# Need a Good Card Reader



## RC (Nov 24, 2011)

Looking for some suggestions on a good CF card reader, I've put this off too long. I'm tired of mine crapping out and resetting my PC when I insert my card  

I have one of those internal all-in-one 3.5 floppy/CF/SD/etc/etc drives I bought years ago from Tiger :-[

Interested in an internal (3.5 drive bay) as well as external. Need reliability and speed.

Using Sandisk CF Extreme cards, 16 GB, 60/Mbs


PC - Windows XP w/ SP3
Intel Core 2 Quad 166 Mhz
4 Gig RAM
USB 2.0 
External SATA & 1394

Thank you!


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Nov 24, 2011)

RC said:


> Looking for some suggestions on a good CF card reader, I've put this off too long. I'm tired of mine crapping out and resetting my PC when I insert my card
> 
> I have one of those internal all-in-one 3.5 floppy/CF/SD/etc/etc drives I bought years ago from Tiger :-[
> 
> ...



Good luck1 I haven't seen a good internal reader yet. They are all too slow. and, as you say, some of them will fail as soon as you insert a card.

On the other hand, I have Sandisk and a Lexar external firewire 800 readers that are fast and excellent.

The USB 3 readers are now available. They will be very fast, if you have USB 3, and all pc's will have USB 3 in the future.

Thats what I'd buy if I needed something fast. i'd also stick to Sandisk, Lexar, Delkin, there are likely others that are brands with a history of excellence.

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&keywords=usb%203%20card%20reader&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Ausb%203%20card%20reader&page=1


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## pwp (Nov 24, 2011)

I have a blindingly fast internal. It's an eSATA CF reader. Like the Mazda commercial...._zoom zoom_....

I also recently picked up a Lexar USB3 external. It's been completely perplexing how slow the rollout of USB3 hardware has been since USB3 was announced a few years ago. The motherboard on my 2 year old PC's have front & rear USB3 ports. So yippee when I saw the Lexar at my local dealer.

It does not always work. Sometimes the reader simply is not seen, and if it is recognized, it may deliver USB2 speeds. The very simple though irritating work-around is to unplug it and plug it in again. _Ahhhh_! That's better. More zoom zoom. My Sandisk Extremes will dump their load at over 60 Mb/s. I've been used to 12-15 Mb/s from my USB2 external. That's time for lunch if you've come back from a job with 2 near full 32Gb cards.

So I read up on USB3. There are problems with it which we hope will be sorted eventually. If you have Mac, look out for Thunderbolt readers...they'll suck the files out of your cards in 30 seconds less than no time.

Paul Wright


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## handsomerob (Nov 24, 2011)

I use Lexar's USB 3.0 reader with no problems what so ever. It's pretty fast, around 77MB/s (coming very close to the FireWire 800 readers), takes about 7mins to dump a full 32GB card (connected to a USB 3.0 port). USB offers backward compatibility so it works on a USB 2 ports as well, with reduced transfer rate. On my laptop I don't have USB 3.0 and the transfer rate is around 33MB/s, which seems to take ages  If you upgrade your PC, you will most probably get a motherboard with USB 3.0, then you can see the real benefit.

I prefer external readers because I can easily take it with me & use it also with my laptop.


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## Isaac (Nov 24, 2011)

*Transcend* card readers are great.


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## candyman (Nov 24, 2011)

I am just curious. Why a cardreader. What about connecting your camera through USB to your PC? I do that with my 7D, goes fast using the EOS Utility. (Cards Sandisk 60MB and Transcend 600x)


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## RC (Nov 24, 2011)

candyman said:


> I am just curious. Why a cardreader. What about connecting your camera through USB to your PC? I do that with my 7D, goes fast using the EOS Utility. (Cards Sandisk 60MB and Transcend 600x)



Good question

1. I use to do this but like a dummy I kept forgetting to unplug the cable from my PC and damaged one of my front USB connectors  :-[. I guess I was enjoying my new images so much I forgot . I figured I better quite this method before I damage my camera connector then I'd really be ticked .

2. I now have a quick automated way via Lightroom which streamlines the process. I like this method better than the camera transfer method.


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## handsomerob (Nov 24, 2011)

candyman said:


> I am just curious. Why a cardreader. What about connecting your camera through USB to your PC? I do that with my 7D, goes fast using the EOS Utility. (Cards Sandisk 60MB and Transcend 600x)



For me, mostly because it's slow (compared to USB 3.0 or FireWire 800). I find the transfer rate important, since I copy & paste all images twice (normal storage + backup).
Also, there are times when you want to keep shooting (with a second card) while the first card is being copied to the hard drive. So you need the camera to be not-occupied.
And also, I don't want to waste battery power (even if it's not a big drain) for transferring files to the computer.
These are enough reasons for me to use a card reader rather than attaching the camera directly.


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## SixeL (Nov 24, 2011)

I just got Lexar 24-in-1 Card Reader

Looks nice and works well!


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## Fab_Angilletta (Nov 24, 2011)

Isaac said:


> *Transcend* card readers are great.


i had 2 times problem with Transcend cards so i don't buy their products, anymore!
i use sandisk now and it works perfect.


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## pwp (Nov 24, 2011)

handsomerob said:


> For me, mostly because it's slow (compared to USB 3.0 or FireWire 800). I find the transfer rate important, since I copy & paste all images twice (normal storage + backup).
> Also, there are times when you want to keep shooting (with a second card) while the first card is being copied to the hard drive. So you need the camera to be not-occupied.
> And also, I don't want to waste battery power (even if it's not a big drain) for transferring files to the computer.
> These are enough reasons for me to use a card reader rather than attaching the camera directly.



Handsome Rob it sounds like you would benefit from bigger capacity CF cards. Recent price drops make this a fairly painless proposition. 32Gb cards offer the most Gb's per $$ right now.

Paul Wright


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## handsomerob (Nov 24, 2011)

pwp said:


> Handsome Rob it sounds like you would benefit from bigger capacity CF cards. Recent price drops make this a fairly painless proposition. 32Gb cards offer the most Gb's per $$ right now.
> Paul Wright



Yes cards are cheap now but I rather wanna save toward a 1Dx


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## bainsybike (Nov 25, 2011)

> Quote from: candyman on November 24, 2011, 11:15:55 PM
> I am just curious. Why a cardreader. What about connecting your camera through USB to your PC? I do that with my 7D, goes fast using the EOS Utility. (Cards Sandisk 60MB and Transcend 600x)
> 
> For me, mostly because it's slow (compared to USB 3.0 or FireWire 800). I find the transfer rate important, since I copy & paste all images twice (normal storage + backup).
> ...



An argument against using a card reader is that the pins in the camera connecting to the CF card have a finite life. If they get bent, the camera's useless and you have an expensive repair job on your hands. If you use the USB connection and it goes wrong, you can still use a card reader.


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## RC (Nov 25, 2011)

> Quote from: bainsybike on November 25, 2011
> An argument against using a card reader is that the pins in the camera connecting to the CF card have a finite life. If they get bent, the camera's useless and you have an expensive repair job on your hands. If you use the USB connection and it goes wrong, you can still use a card reader.



Very good point! Best argument for using the camera-to-computer transfer method. I might just reconsider using a card reader.


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## PhotoPol (Nov 30, 2011)

I am using a Belkin Universal Card reader (bought from Amazon) for last four months. It has not given me any trouble till now. The product description for this card reader says it can read and write fifty six different types of cards. But I have not tested them all, simply because I do not have so many types of cards at my disposal. I have used it to read from CF, SDHC and microSD cards without any trouble though. Windows 7 automatically recognizes the reader and downloads and installs the required drivers for the reader when you connect it for the first time to the computer. For Vista and XP there is a driver CD supplied with the card. Not sure about Mac or any other OS. Hope this helps.


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## BumpyMunky (Nov 30, 2011)

bainsybike said:


> An argument against using a card reader is that the pins in the camera connecting to the CF card have a finite life. If they get bent, the camera's useless and you have an expensive repair job on your hands. If you use the USB connection and it goes wrong, you can still use a card reader.



I've never had this problem with a body, but with cheap card readers all the time. My first CF reader was an old Sandisk ImageMate. Worked very well for years until the USB interface went wonky, but the physical CF interface was solid. A number of cheap readers don't have a deep enough (or tight enough) cavity, and if the card slops around on the way in, bent pins almost every time. A couple of the pins are longer (ground pins I guess) and those typically are the ones that bend. Not too much of a deal to straighten with a jewellers screwdriver, but a pain if it happens a lot.

My latest CF readers are the Lexar USB 3.0 dual readers. Like the Sandisk (and any CF body I've used, for that matter), a deep and solid cavity, and the card slides in positively every time.


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## Caps18 (Nov 30, 2011)

I use a $12 one I got at Target. It reads different cards, and works pretty good and is small. Not the fastest though. I used to have a ExpressPort one that went in the MacBook Pro 17", but it broke.


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## EELinneman (Nov 30, 2011)

I'll second others recommendation of the Lexar USB 3.0 card reader. Rock solid, closed small and the usb cord can be removed for easy packing and travel if you take it with you. I've had zero problems with mine and it replaced the previous USB 2.0 model which sprouted legs and walked away about the same time my son left for school.....


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## Chewy734 (Nov 30, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/Lexar-Professional-Dual-Slot-Reader-LRW300URBNA/dp/B0050C9ZMC/


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## KyleSTL (Nov 30, 2011)

I have a cheap Vantec internal 53-in-1 reader that has sustained good speeds with my cheap cards (4GB Kingston CF, entry level). I typically see 17-25 MB/sec. I had an internal before this, though, that would not exceed 2 MB/s with any type of media (I forget the brand, but it was purchase back in 2007). My brother had the same problems with a Silverstone internal model that would not go above 1.5 MB/s. Seems it's pretty hit-and-miss with card readers. And before anyone says anything, yes, it was operating at USB 2.0 speeds.

I've never had a problem with card readers dropping or causing resets or needing to be unplugged like others have mentioned. I have needed to bend pins back, though. A reader and a Digital Rebel were saved with a jewelers screwdriver as BumpyMunky mentioned. I don't think bent pins in CF slots are as common and concerning as some would lead you to believe.


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## pj1974 (Nov 30, 2011)

I have a good internal card reader, that I ordered as part of my PC (2 years ago). It operates at very much the same speed as an external USB2.0 card reader I have.

Many many years ago (back in the 'bad old days') I had a few experiences with pins being bent in the connections between graphics card & monitor cord (where these were not inserted carefully enough). And a short time later I had to tell a person their card reader (USB1.1) was broken because they had bent the pins in that.

Since then I've been 'wary' of bending any pins, so I usually connect my DSLRs to my computer using the USB cable. (Hence I'm probably a bit more 'wary' than I need to be, but I prefer using a few % of battery power than 'risk' bending pins by removing / changing cards all the time).

The speed from connecting my 7D directly to my PC USB2.0 is about the same speed as the internal card read and external card reader. (My 350D is somewhat slower). The speed connecting my 7D to my computer is very appoximately a bit quicker than 1GB per minute. As I don't take many videos, and shoot mainly JPEG, it works well for me about 90% of the time.

However, what is annoying (I'm not sure if this is an anomaly) - but using 'My computer', raw files on my 7D (and maybe my 350D also) are only viewed as a 'double JPEG' eg IMG_1234(1).jpg and when copied, is not the raw. So when I shoot raw files (eg tricky lighting, or to really get maximum sharpness & dynamic range) - then I take my Sandisk Extreme Card out of my camera and put into my internal card reader.

In summary, for me, the 'cable' is the most useful solution. I usually copy the files (nearly always just JPEGS) and while I'm waiting for it to do that, I am doing something else on my PC (eg sorting other photos, updating facebook, etc). I have set my camera to auto power down after 1 minute, so it shuts down a short time after the copy transfer is complete.

Hope my post is useful for some people.

Paul


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## dlleno (Dec 29, 2013)

Yes this is two years old.... But here's a comment. The USB cable has pins too and the on-camera assembly is not as mechanically robust IMHO compared to the CF card socket which has a very nice guided insertion. I suspect the latter will sustain a greater number of insertions before failure. That said I pulled 70k ish frames out of my 40d using only the cable without any issues.


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## RC (Dec 30, 2013)

dlleno said:


> Yes this is two years old.... But here's a comment. The USB cable has pins too and the on-camera assembly is not as mechanically robust IMHO compared to the CF card socket which has a very nice guided insertion. I suspect the latter will sustain a greater number of insertions before failure. That said I pulled 70k ish frames out of my 40d using only the cable without any issues.



I started this thread and was surprised to see a reply 2 years later.  I have come to the same conclusion for the same reason. I decided to stick with USB cable transfer and minimize CF card removal/inserts.


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## rs (Dec 30, 2013)

pj1974 said:


> However, what is annoying (I'm not sure if this is an anomaly) - but using 'My computer', raw files on my 7D (and maybe my 350D also) are only viewed as a 'double JPEG' eg IMG_1234(1).jpg and when copied, is not the raw. So when I shoot raw files (eg tricky lighting, or to really get maximum sharpness & dynamic range) - then I take my Sandisk Extreme Card out of my camera and put into my internal card reader.


If the camera believes your computer doesn't have the necessary raw codec installed, it tries to help you out by converting cr2's to jpegs in-camera before copying.


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## Alan (Dec 30, 2013)

I use a Kingston FCR-HS3 USB-3 on a windows 7 machine with no problems.


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## drmikeinpdx (Dec 30, 2013)

This is a good thread to keep alive!

I was very happy for over a year using an internal card reader that hooked up to a SATA card in my computer. That was fast!

Unfortunately, when I rebuilt my computer with a new motherboard (something I do about every two years) there was a compatibility issue I could not solve, possibly due to my switch to Windows 7.

I ordered a cheap USB 3 external reader that was very slow and sometimes locked up my computer. I got a replacement that was almost as bad.

I am now using a Kingston USB 3 external reader that works fine and is reasonably fast. I conclude that there is a reason to avoid the very cheap USB 3 readers.

I would have tried another internal card reader, but my current computer case doesn't have any floppy drive bays and you can't get any good card readers in a 5.25 inch bay these days.

I've never had a problem with the CF pins on any of my bodies, but did have some pins get bent in cheap card readers.

I never felt the need to hook up the cable from the camera to the computer. Perhaps being an old competitive pistol shooter, the idea of slapping in a fresh magazine while I reload the old one is in the back of my mind.


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## WPJ (Dec 30, 2013)

Chewy734 said:


> http://www.amazon.com/Lexar-Professional-Dual-Slot-Reader-LRW300URBNA/dp/B0050C9ZMC/



Looks like the one I use, fast ands reliable


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## K13X5C (Dec 30, 2013)

For what it's worth I've had the Lexar Pro USB 3.0 card reader for two years now and it still works perfectly. It's very sturdy, surviving several drops onto pavement. And I've never had a hint of a problem with the CF pins in the camera body. Using it with a USB 2.0 connection in an older computer it was much faster than downloading with the camera via USB cable. Now that I have a computer with USB 3.0 the Lexar reader is even faster yet again. 8GB CFs download right now. The Lexar Pro USB 3.0 reader is a stellar piece of equipment.


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## Viper28 (Dec 30, 2013)

Chewy734 said:


> http://www.amazon.com/Lexar-Professional-Dual-Slot-Reader-LRW300URBNA/dp/B0050C9ZMC/



+1 thats what I use and its been faultless

Never bent a pin on any of my camera bodies, but then I take time and care changing them


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## SithTracy (Dec 30, 2013)

I got the Hoodman RAW Steel via Amazon a month ago and am pretty pleased with it. A little pricey, but I had the Lexar reader and it failed me. Just decided to quit working one day (PC & Mac).


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## dlleno (Dec 30, 2013)

SithTracy said:


> I got the Hoodman RAW Steel via Amazon a month ago and am pretty pleased with it. A little pricey, but I had the Lexar reader and it failed me. Just decided to quit working one day (PC & Mac).



Which Lexar reader failed on you.? The new little cfr1?


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## SithTracy (Dec 31, 2013)

The older USB2 model (and it did not take long for it to fail).


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## dlleno (Dec 31, 2013)

I'm trying the cfr1. If that doesn't hold up, I'll probably give the Hoodman a go


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