High Performance CompactFlash Benchmarks on Canon 1D Mark IV

Being successful in digital photography isn’t just about which DSLR you spend your money on: it’s the memory card you put inside it, too. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been testing the latest high-capacity UDMA 6 capable CompactFlash cards in up to 64GB sizes from SanDisk, PhotoFast and Lexar, intended for the most demanding of professional photographers. We didn’t stop at spec-sheet theory, either; to get the most out of these high-speed cards, we put them through their paces with the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV and top-spec computers to gather the real world performance figures, including an unprecedented in-camera write speed pushing the limit to 58MB/s with the Mark IV. Read on to find out which card tops the chart, and how the newcomer PhotoFast G-Monster holds up against the market leaders.

SanDisk Extreme Pro CompactFlash Cards

Among the contestants, SanDisk is perhaps the most trusted brand in the hands of working professional photographers. With the Extreme Pro, the manufacturer raises the bar even further thanks to a new Power Core controller and Enhanced Super-Parallel Processing architecture to boost performance, level memory block data distribution and improve error correction by four times over the previous generation. The circuit board design is also simplified with fewer components to reduce failure rate.

Internally, the Extreme Pro is coated with RTV silicone for added protection against moisture and humidity. In short, you’re getting a professional-grade CompactFlash resilient to wear and tear that’s capable of 90MB/s read and write speeds.

To reach that speed, though, the corresponding devices must support UDMA Mode 6 such as SanDisk’s own Extreme Pro ExpressCard adapter to transfer the images or videos from the card to your computer. Fear not if your devices aren’t capable of the standard; the Extreme Pro logic controller is backward-compatible in slower modes.

The SanDisk Extreme Pro comes in three capacities, 16GB, 32GB and the 64GB with MSRP ranging from $335 to $895. All models are backed by a limited lifetime warranty.