We have been testing the 32 GB and 64 GB PhotoFast 533X cards, available from Photofast Compact Flash* SDHC Class 10 CFAST CF Flash Cards (http://www.dvnation.com/Flash-Media-Cards.html#CF) So far all the tests have been very positive. Using our current firmware 1.0.112, both cards work at 160 Mbps. Using our revised write algorithm (to be released in the next firmware update), both cards work fine at 220 Mbps. The cards are reasonably priced: the 32GB card is $149, while the 64GB card sells for $299.

The PhotoFast cards should be fine for usage outside MAC Leopard. We will be testing a number of cards over the next several weeks to determine how well they hold up with MAC Leopard and Snow Leopard. You should always consider backing up your CF cards to another device, such as the Nexto drive, before inserting into a PC/MAC.

Next week we should receive a 64GB card from Pretec, which is also speced to operate at 220 Mbps level. They have also indicated at a 128GB card should be available in about one month.

Two 64GB cards will support 2.6 Hours @100Mbps or 5.3 hours @50 Mbps.

Best-

128GB "days" away???

I just LOVE this runaway train.

Great news, Mike.

Just tell us what the cards are and we'll go buy some and take our chances :-)

Just tell us what the cards are and we'll go buy some and take our chances :-)

Hi Aaron-
OK, they are the Photofast 32GB and 64 GB 533X cards ($149/$299) available from dvnation.com

Cheers-

I just realized the link is posted above!

Thanks for the update Mike.

Why does this flash sell for less? Is it "floor sweep" from the production runs of the 600x parts?

I guessed a few days ago what brand was being tested ("$299 CF 64GB" is easy in Google).

SanDisk is simply the top dog. So how long with these cards last? That's often one the big differences between brands.

Kinda like the new SxS "1" cards that aren't supposed to last as long.

After a discussion with an ex-San Disk employee, I've learned that companies such as Pretec or Transcend are retail outlets for Toshiba and Samsung flash memories, which sell only to OEMs. All are involved with each other via cross-licensing of intellectual property. While he will not discount the notion of "binning" and reselling lower quality products, he tells me that these retail companies are simply very efficient in contracting for extra capacity at fabs or purchasing excess product that the manufacturers are unable to sell at a desired price. A major concern is the # of levels in their parts. 4 levels have more issues with data than 3 or 2 or even single level parts. He said that the cells in the x3 and x4 parts have only a couple hundred write cycles, and the chip firmware deals with spreading the data around. Thus, the parts will wear out and slow down with time, and this is worse with more levels. Worse yet, data integrity is an issue.

Also, what we are seeing in the CF card space with speed increases is the use of parallel storage with a controller writing to two or more flash chips in parallel. SanDisk Extreme IV was sold as 45 MB/second a short while ago. Today, SanDisk Extreme Pro does 90 MB/Second.

Dear Gints,

I recommend purchasing lifetime waranteed products.

We are still qualifying the cards. It is easy for us to put quite a bit a wear on the cards by recording to them all night long for weeks.

We could also develop special test routines to attempt to wear out a card.

Dan, I buy top of the line Sandisk CF for my DSLR work. For my EX1, I've tried Transcend with one unexplained error. Are you recommending Pretec,Transcend, Lexar et al in addition to Sandisk?

They have also indicated at a 128GB card should be available in about one month.

Best-....A 128 GB CF card ? Yes ! With Four of those babies in my Flash XDR I could shoot full uncompressed with a half a Terrabyte of memmory ;-) Sweet !

Dan, I buy top of the line Sandisk CF for my DSLR work. For my EX1, I've tried Transcend with one unexplained error. Are you recommending Pretec,Transcend, Lexar et al in addition to Sandisk?

Dear Gints,

We like Transcend; We just can't recommend them until the issue with Mac Leopard is fully resolved.

Pretec cards have not been qualified.

Lexar 300x UDMA cards have been qualified.

The cards that we have qualified and recommend are always listed in our manual, which is available for download from our website: www.convergent-design.com (http://www.convergent-design.com)

....A 128 GB CF card ? Yes ! With Four of those babies in my Flash XDR I could shoot full uncompressed with a half a Terrabyte of memmory ;-) Sweet !

I would not get too excited until we are able to test the 128 GB card, and learn the price and performance.

Dan, I buy top of the line Sandisk CF for my DSLR work.

And I bought Sandisk Extreme III 32Gb as recommended for my nano. The initial outlay is high but I have recorded dozens of times to these cards without failure thus far and I certainly do not expect any failures either. Total confidence in both products. Only the best for the best.

By the way, I really like reading your posts Gints.

Best wishes

Hey great news Mike 64GB will help solve my issues.
Thanks Mike

I would not get too excited until we are able to test the 128 GB card, and learn the price and performance....OK. I will save my shekels for now and wait for the 128 GB fast CF cards.

Any update on the approval testing for this new 64GB compact flash card?

How are these cards tested? Are they written to capacity?

I had two recent failures on Transcend (green stripe -> SLC) 16 GB Class 6 cards on my EX1. Very weird as they worked for months and both failed in the same hour, but again, both cards were nearly full and failed at about 12.7 GBytes.

Dear John and Gints,

We have been testing the PhotoFast 64 GB (Gigabyte) CompactFlash card now for weeks.

It worked in our intial tests and worked in every test since then.

Note: We have found a magic, "secret sauce" way of getting more performance out of most all CompactFlash cards. Our improvement is measured between 10% and 40%.

For example, the Sandisk Extreme III 32 GB card is currently limited to 140 Mbps in our 1.0.112 firmware. We will allow 160 Mbps in our next release, due out in approximately two weeks.


The PhotoFast 64 GB card, the G-Monster 533x card is currently limited to 160 Mbps in our 1.0.112 firmware. In our next release it will work up to and including our 220 Mbps bit-rate.


We also spent the last few days testing the Pretec 64 GB CompactFlash card. The individual card that we tested did not pass our tests.

Dear Gints,

Long Answer:

We have a person on our staff that is dedicated to testing things, our hardware, our firmware and special projects like testing CompactFlash cards. He is very thorough.

Typically, we have multiple Flash XDR's and nanoFlashes in our testing area. These are all connected to a video source, and we then record until the cards are full, then we check the files on various editing systems.

I heard we we going to develop a special testing routine in our firmware to record until the cards were full, then playback the files continuously. I do not have the exact status of this, at this time, but I think this routine is in use.

In the past, during certain peak times, we would have someone come in late at night to re-populate the Flash XDR's and nanoFlashes. This was usually done when we were testing a new release.

Also, all of our recorders go through a burn-in process, then a final test. During this time, the units are recording to CompactFlash cards.

Short Answer: Yes, the cards are tested to their capacity.

Look forward to knowing they are dependable on Mac OS prior to purchase.

Got the new Sandisk Extreme Pro 64gb card - used it with my nanoflash for 4 hrs recording at 50 mpbs - no problems at all. using on mac os x leopord and brought into final cut 7 totally fine. New card will hopefully be ready for any future overcranking developments with the Nanoflash.

Got the new Sandisk Extreme Pro 64gb card - used it with my nanoflash for 4 hrs recording at 50 mpbs - no problems at all. using on mac os x leopord and brought into final cut 7 totally fine. New card will hopefully be ready for any future overcranking developments with the Nanoflash.

Hi Ed-
We have a Extreme Pro 16GB card due here on Thursday. I expect this card will easily work at all our bitrates, but we will test and post our results here.

Best-

Dan will you also be testing the Extreme Pro in larger size?

Dear Paul,

We are going to first test the 16 GB Extreme Pro card. Our card arrives tomorrow.

As these cards are very expensive, at this time, so we want to first test the 16 GB.

We are confident that the 64 GB card will work fine, especially after we release our next firmware, which increases the write speed, and thus the usable bit-rate, for all cards.

We were already fast, we are just making the nanoFlash and Flash XDR dramatically faster. For some, the difference in speeds is only 10%, for others 40%. We use some sophisticated techniques to achieve this increase in speeds.

Another user, Ed David, has tested the SanDisk Extreme Pro card at 50 Mbps. Maybe Ed could run some quick tests at other bit-rates. We are already confident that these cards work, we just have not completed formal testing, so they are not fully qualified yet.


The PhotoFlash 64 GB Model 533x card has been qualified for use with our next firmware release, but is not qualified for use in our 1.0.112 release. We had to change our code to see that this card is 64 GB and not the 8 GB that it reports internally.

I see that the Sandisk Extreme 30 MB/sec III has been discontinued on the BH Phote website. A new arrival in that price range is the SanDisk Extreme 60 MB/sec. It seems as if SanDisk has halted the use of the III and IV's in the product names and moved to Extreme and Extreme Pro that are disinguished by speed ratings printed on the card. Thanks for providing real units! I hated the 133x type ratings.