It's high time for me to get a new card reader and I'm looking for the fastest one out there. I hear the cardbus readers for the PCMCIA slots are pretty darn fast. And I hear the Lexar Pro Firewire 800 is blistering. What are your thoughts and what works for y'all? I'd also entertain the stackable versions or other quick ways to get the info copied etc.

I use CompactFlash cards. I'm on a Mac platform. Dual 2.7 G5 with 30" monitors and 8gb ram, 24" iMac, 17" Macbook Pro. It'd be nice to find a reader that will work on all of these machines, even if they only have Firewire 400.

I don't think I'd be a fan of downloading the cards as I shoot onto a device at the wedding, then downloading the whole thing at once, but I am curious as to how many of you do this.

Specific model numbers, links, or speed tests would be most helpful.

Thanks!!

Corey

Charles has a really fast one...but I can't remember what it was. You should shoot him an email.

There are a lot of variables when you're talking about downloading cards to a computer, and the card reader, in my opinion, isn't necessarily the most important one. Your cards have the most to do with how fast your computer/card reader can read them... for instance, a Sandisk Ultra II has 9mb/s read (i think thats right) and Ultra III cards have a higher read speed. I use a $20.00 sandisk 8-in-1 card reader that I got from B&H... it's a USB 2.0 interface, works with both mac and PC (i only use mac now, but i used it on a PC once) and it downloads plenty fast. Just to give you an idea here, while your cards may read at say 9mb/s, a USB2.0 device can transfer data at 480mb/s.

Corey, I have the Lexar Pro and it's AWESOME!! I highly recommend it!!

Ah, yes. This I know. But "plenty fast" for one may not be the same for others. I use Lexar 4gb 133x cards, and a few older 80x...still pretty fast though. So yeah, I understand the logistics of card speed etc. and the difference in Megabytes vs. Megabits which is often the standard in describing card & card reader read/write speeds. I also have the 8-in-1 or 12-in-1 or whatever it is, but I want faster. I want a CF-specific smokin reader...that is to say, a microwave with a built-in toaster will result in a product that neither microwaves or toasts as well as a specific machine designed for the specific purpose. I want to translate my current download time from minutes to seconds, and I hear it's possible...I just want to know what is the best way to get there. Cost is not a factor for me if it will save me time.

Hope that helps...and thanks for the advice so far! Keep it coming.

Corey

Those are the same cards I use (Lexar 4gb 133x) and they work GREAT with the Lexar Pro card reader. I got mine when Lexar was doing a $30 rebate so it was really cheap!

Thanks, Suzie.

That's the one I'm looking into...is yours USB, Firewire 400, or Firewire 800? About how long would you say it takes you to download 4gb worth of data?

Corey

Hey Corey...

I use the Lexar Pro as well, and it's lightening quick.

We also use a drive at weddings, and download cards to it onsite at weddings (actually usually in the car on the way home, as we often forget to do it onsite.) It's brilliant, because we don't have to babysit the cards when we get home, we merely plug it into the computer, and go take a bath while it copies over. I love the convenience of it.

Hey Corey!

I haven't exactly tested a ton of card readers but the one I'm currently using is really very fast. It's a Sandisk 4 in one reader and has a nifty little button on the side that will auto-download your cards without you having to do anything but push the button. It takes 9 minutes to download a 4 gig card.

I have an sandisk ImageMate CF reader which is a USB 2.0 reader. I can't remember exactly, but I know the Lexar 300x cards are significantly faster than the 133x cards downloading to the computer. I think I can do a 4gb card < 5 minutes for the 300x and the 133x is 7 minutes or so.

we bought some sandisk 8GB Extreme IV CF cards and it came with their firewire 800 reader. it takes 2-5 minutes to download 8GB of photos!

FYI, don't buy a 16 GB card. a Canon 5D only supports 8 GB cards.

Here's a link to the Sandisk Firewire 400/800 reader:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/4467...Flash_Card.html

Matt Antonino suggested a SanDisk reader. I forget the exact model but it downloads a 2GB card in 90 sec. He did a demo video about it a while back. You might try a search.

this is the fastest CF card reader available to date. I have one and LOVE it.. however it only works on Macbookpros and other laptops with express card slots.

http://delkin.com/products/adapters/expresscard34/

The SanDisk reader is crazy fast. It was rated as one of the fastest in Rangefinder not long ago and it's super cheap.

I have one of those sandisk ones too.. I make Laura use that one.. (It's a good reader)

I want my cards to copy fast so I use the Delkin one. Extreme cards already excede the speeds of the cameras, but when downloading them to my computer they really show their value.

I second Amber here. While we don't have a drive (though we might get one relatively soon), it does seem the quickest way to transfer the data. As I understand it, these are harddrives with slots in them - insert the card and they automatically transfer the data from the card to the drive. Easiest thing would be to do this during the wedding day / reception. When you get home, simply plug the drive (via usb or firewire) into the computer & upload from that. This -should- produce the fastest transfer speed possible.

Just thought I'd second the drive idea I think their cost is roughly $300-$500 depending on the size of the drive, etc. I've been looking for one that actually transfers the cards to a flash drive - aka, no moving parts. I just feel a bit safer strapping this to my arm/belt/whatever than a moving h/d. But, I haven't found one yet - and I have a feeling the price on it would be crazy. Best of luck with finding what you need!

Edit: Link to a site that has info ... not sure if I would buy from here, but at least it has the different brands there. http://www.eastgear.com/shop/index.php?cPath=17

*** totally unscientific test.. just for your information ***

I just got the Lexar Professional UDMA Firewire 800 card reader and here are some timings:

It takes 1 minute and 55 seconds to download a full 4gb card (1465 Large Jpeg Files) using a Lexar 4gb 300x udma card. WOW!!!!!

Same card on a sandisk usb2 reader 7 minutes and 01 seconds.

Here is something that interesting. Doing a test with a 133x kingston 4gb card with close to 4gb on it -- 1386 files -- takes 4 minutes and 55 seconds on the Lexar FW800 and 7 minutes and 4 seconds on the sandisk usb2 reader.

The test was performed just using a file copy into a folder on my macpro and timed with a stopwatch.

Interesting that the 2 usb times are similar.

Bottom line: WOW -- UDMA cards and UDMA readers when paired are insanely fast!!!!

I've gone with the Lexar Pro Firewire 800 reader....seems to be about the fastest by most accounts.

It's fast for sure, but was hoping for a bit more. I can do about 4gb in less than 5 minutes with a 133x card....much like the test Jim mentioned above.

I'll be getting some of the 300x cards and we'll see what that does for me~

Thanks everybody!

Corey