4 GB compactflash cards

[JDArt]

There appears to have been a drastic price drop for these cards, in the neighborhood of 50%, with top cards selling for $189 or so.

Stock is low currently, but still: worth watching.

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_a...ash&rd=1&skd=1

[RobAmy]

Thanks for the tip

[JDArt]

The question becomes what do you do with your old compactflash cards as time rolls on? I have 256MB cards hanging around. They're practically worthless on ebay. I'm sure at one time they went for $400 a pop.

[bevilaquafoto]

The only thing that makes me a little nervous about a 4BG card is that if you put an entire shoot on it, and the card gets corrupted, you've lost everything! I feel a little safer having the job spread around on 4 or 5 1 GB cards. I have not actually had a problem with a CF card before, however. Maybe my worry comes from my old 1 GB microdrive which was far more delicate.

[JDArt]

I've never had problems with a CF card, either. I'll accept the risk over the inconvenience of having to swap cards -- always, of course, right when you don't want to.

[mikej]

I would rather not have to swap cards any more than I have to when shooting as well. Especially since I shoot in raw and even my 1 gig cards don't get a lot of images on them anymore. So I wouldn't mind getting a 4 gig card.

What I do with the smaller CF cards is use them in the USB thumb drives. I have a couple that have a slot that I can use a CF card with rather than having the disk space built into it.

Mike

[JDArt]

Recent prices for in-stock Sandisk:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...x=8&Submit.y=7

[JDArt]

Originally Posted by Mike Jordan

What I do with the smaller CF cards is use them in the USB thumb drives. I have a couple that have a slot that I can use a CF card with rather than having the disk space built into it.

Mike

Can you give me some names or links to these drives?

[Mr. Pickles]

I use old CF card in my Card Reader, connected to the computer with a USB. Any card reader should work. I don't know of a thumb drive that does this...

I have TWO cards crap out on me. Both og them just died, and had to be replaced. Both times a MicroDrive saved me. One of the CF cards died after I took three shots inot a double header softball tourney game. Hello MicroDrive

[mikej]

The one I have is round with a CF slot in it. I got it free with the one Lexar 512 meg card that I bought. Here are some examples of others. The last one is closer to what mine looks like but mine has a little USB pig tail that comes out one end. I used it quit a bit to transfer data, files and drivers from my computer to the workstations where I work. Then I bought a couple of 1 gig thumbnail drives so mine wasn't tied up all the time.


http://www.shopxtreme.com/catalog/us...iter-p-63.html
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...lance&n=172282
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/Viewprodu...es+and+Readers
http://www.pcmall.com/pcmall/shop/de...pno~964296.asp

Mike

[JDArt]

Thanks, Mike. I saw some of these on newegg today and will probably pick one up.

Here's what I'm looking at:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820180210
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820301005

[JKSeidel]

Hmm, I wonder what the implications of this are? I priced these just last week, as JD stated, at double the price. Did old inventories just deplete to the point where a new wave of prices based on decreased manufacturing costs kicked in? Or, is this a harbinger of some advanced PMA news? Memory stick prices have not fallen by the same amount per GB. Perhaps Canon, Nikon, or someone else is putting out a potential 'flagship' model with stick memory. Perhaps with the dabbling in wireless communications in cameras a major model is coming out with an internal high capacity drive. Sorry, I just get paranoid when a price reduction like this happens almost overnight.

[JDArt]

It's true: I can't recall such a steep price drop before, but I chalk it up simply to what we've seen over the years: new tech about to be released, causing prices to drop.

[mikej]

Jay, the first one above looks very much like the one I use.

I've seen this happen in computer memory as well. Usually it means a competitor has gotten their manufactoring plant on line and those that had the field pretty much to themselves start to dump so they don't get caught with a lot of surplus in the warehouse. Maybe China is about to come online and saturate the market... or more than likely the major players didn't sell as many CF cards as they thought they would for Christmas and now they are dumping the extras.

Even if they come out with new and bigger CF cards, the price on them is going to be very high for the first year or two, so I don't mind taking advantage of the 2 and 4 gig CF cards getting cheaper.

Mike

[JKSeidel]

Originally Posted by Mike Jordan

Even if they come out with new and bigger CF cards, the price on them is going to be very high for the first year or two, so I don't mind taking advantage of the 2 and 4 gig CF cards getting cheaper.

But, suppose a 1DsMk3 (not likely) and a 30D are announced at PMA that use memory sticks? Then jumping on a 4 GB CF card might be a bad move if a major manufacturer indicates that sticks will be the new 'standard'. I'm just playing a Devil's advocate. If the price of 4 GB cards is great now, then the lowered prices should hold after PMA. I think I'm going to wait and see what's announced before I dive into buying one. Better safe than be stuck with a CF card of potentially dubious value.

[Paul Shields]

Originally Posted by JDArt

The question becomes what do you do with your old compactflash cards as time rolls on? I have 256MB cards hanging around. They're practically worthless on ebay. I'm sure at one time they went for $400 a pop.

Offer them up on the freebie thread .