Oh my freaking Bagel-making Goddess, I would not recommend this product to my worst enemy! If you are reading this, I was just like you at one time: Hoping to save a couple bucks and get a nice sized flash card for cheap. I ordered two of these craps; one for me and one for my girlfriend to use in our photography class. After I excitedly tore open the package and thrusted it into our Canon Rebel, I painfully found out that you really do get what you paid for.
We had just taken about 20 photos of us messing around outside, when I received the fateful error message notifying me of a "CF Error". At first I thought it was just because I forgot to format it correctly or something. I then formatted it through the camera and proceeded cautiously. Everything was working fine, so I started taking more photos of us. It wasn't long before I got the error message again. I was getting really worried and a little pissed. Our class project shoot was coming up and so was our anniversary. I wanted to be able to depend on this card to at least get us through that before returning it. I thought to myself, maybe I was doing something wrong. I was previewing pretty quickly after each shot. Maybe that was the cause of the problem . Oh how wrong I was.
I went home and tried to figure out what the problem was. I mean, there were some good reviews of this card. Some people got it to work. Why can't I? I tried everything. Shooting in bursts then previewing it, turning it off while it was transferring to the card, etc. The only time it got the error was when I previewed it too early. So I thought that was the problem. We went out for our anniversary and since the card hadn't given us any problems since I stopped previewing each shot, I thought it would be ok. I was still paranoid though and backed it up at home right after our date. It made it through the whole day without an error. And so we felt a little easier about our shoot the next day. I just about finished shooting 80 pics and was right about to back it up, when I got the soul-crushing, baby-punch-rage-filling message "CF ERROR".
It was a good thing my girlfriend took it away from me before I physically broke and destroyed it. And so here I am, a mere 6 hours from the incident writing this lengthy review. I have never written a review for anything before this, but I wanted to make sure that whosoever decides to read this be educated on the terrors of this product. If I had read a detailed sob-story such as this, I would have never ordered this danged wicked shedevil. So please, if you're smart you would either buy a high-quality card from Amazon.com or go to wal-mart (I hate walmart too..) and buy a 4gb Sandisk (30mb/sec!!!) for only a few bucks more. Kingston 4 GB CompactFlash Memory Card CF/4GB
I own 4 of these 4 GB memory cards for 2 of my trail cams. I swap the ones I've taken home and saved the wanted images on my computer for the ones that have new data in the cameras. They all have performed well to store images and/or video. My oldest set is about a year old and I've recently purchased a newer set.
I would consider myself within the "prosumer" photography market. You won't catch me buying a high end Canon 1D anytime soon, but as a graphic designer who has to shoot my own pictures sometimes (with my beloved 30D) having tons of storage for a good price is important. I originally purchased 2 of these cards for a 10 day trip to Poland, and because I wouldn't have access to a computer, I needed lots of storage. I popped the card in my 30D, hit the menu button then went to format card. The progress bar shot across the screen; everything A OK. Shot about 30 pictures on small JPEG, then switched to RAW and got about 50 shots in before I got the 'error' message other people reported. Turning the camera off, then back on again seemed to cure the ailment only temporarily however. Within batches of 25 shots I was getting error after error. Finally I could not continue shooting until I removed the battery, put it back in, and powered the camera back on.
I read that it is a VERY good idea to format new cards with your computer before using on a digital camera. I have formatted my card and it seems to be working much better now. I haven't shot 1000's of shots yet, so I cannot assure you that this is a bullet-proof fix. Other than this error issue, the price was excellent was better on amazon than ebay, newegg, or even any photography sites I checked. The speed seemed to be much better than my old Compact Flash card; I was able to shoot 5-6 RAW images in burst mode without getting a busy light. Keep in mind though that my camera is 8.1 megapixels, higher quality cameras will see degraded performance obviously.
Overall I gave this card a 4/5 because it works well... when it actually works. Just make sure you format with your computer BEFORE shooting.
www.viewfromthetopfloor.com
I've used Kingston cards in ALL my dSLR's going back to 2002 including my older Fuji Finepix S1, S2 Pro and now my newer (Feb 2008) Nikon D300. Though I have much larger capacity cards now in the D300, The S2 pro only uses cards up to 2G so the Kingstons that I've used for years are STILL being used. I either use the Finepix S2 as a backup, or my young 'un uses the camera when we go out shooting together. I have NEVER, ever had a card fail or even hiccup. Basically, the same experience I had with the Transcend Memory cards extends to these. Either I've been really lucky, and/or the cards are fabulous, and/or I take care to FORMAT the card in camera after each download. Maybe a combination of all three I don't know. I do know I own four or five of the 2G Kingstons, and at least two 4Gig CF Kingstons. They are great just about fail proof.
And, in closing I would have to say that my 2 and 4G Kingstons have seen over 100,000 images through them over the course of several years. I trust them to do the job and never, ever have any qualms about popping them in the camera.
On a quick note I purchase my memory cards from various sources, not just Amazon. I shop for value, but I try to stick to the name brands of Kingston, Ridata, Transcend, and now own a couple of Lexar's. Shop around for the best price, but many times Amazone offers the best with the free ship options when available. - Photography - Cf Card - Compactflash - Compact Flash'
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