Memory Cards - which are best: CF or SDHC

[Peter Hawrylyshyn]

Given recent technological advancements - are SDHC cards now a better buy than the comparable Compact Flash(CF) cards? Prices are almost always cheaper for the SDHC cards. Is there any good reason to continue using only CF cards versus switching to SDHC cards?

At BH Photo - SanDisk Extreme Pro 16GB SDHC is $43.95 while 16GB CF is $86.95. Both quote the same read/write speeds.

Do SDHC cards have a higher failure rate?

Thanks for any advice/personal experience
Peter

[arash_hazeghi]

The same FLASH memory is used in both CF/SD cards. In terms of reliability high-end CF cards usually have better packaging with thicker insulation that can withstand rain, snow, extreme temperatures etc. The main issue with SD however, is the camera's lack of support for UHS SD interface. Recent high end SLRs usually take both CF and SD cards but the SD interface is much slower. For e.g. 5D3 only supports HS mode SD and not UHS. So the SD bandwidth is only 1/4 of the CF bandwidth which renders the SD card slot useless for high speed shooting.

You can compare the SD vs. CF actual write speed for most DSLRs here

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007

[BenBotha]

I see RGs website is going "inactive", no new stuff but old stuff still available. He took a full time job at a college.

Ben

[Peter Hawrylyshyn]

Arash
Thanks for the useful information.
I took your advice and bought Extreme Pro CF cards on sale at BH Photo
Peter