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Compact Flash Card Reviews >
Pierre-Jean Alzieu
Test date: February 5, 2010
RAW + JPEG Burst Mode

As the results of file tests suggest, this SanDisk card isn't cut out for professional digital SLRs: slightly older than some of the others we've tested, it showed its age and held our Canon 5D Mark II back. To shoot a burst of ten photos (RAW + JPEG), it took 11 seconds; compare that to the 4 seconds the same test took on the SanDisk Extreme Pro 32 GB.

The SanDisk Extreme III is an old favourite of ours: last time we tested it, it came away with five stars, and it long enjoyed a reputation for being a very high-speed card.

In the tech specs, the manufacturer doesn't give a speed in 'x', but says it is capable of 20 MB/s.  Converting that to an 'x' speed', it's the equivalent of a 133x card.

Speeds: the latest cards can do much better

Our test results were a long way behind what the latest Compact Flash cards are capable of.  For writing photo files to the card, the Extreme III 2 GB reached 11 MB/s.  In the same test, the read speeds is higher at 15.5 MB/s.  Taking a quick look at more modern cards, it's obvious that this card has been overtaken by newer models.  It can't even rival newer entry-level Compact Flash cards.

Sandisk CF Extreme III 2 GB Sandisk CF Extreme Pro 32 GB
Speeds MB/s


Time to shoot a burst of ten photos (RAW + JPEG) = 11.2 seconds
Pluses

-

Comes with a tool for restoring files

Minuses

-

Speeds now beaten by the competition: now an entry-level option

-

Burst of 10 photos (RAW + JPEG): 11.2 s instead of 4-5 s on the best

The SanDisk Extreme III has been overtaken by newer Compact Flash cards. The speeds we measured in this test make it comparable to entry-level cards from the latest generation.

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