# What CF card for 1D X?



## Charles_cz (Jul 26, 2012)

Hi guys, 

I need some help or suggestion on CF card. I have finally received 1DX and I need good card or two to go with it. Good = speed and reliability

I will be shooting stills and videos. I understand that if I want to use full potential of this camera I should go for UDMA 7 rated cards.

What would you buy today if you had to pick one card for stills and one for video? Brand, size and why?

Any brand more reliable than other? I know I will spend some money on those card so I want to make informed decision. 

Thanks for your help.. Charles


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## neuroanatomist (Jul 26, 2012)

I've always used SanDisk, never had any issues with my cards. In my 1D X, I use a pair of 32GB Extreme Pro 90 MB/s cards. I've also got a pair of SanDisk 16GB and three 8 GB 60 Mb/s, as well as an assortment of 6-8 SDHC cards (4 and 8 GB, 20 and 30 Mb/s).


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## Studio1930 (Jul 26, 2012)

I have always used SanDisk until two of mine crapped out with images on them. One is not even formattable now so I have to RMA it. This was with my 1DM4. 

I now use Lexar Pro 1000x 16 GB cards. They are much faster and work without issue for me. They are also cheaper. I use them in my 1DM4 and 1DX.

-Darrin


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## Drizzt321 (Jul 26, 2012)

Once you get to the 30MB/s speed, you should be pretty much set for video on the 1DX. For stills, how often are you going to be shooting very large bursts? If you're going to be doing lots of sports, I'd definitely say get the top end UDMA7 cards (such as the Lexar 1000x), since you'll likely be doing lots of bursts and writing out lots of images to the CF card in a short space of time. 

If you're just doing a few frames, pausing, a few more, you can get away with a much slower card. Look at the 60MB/sec cards, I've had a good experience with the 32GB Transcend 400x (60MB/sec write) cards on both my 5d2 & 5d3.

The higher end SanDisk and Lexar seem to be the top brands, but like I said, I've been good with Transcend.

In terms of sizes, if you've got the money, I wouldn't go for cards less than 32GB, and go for 64GB if you don't want to carry around as many cards. Just remember, download them to your computer often, and back them up often. Just because it's from a good, name brand doesn't mean they don't fail ever. It happens, every manufacturer will have a few bad cards here and there. Just from a good one, you likely won't.


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## gary samples (Jul 26, 2012)

I got two 64gb Extreme Pro 90 MB/s love the cards.


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## Charles_cz (Jul 26, 2012)

I do shoot pictures of running horses often so I need to clear buffer as fast as possible. Coming from 1D Mark II N I am sure I'll be happy with this upgrade. I want to use full writing speed of the camera..


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## TrumpetPower! (Jul 26, 2012)

SanDisk. Pick size and speed according to your shooting requirements, but make sure the sticker says, "SanDisk."

Cheers,

b&


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## bdunbar79 (Jul 26, 2012)

Charles_cz said:


> I do shoot pictures of running horses often so I need to clear buffer as fast as possible. Coming from 1D Mark II N I am sure I'll be happy with this upgrade. I want to use full writing speed of the camera..



I hear ya! Try shooting rapid fire on your 1D Mark II or worse, the 1Ds3, rapid-fire RAW. I locked mine up once for 30 seconds while the buffer cleared, lol!


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## Drizzt321 (Jul 26, 2012)

bdunbar79 said:


> Charles_cz said:
> 
> 
> > I do shoot pictures of running horses often so I need to clear buffer as fast as possible. Coming from 1D Mark II N I am sure I'll be happy with this upgrade. I want to use full writing speed of the camera..
> ...



Yea, get the fastest card you can then. Lexar Pro 1000x, SanDisk Extreme Pro 90MB/sec. The later is UDMA6 and slower than the Lexar Pro 1000x, but still very fast.


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## Charles_cz (Jul 26, 2012)

Thanks guys. I will go for Lexar Professional 1000x 32 GB CompactFlash Card LCF32CTBNA1000. I will get one card to test it and take it from there. I would rather get 64GB but it gets pricey.


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## Drizzt321 (Jul 26, 2012)

Charles_cz said:


> Thanks guys. I will go for Lexar Professional 1000x 32 GB CompactFlash Card LCF32CTBNA1000. I will get one card to test it and take it from there. I would rather get 64GB but it gets pricey.



You can always buy a 2nd and put it in the 2nd CF slot. Just set the camera to automatically overflow onto that 2nd card. Or, if you're paranoid, have it write the same image to both cards simultaneously.


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## Sh1n1ng Forc3 (Jul 26, 2012)

I love Delkin UDMA 7 32 GB CF cards. They cost a premium but they are fantastic and have never bricked in my Canon bodies like some of the other UDMA 7 cards I've heard of. Either way there are many options, just be sure to get UDMA 7 as it is definitely worth it with the 1DX when it comes to clearing the buffer. I cannot state this enough.


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## neuroanatomist (Jul 26, 2012)

Drizzt321 said:


> Or, if you're paranoid, have it write the same image to both cards simultaneously.



That's not paranoid, that's just good sense. Personally, once the images are transferred to the computer they are immediately backed up to an external drive. Before the 1D X, the only time there was just one copy of the images - and thus, increased risk of loss - was on the card after capture but before transfer. That's one reason I'm glad the 1D X has dual CF instead of CF+SD - I can write RAW to both cards simultaneously without a big hit on buffer clearing speed.

I have three 32 GB 90 MB/s cards, with simultaneous writing to both. Slot 1 gets swapped out for image transfer, and the card in slot 2 gets formatted only when all images are backed up to two external drives in different physical locations. Ok, maybe a little paranoid.


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## JEAraman (Jul 26, 2012)

I got a Sandisk Extreme Pro 90MB/s UDMA 6 32 GB which I've been using on my 7D then on my 5D II for the past 3 years or more with no complaints.

On my 1DX, however, I decided to go for a pair of 32GB Lexar Professional 1000x UDMA 7 (no complaints to date).

Cheers!


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## haring (Jul 26, 2012)

Get an UDMA card! You won't regret it. You will need speed for video especially!!!


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## Drizzt321 (Jul 26, 2012)

neuroanatomist said:


> Drizzt321 said:
> 
> 
> > Or, if you're paranoid, have it write the same image to both cards simultaneously.
> ...



Well, I'd say if you do this for money, it's just good business sense. No way you want to tell a client you lost all their shots by accident or because a card died!



haring said:


> Get an UDMA card! You won't regret it. You will need speed for video especially!!!



150 Mbit/sec is less than 19 MByte/sec, you don't need the super-fast UDMA7 cards for that. You do need a UDMA card, but the 30 MByte/sec cards are sufficient for the most part.


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## Sh1n1ng Forc3 (Jul 26, 2012)

For Video Drizzt is right (long live the Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk). However for rapid fire stills here is the difference between UDMA 6 and 7.


*Camera* *Card* *Shots till full* *Buffer empty in*
5D Mark III UDMA 6 15 15.2 sec 
UDMA 7 26 3.5 sec 


Stats pulled from 
http://blog.willshootphotography.com/2012/06/udma-7-cf-card-performance-on-canon-5d-mark-iii-and-1d-mark-iv-soooo-worth-it.html


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## Drizzt321 (Jul 26, 2012)

Sh1n1ng Forc3 said:


> For Video Drizzt is right (long live the Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk). However for rapid fire stills here is the difference between UDMA 6 and 7.
> 
> 
> *Camera* *Card* *Shots till full* *Buffer empty in*
> ...



Oh...didn't know it was that big of a difference. I guess it should, ~60MB/sec vs 150MB/sec write speed, yea, that's huge! Maybe I'll have to invest in 1 UDMA7 card for my 5d3 for when I want to do lots of super burst shooting.


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## robin (Jul 26, 2012)

For our 1Dx's we use 2 Lexar Prof. 1000x 128 DB each, much faster than SanDisk 90 MBs !


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## Charles_cz (Jul 27, 2012)

That's what I am thinking. 1 or 2 32GB UDMA 7 for stills and something slower with more GB for video.

That's pretty big difference for stills between UDMA6 and UDMA 7.. Wow.. 

Thanks for sharing that info..


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