | £100.69 | ebuyer.co.uk | Case | (Not tested) |
| Lexar 8GB Professional UDMA 400x | £---- | ebuyer.co.uk | Case | |
| Kignston 16GB Ultimate 266x | £19.99 (Jun 2012) | ebuyer.co.uk | No Case | |
| Kingston 32GB Ultimate 266x | £37.98 (Jun 2012) | ebuyer.co.uk | No Case |
Test Results jpeg:
File size 7.9MB per jpeg, per frame.
| CF Card | Speed | Frames | Total Time | Frame Size MB | MB/S | Frames/S | Cost |
| Hama 4GB High Speed Pro | 200 | 78 | 35 | 7.9 | 20.2 | 2.2 | 19.99 |
| Kingston 4GB | 50 | 55 | 75 | 7.9 | 6.7 | 0.7 | 9.56 |
| Kingston 8GB 133x elite pro | 133 | 67 | 37 | 7.9 | 16.5 | 1.8 | 20.91 |
| Lexar 8GB Professional UDMA 233x | 233 | 87 | 30 | 7.9 | 26.4 | 2.9 | 36.34 |
| Lexar 8GB Professional UDMA 300x | 300 | 97 | 25 | 7.9 | 35.3 | 3.9 | 47.47 |
| Lexar 8GB Professional UDMA 400x | 400 | 105 | 23 | 8.8 | 40.2 | 1.9 | ---- |
| Kingston 16GB Ultimate 266x | 266 | 81 | 35 | 8.8 | 23.8 | 5.4 | ---- | Kingston 32GB Ultimate 266x | 266 | 37.98 |
Test Results jpeg + raw:
File Size jpeg 9.1MB, raw 24.8MB, 33.9MB per frame.
| CF Card | Speed | Frames | Total Time | Frame Size MB | MB/S | Frames/S | Cost |
| Hama 4GB High Speed Pro | 200 | 20 | 42 | 33.9 | 16.1 | 0.5 | 19.99 |
| Kingston 4GB | 50 | 16 | 96 | 33.9 | 5.7 | 0.2 | 9.56 |
| Kingston 8GB 133x elite pro | 133 | 22 | 47 | 33.9 | 15.9 | 0.5 | 20.91 |
| Lexar 8GB Professional UDMA 233x | 233 | 26 | 32 | 33.9 | 27.5 | 0.8 | 36.34 |
| Lexar 8GB Professional UDMA 300x | 300 | 28 | 26 | 33.9 | 36.5 | 1.1 | 47.47 | Lexar 8GB Professional UDMA 400x | 400 | 29 | 25 | 35.5 | 41.2 | 1.9 | ---- | Kingston 16GB Ultimate 266x | 266 | 81 | 30 | 35.5 | 23.3 | 1.5 | 19.99 (June 2012) | Kingston 32GB Ultimate 266x | 266 | 37.98 (June 2012) |
Conclusion:
Well in general it looks as though the more you pay the faster the card will be.
Only you can judge how much the extra speed is worth to you.
Plotting on a graph shows 2 things, 1) The Hama advertised speed is greatly exagerated (it is more like 130x. 2) The Canon 7d can run at much grater speed than 300x.
As you can tell £50 for one CF card was my limit and so I did not buy the £100 600x one and hence was not able to test it.
If you feel the need to steal the low resolution images on this site, please do not remove the watermark and include a link to this site
http://www.focaldepth.com on your page or document.
