So you shelled out the big bucks for an expensive DSLR like the Canon EOS 7D or the Nikon D300? Chances are if you have own one of those cameras, or any other new DSLR that uses a compactflash card, that you’re someone who is serious about photography. SanDisk’s Extreme Pro 32GB CompactFlash Card has been designed specifically for pro-level DSLR cameras. Using its Power Core Controller, SanDisk claims that it can achieve read and write performance up to 90MB/s. In comparison, SanDisk’s older Extreme card boasts up to 60mb/s. The Extreme Pro is available in 16GB, 32GB, 64GB capacities, so you’ll have plenty of room for files, including large RAW files and HD movies. The card is also supposed to be able to withstand extreme temperatures ranging from -13°F to 185°F, so you can be sure that your photos stay safe. The card also features “Shock protection and RTV silicone coating added inside for protection against moisture and humidity”. A lifetime warranty comes standard with the card.
What is included:
The device comes with a plastic case and a serial number to use to activate Rescuepro recovery software for those times when you accidentally delete important photos.
Real world tests:
Highspeed performance in a CompactFlash card matters most when your shooting in burst mode which is when you take one continuous shot after another. When shooting in burst mode, bottlenecks can happen which cause a slow down when the memory card doesn’t have sufficient performance to keep up with the cameras continuous stream of shots. So burst mode is especially important for capturing high action shots like those taken during sports events. When shooting in burst mode with the Nikon D300s, we got about 3fps (raw + jpeg file mode) using the Extreme Pro card. In comparison, our older card from a different brand, was doing about 1.5fps in burst mode.
Benchmarks:
We received a sample of the 32GB SanDisk Extreme Pro along with the SanDisk Extreme Pro ExpressCard Adapter ($49.99) which is one of the few card readers out there that can actually take advantage of the Extreme Pro’s full speed. Unfortunately we experienced a weird error with the Extreme Pro ExpressCard Adapter on my MacBook Pro. The card would cause a Kernel Panic on my MacBook Pro (Late 2008). We did everything we could to try and figure out what was causing this issue – we looked on forums, referred to SanDisk’s support site, updated our firmware, but in the end we couldn’t resolve the issue. SanDisk sent us out a second ExpressCard Adapter which we were able to use without a problem. It could be that the first unit we tested was defective. The first one we received actually did not come in retail packaging, so it could have been an earlier unit of some sort. In any case, we finally got to testing the Extreme Pro CompactFlash Card using Xbench for Mac. The results below were on par with SanDisk’s 90MB/s claims.
Conclusion:
The SanDisk Extreme Pro can be compared to filling your car with premium gas as opposed to regular. Will your car drive with regular gas? Yes, but with premium it’s a smoother ride. So yes, the Extreme Pro card is definitely on the pricey side. That said, if you’ve went ahead and spent that much on the best DSLR and lens, you ought to spend the extra bucks on a fast performance card to match it, that will really take advantage of the camera’s burst mode so that you never miss that important shot. Serious professionals, especially those who shoot sports photography can not afford to not have this card. But there is no denying that this card is definitely aimed at professionals and pro-sumers, where money is no object for quality and performance. The SanDisk Extreme Pro 32GB CF Card retails for $365 at Amazon, while the 64GB version runs for $615 and the 16GB for $205.
The Good:
Unlocks the full potential of your DSLR, fast shooting speeds during burst mode, can withstand drops and extreme temperatures in order to keep your files safe, comes with lifetime warranty
The Bad:
Expensive, for day to day shots you wont really notice the performance gains unless you are using burst mode