Click to Enlarge The Data Load: 78 photos in both JPEG and Canon CR2 RAW format, for a total of 156 files in a single folder. Total folder size: 1,075,030,833 bytes.
The Cards:
Lexar Professional UDMA 8GB 300x CompactFlash.
Hoodman CompactFlash Professional RAW 280x 8GB.
SanDisk Extreme IV CompactFlash 266x 2GB.
The Readers:
SanDisk Extreme Firewire Reader
Lexar FireWire 800 Reader
(Both readers were connected directly to the FireWire 800 port with each company's supplied connector cable.)
Lexar FireWire 800 Reader
| Card | Read Speed (copy to desktop) | Write Speed (copy to card) | ||
| Bytes/second | time | Bytes/second | time | |
| Lexar | 44,755,654 | 24.02 | 28,500,287 | 37.73 |
| Hoodman | 43,771,613 | 24.56 | 27,291,973 | 39.39 |
| SanDisk | 39,860,245 | 26.97 | 26,728,762 | 40.22 |
SanDisk Extreme FireWire Reader
| Card | Read Speed (copy to desktop) | Write Speed (copy to card) | ||
| Bytes/second | Time | Bytes/second | Time | |
| Lexar | 45,036,901 | 23.87 | 28,767,215 | 37.37 |
| Hoodman | 44,774,295 | 24.01 | 26,092,981 | 41.20 |
| SanDisk | 39,757,057 | 27.04 | 26,735,409 | 40.21 |
We'll give +/- 1/4 second as our tolerance margin with the stopwatch, and not surprisingly, the 300x Lexar finishes at the top in read/write times in both readers. Interestingly enough, though, is that the Lexar CF card performed faster in the SanDisk Reader for both read/write, and the SanDisk card posted better read times in the Lexar Reader, while the SanDisk write times were a dead heat in both readers. It's also interesting to note that the faster-rated Hoodman Card outperformed the SanDisk in every trial, except for write speed in the SanDisk reader, which is surprising.
Conclusions
These cards are fast -- blazingly fast. Even fully loaded, the read speeds of these cards will offload a full 8GB card in less than four minutes on our test computer. Not one of these cards will give you an excuse for missing deadline with the right connection and computer configuration!
These three CF cards are all exceptional in their speed ratings, so which one is right for you really comes down to value-add features.
The Lexar Professional 300x 8GB card ships with Corel Paint Shop Pro X, Lexar Image Rescue 3, and Lexar Backup n Sync pre-loaded on the cards. At press time, the cards are in pre-order status on many big websites, with a street price of $219.00.
The SanDisk Extreme IV 8GB card ships with RescuePRO pre-loaded, and is built to withstand tough weather, whether it's wet, snow, or desert heat, from -13F to 185F, for $209 street.
The Hoodman RAW 8GB card costs a bit more than its competition, with a street price of $300. Hoodman touts the fact that these cards are hand-assembled in the USA, and that Hoodman is a small company with a personalized touch when it comes to customer service.
For our money, we're happy with the performance of all these cards, and we'd gladly carry any or all of them in our Pixel Pocket Rocket on our next photo adventure.
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