CF card and reader recommendation

[NancyP]

I am thinking seriously about buying the Canon 7D2 for an upgraded birding and action camera. I haven't owned a camera taking CF cards before. Suggestions for card brand and for a CF reader that uses/back-compatible with USB 2.0 or Firewire 800? (OK, don't laugh, maybe I ought to be upgrading my 4 year old MacBookPro instead) 

[deejjjaaaa]

I am thinking seriously about buying the Canon 7D2 for an upgraded birding and action camera. I haven't owned a camera taking CF cards before. Suggestions for card brand and for a CF reader that uses/back-compatible with USB 2.0 or Firewire 800? (OK, don't laugh, maybe I ought to be upgrading my 4 year old MacBookPro instead) 

you can use SD slot, unless you want to write to 2 card at once... even in that case there are SD to CF adapters... unless you want to have a zoo of cards

[Richowens]

Hi Nancy,

  I have used SanDisk, Lexar and Transcend for over ten years without a failure.

  My card reader is a Delkin Devices USB reader that I use with the laptop and I have a built in reader in my HP desktop.
  Both work fine.  USB 3 readers are backward compatible with USB 2 connection.

HTH

Rich

[jjj]

My colleagues and I have had numerous card failures with Sandisk (CR, SD and mSD) and Sandisk's attitude was tough shit, go away.
Had a Lexar fail and Lexar made sure card was replaced and the data recovered.
I also use Hooman Raw cards which are far more expensive, but they claim 100% reliability.

[Paul2660]

I used the Lexar USB 3 reader now for around 2 years.  This one reads CF or the SD cards.  So far no issues.  Reader will work with either a USB3 or 2 connection. 

Model number is LRW300U

Here is a link to the latest version from B&H.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/845797-REG/Lexar_LRW307URBNA_Professional_USB_3_0_Dual_Slot.html

Paul

[Bryan Conner]

I used the Lexar USB 3 reader now for around 2 years.  This one reads CF or the SD cards.  So far no issues.  Reader will work with either a USB3 or 2 connection. 

Model number is LRW300U

Here is a link to the latest version from B&H.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/845797-REG/Lexar_LRW307URBNA_Professional_USB_3_0_Dual_Slot.html

Paul

I second this suggestion of the Lexar Professional card reader.  It is well worth the little bit of extra cost over a cheaper reader.  As far as cards go, I have never had a problem with SanDisk, Lexar or Transcend cards.  I only had a problem with a Transcend USB 3 card reader that was not compatible with 32gb Transcend CF cards...it worked great with other cards, but not their own cards.  So I can not recommend a Transcend card reader.

[NancyP]

The reason to consider CF over SD is the supposed 50% greater maximum write speed for bursts (SD 95 MB vs CF 150 MB/sec in best available cards) for shooting with the upcoming Canon 7D2 at 10 fps. For landscape work, any old class 6 SD card will do - just plug it into the reader and go make tea......

[deejjjaaaa]

The reason to consider CF over SD is the supposed 50% greater maximum write speed for bursts (SD 95 MB vs CF 150 MB/sec in best available cards)

not really

http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/12/sandisk-u3-sdxc-card/

"... The card supports a 250MB/s write speed ..."

it is another story what the system (camera) really can write, but SD cards are not the bottleneck there.