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Old November 29th, 2009, 08:54 AM   #1
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CF card matrix

Hey Mike S.,

Any chance you guys could post a CF card matrix to keep us Nanos up-to-date on the latest and greatest CF cards tested by you guys.

Maybe as a link on CD's Nano page?

My eyes are going wonky trying to read and absorb all the threads on CFs hehehe

Cheers,

Micheal

Last edited by Micheal McAlexander; November 29th, 2009 at 09:57 AM.
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Old November 29th, 2009, 12:04 PM   #2
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Dear Michael,

We have been working hard on on new website.

But, it is not done yet.

Here is a page from our new website (still in work), I hope this helps. this page will look beter when we show it on our own website.

The following are the qualified and recommended CompactFlash cards for use with the nanoFlash and Flash XDR:

Brand ................... Type .......................... Capacity ... Maximum Bit Rate

SanDisk .............. Extreme III ..................... 32/16/8 ........ 180 Mbps
SanDisk .............. Extreme IV ..................... 16 ................ 280 Mbps
SanDisk ...............Extreme Pro .................... 64/32 ........... 280 Mbps
SanDisk ...............Extreme ......................... 32 ................ 280 Mbps
Delkin ..................UDMA .............................16 ................ 180 Mbps
PhotoFast ............533x .............................. 64/32 ........... 220 Mbps
Lexar ..................300x .............................. 16/8 ............. 280 Mbps



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Important Information

We highly recommend that you purchase your CompactFlash cards in advance,
then format them immediately upon receipt, to ensure that you have working cards for your projects.

The use of non-qualified cards places your project at risk, as does using a higher-bit rate than specified.
Please consult with us prior to using any non-qualified card.


All CompactFlash cards must be formatted (initialized) in the nanoFlash or Flash XDR before the first use.


When formating CompactFlash cards in the nanoFlash or Flash XDR,
one must remove all cards that are not to be formatted.

Formatting a card is a process that removes all recorded files from the card
and prepares the card for recording new files.

After the contents of a CompactFlash card are successfully transferred to one or more computers or other storage devices, it is important to reformat the card or cards in the nanoFlash or Flash XDR.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following cards may be used, but are not currently recommended.

Transcend Cards are not recommended for use with Mac Leopard Operating System.

Kingston Elite Pro 133x cards may be used if they pass our Format test.

Caution: There has been quite a few defective Kingston Elite Pro 133x CompactFlash cards.
These cards will not pass our Format test.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Capacity is in Gigabytes (GB = Gigabyte = 1,000,000 bytes, CF = CompactFlash card)
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Old November 29th, 2009, 01:46 PM   #3
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I would like to add in reference to the Kingston cards for purposes of tracking a trend;

We have 4 each of these subject Kingston cards. They were from the "good" batch and formatted properly in the XDR and have been in use for several months.

However, this past week after copying the clips onto a Nexto 2700, when I went to reformat (erase) one of the Kingston cards in a nanoFlash I got the error message "Unrecognized Card" or something to that effect. It would not reformat. However the other 3 Kingston cards would format fine. I then tried to reformat in the XDR (F2 and F5) and this single card would still not reformat.

Then got desparate and tried to reformat the card in a PC - no go; then in a Mac - still no go.

The card is basically dead and unusable. Yet the other 3 Kingston Cards are still working fine.
All were purchased at the same time and have the batch numbers that were supposedly the good Kingston cards/controllers. So maybe I just had a card that went south?

But if others see this same problem of previously working Kingston cards going south when trying to reformat in the nano of XDR, then it may be a trend of things to come.

It's a shame because these cards were very economically priced. But I would stay away from them as Dan has recommended.
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Old November 29th, 2009, 02:01 PM   #4
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Dear Friends,

John is reporting problems with the Kingston cards.

Others have reported the same problems with these Kingston cards.

In essense, these were the "good cards", ones that passed the initial hurdle of being from a good batch. Then, after a while they seem to quit working, just has John has reported.

This is very regretable, as John said, as these were very nicely priced cards.

As a company, we would love to be able to recommend Kingston cards again. However, we can not do so at this time.

While these cards do have a lifetime warranty, what we need are very reliable cards.
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Old December 10th, 2009, 03:12 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Keaton View Post


Brand ................... Type .......................... Capacity ... Maximum Bit Rate

SanDisk .............. Extreme III ..................... 32/16/8 ........ 180 Mbps
SanDisk .............. Extreme IV ..................... 16 ................ 280 Mbps
SanDisk ...............Extreme Pro .................... 64/32 ........... 280 Mbps
SanDisk ...............Extreme ......................... 32 ................ 280 Mbps
Delkin ..................UDMA .............................16 ................ 180 Mbps
PhotoFast ............533x .............................. 64/32 ........... 220 Mbps
Lexar ..................300x .............................. 16/8 ............. 280 Mbps

Hey, Dan:

Photofast has two versions of the 533x card - 533x and 533xPlus.

Are both good to go for Nanoflash?

John
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Old December 10th, 2009, 03:17 PM   #6
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Dear John,

Yes, both the PhotoFast 32 GB 533x and 533x Plus are qualified.

The PhotoFast 64 GB 533x card is also.

We are testing the Delkin 64 GB card this afternoon. So far it is looking good.
Our tests show that this Delkin card works up to and including 220 Mbps, the same as the PhotoFast 64 GB card.
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Old December 10th, 2009, 03:22 PM   #7
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Long GOP & I-Frame

Dear Dan,
are this max Bit rates applying for both settings (Long GOP & I-Frame) or only for Long GOP? I am taking it as it is for both but wanna be sure. I have Extreme III 32 GB cards. Thank you
Cheers
Luben
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Old December 10th, 2009, 03:32 PM   #8
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Dear Luben,

Yes, the maximum bit rate applies to both I-Frame Only and Long-GOP modes.

Note: You can use a lower speed card, and a very high bit-rate when shooting time-lapse via the nanoFlash or Flash XDR. Thus a card that would otherwise only support 100 Mbps could support 280 Mbps in time-lapse mode.
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Old December 10th, 2009, 03:36 PM   #9
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Thank you Dan!
Luben
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Old December 28th, 2009, 03:14 PM   #10
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Is there an update on the qualified CF cards? Also are there recommended outlets for said cards?
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Old December 28th, 2009, 03:56 PM   #11
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Dear Andrew,

Yes, we have recently qualified the Delkin 64 GB CompactFlash card.

It passed all of our tests with ease. We are currently very confident with this card.

One source, for this card, and the PhotoFast 64 GB CompactFlash card is

nanoFlash.net

Please note that these two 64 GB cards are currently limited to 220 Mbps. We are working to improve this to 280 Mbps.

The only 64 GB card that currently supports the 280 Mbps rate is the SanDisk Extreme Pro which is a far more expensive card.
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Old December 29th, 2009, 07:12 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Keaton View Post
The only 64 GB card that currently supports the 280 Mbps rate is the SanDisk Extreme Pro which is a far more expensive card.
I could get another nanoFLASH for what four of those cards would cost me in the UK!
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Old December 29th, 2009, 07:28 AM   #13
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Dear Paul,

1. Our 220 Mbps I-Frame is very good, as are our numerous Long-GOP options.
280 Mbps is actually a luxury and would only be required for the most demanding of applications.

To put it another way, the lower bit-rate modes are more widely used.

2. We are about to start a project in an attempt to get 280 Mbps from the PhotoFast and Delkin 64 GB cards.

While we can not promise that we will be successful, we fully expect that these cards will support 280 Mbps via a future firmware update.
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Old December 31st, 2009, 01:37 AM   #14
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[QUOTE=Dan Keaton;1453605]Dear Michael,


The following are the qualified and recommended CompactFlash cards for use with the nanoFlash and Flash XDR:

Brand ................... Type .......................... Capacity ... Maximum Bit Rate

SanDisk .............. Extreme III ..................... 32/16/8 ........ 180 Mbps
SanDisk .............. Extreme IV ..................... 16 ................ 280 Mbps
SanDisk ...............Extreme Pro .................... 64/32 ........... 280 Mbps
SanDisk ...............Extreme ......................... 32 ................ 280 Mbps
Delkin ..................UDMA .............................16 ................ 180 Mbps
PhotoFast ............533x .............................. 64/32 ........... 220 Mbps
Lexar ..................300x .............................. 16/8 ............. 280 Mbps

Hello Dan,
I am confused when you quote the Maximum Bit Rate is that for Long GOP or IFrame ?

I have recently received my PhotoFast 533x 64gb cards and I have just finished verifying that they all write and have the correct capacity. In Long Gop the max is 180Mbps and in I-Frame 280 Mbps. Also the cards leave 1.3gb of free space.

Many thanks
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Old December 31st, 2009, 06:38 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Keaton View Post
Dear Paul,

1. Our 220 Mbps I-Frame is very good, as are our numerous Long-GOP options.
280 Mbps is actually a luxury and would only be required for the most demanding of applications.

To put it another way, the lower bit-rate modes are more widely used.

2. We are about to start a project in an attempt to get 280 Mbps from the PhotoFast and Delkin 64 GB cards.

While we can not promise that we will be successful, we fully expect that these cards will support 280 Mbps via a future firmware update.
That sound good! I was just say that a 64GB Card Extreme Pro in the UK costs me £699.99 (now reduced to £500.22) where as I paid £38.99 for a 16GB Extreme IV (four cards totalled £155.96 saving me £344.26).

They will come down a lot over the next year or so - I remember paying over £200 for a 4GB Extreme III, 3 years ago.

The high bitrate I-Frames has its place for me and the 16GB IV will cover me until you can qualify either 64GB cards that are much cheaper or Sandisk cards become cheaper.
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