Overall Performance

Over the last couple of pages you have seen a lot of information spread across many graphs. It might be hard to take anything meaningful from just those graphs, so I will simplify my testing results into a couple of easy to read graphs which show the overall write and read performance of each of the CF cards. To keep the data as accurate as possible, I chose one test each to pull the recorded write and read speeds from. For write performance I chose the 20D Burst 6 RAW + JPEG test because it was the most strenuous on the cards, writing 61.6MB to each card, and this is where we saw the cards really pull apart from each other the most. For read performance I chose to use the Sandisk External USB reader test because it was the fastest (with the Simpletech in a very, very close second).

In case you're confused, I'll explain why you should care about write and/or read performance. The write tests show how long it takes for images to actually be recorded onto the card by the camera. Depending on the camera you are using you will have a different buffer size, so the speed of the card can dictate how long you have to wait between shots, particularly if you're shooting large files in conjunction with burst mode. The most likely time you'd want to use burst mode is when you are shooting action such as sports. If you are just snapping single shots with your camera, chances are you won't overflow the camera's buffer and have to wait on the card - if this is the case, having a CF card with the best write speed won't really yield any benefit for you.

The read performance of a card is something that will affect pretty much anyone with a camera, though there are some exceptions. The first exception is if you are transferring directly from a camera which uses a USB 1.1 interface or a slow PCMCIA card reader- these serve as bottlenecks and you won't notice any difference between a fast or slow card unless you have a stopwatch handy. The second exception would be someone who drops off their CF card(s) at a photo lab and lets them process all the photos and wait as long as it takes to transfer images. If that's the case, screw the photo lab guys, they charge too much anyways! If you have a camera with USB 2.0 connectivity or a non-PCMCIA card reader, you're going to want good read performance if you don't want to waste time waiting for images to transfer.

Overall Write/Read Speeds
(Show All Graphs) (Collapse Graphs)

Write

Read

SanDisk Ultra II 1GB

Lexar Professional 80x 1GB

Lexar Professional 40x 2GB

ATP High Speed 60x 1GB

Kingston Elite Pro 50x 1GB

SimpleTech 1GB

PNY 512MB

Crucial 1GB

4.7

4.53

4.11

3.44

3.42

3.29

3.1

3.02

0

MB/second (higher is better)

15

 

 

Write

Read

SanDisk Ultra II 1GB

Lexar Professional 80x 1GB

ATP High Speed 60x 1GB

Kingston Elite Pro 50x 1GB

SimpleTech 1GB

PNY 512MB

Lexar Professional 40x 2GB

Crucial 1GB

11.31

9.84

8.66

7.87

7.73

6.93

6.50

4.82

0

MB/second (higher is better)

15

 

 

The SanDisk Ultra II is the top performer in both the read and write tests, and the Crucial card brings up the rear. Lexar's 80x card comes in a close second in the write test, but trails further behind in the read test. Interestingly, Lexar's 40x beats the ATP in the write test, but falls way behind in the read test. Crucial claims the last slot.

Price / Performance Analysis

After exhaustive testing of 8 compact flash cards across 2 cameras and 4 card readers, we've gathered a lot of data. The overall write/read performance graph helps to tie everything together, but something is missing. With the numbers we've recorded I was able to put together a price/performance graph that goes to show the value of each card with regards to write and read performance.

SanDisk's Ultra II is not the most expensive, costing $15 less than Lexar's 80x card, and yet it performs the best. If you're looking for most for your money, the Ultra II is the obvious choice. If you want good performance on a tighter budget, I would definitely go with ATP's 60x card because it performs similarly to the Lexar 40x in the write tests and actually reaches speeds 2MB/sec greater than it in the read tests (saving about 20 seconds of transfer time in my testing) and it costs $20 less! If you have a point-n-shoot camera and you transfer images through a PCMCIA card reader or through a camera with a sub-USB 2.0 interface, or if you just want the cheapest card, Crucial is the way to go.