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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program இ Fuzzy Wuzzy's Summary:
ѾѾѾѾѾ Highly recommended with warm fuzzies!
փ Positives:
փ Screaming fast performance, but only if your high-end camera and newer-model card reader can keep up with this card's UDMA-7 read/write speeds.
փ Supports the Video Performance Guarantee (VPG-20) specification for professional-quality 1080P HD video capture at 20 MB/sec speed.
փ Includes downloadable "Image Rescue 4" software that can aid in recovering photo and video files lost due to deletion or card corruption.
փ Limited lifetime warranty.
ჯ Negatives:
ჯ To fully take advantage of this card's write speed from the camera to the memory card, your professional-class camera must be able to write the data out that fast. And to take advantage of its read speed from the memory card reader to your computer, your card reader needs to be able to write that fast.
As both the speed and capacity of CompactFlash cards keeps increasing every year, this UDMA-7 card from Lexar yet again pushes the outer limits of read/write speeds. It was not that long ago when a "133x" CompactFlash card seemed really fast. But this ever-increasing need for speed and capacity becomes more and more important as more cameras can now record 1080P HD video, frame rates increase, and both the frames per second and continuous burst shooting capabilities of prosumer-class and professional-class cameras increase with each year's new dSLR models.
I received this Lexar Professional 1000x 16-GB CompactFlash Card shortly after I had upgraded my Canon 7D's firmware from version 1.2.5 to the latest version 2.0.0. Canon released this version 2.0.0 firmware for their 7D about three weeks ago at the start of August. Having used Canon dSLRs since their EOS D60 in 2002, I have been accustomed to a variety of Canon's firmware updates for their dSLR cameras. But this version 2.0.0 firmware update for their 7D is one of the largest and most significant firmware updates that I have ever seen. I almost feel like I have a brand new version of the 7D by just updating to this new firmware version. Included in this large firmware update is a huge improvement to the 7D's continuous-shooting buffer depth, increasing the continuous burst buffer space from the original specs of 15 RAW files to a whopping 25 RAW files. Combined with the 7D's 8 frames/second speed in high-speed continuous shooting mode, this makes the camera even more ideal for action/sports/wildlife photography and it starts to edge closer to UDMA-7 speeds. But, alas, Canon states that even with this new 7D firmware 2.0: "UDMA 7 CF memory card read/write speeds are not fully supported with the EOS 7D Digital SLR camera. If using UDMA 7 memory cards, the read/write speeds will be equivalent to UDMA 6."
To both test the improvements to my Canon 7D's continuous-shooting buffer depth and to also test how fast my 7D can write files to this Lexar 1000x 16-GB CompactFlash card, I performed a series of tests after upgrading my 7D to its new firmware version 2.0.0. These tests were performed after I freshly formatted this Lexar 16-GB card in my 7D camera and had a fully charged battery. The following measurements consist of shooting my 7D in two higher ISO settings to purposely create larger file sizes (versus shooting at ISO 100). I usually try hard to go no higher than ISO 400 to minimize noise being introduced, but I will sometimes go up to ISO 3200 for low-light or nighttime hand-held shooting, and I try to avoid going beyond ISO 3200 unless I really have to. So I performed a series of continuous burst shooting at both ISO 400 and ISO 3200 with the camera set to output either only L(arge)-Fine JPG files, only L(arge)-size RAW files, or dual Large-RAW and Large-Fine-JPG outputs.
For each of the six RAW/JPG and ISO combinations below, I list the number of images that can be stored on this Lexar 16-GB card.
For the four L(arge)-RAW-only and dual Large-RAW and Large-Fine-JPG tests below, I kept shooting the camera in high-speed continuous mode until its buffer filled up and it had to pause. During this time, I tracked the number of seconds that the camera's card status light remained lit while it was busy writing files to the Lexar card. I then recorded the total number of files that were written onto the card during the continuous burst shooting and the total number of bytes used by those files. For each of the RAW/JPG and ISO combinations, I repeated the burst-shooting three times and averaged the results. There was very little variation for the file count, byte size, and timings in between each set of three tests within a group. From the total bytes written and seconds that it took to write to the memory card, I arrived at a "Bytes/second" write speed for writing data from the camera to this Lexar card.
L-size RAW only at ISO 400
--------------------------------------------------
Maximum images that can be stored: 592
Files recorded into continuous burst buffer (average of 3 tries): 29
Total bytes of all files recorded onto card (average of 3 tries): 680,617,662
Seconds that card status light remained lit (average of 3 tries): 10
Bytes/seconds = 680,617,662/10 = 68 MB/sec
L-size RAW only at ISO 3200
--------------------------------------------------
Maximum images that can be stored: 540
Files recorded into continuous burst buffer (average of 3 tries): 23
Total bytes of all files recorded onto card (average of 3 tries): 707,076,916
Seconds that card status light remained lit (average of 3 tries): 10
Bytes/seconds = 707,076,916/10 = 71 MB/sec
L-size RAW with L-fine JPG at ISO 400
--------------------------------------------------
Maximum images that can be stored: 461
Files recorded into continuous burst buffer (average of 3 tries): 38 (19 CR2/JPG pairs)
Total bytes of all files recorded onto card (average of 3 tries): 568,274,502
Seconds that card status light remained lit (average of 3 tries): 15
Bytes/seconds = 568,274,502/15 = 38 MB/sec
L-size RAW with L-fine JPG at ISO 3200
--------------------------------------------------
Maximum images that can be stored: 425
Files recorded into continuous burst buffer (average of 3 tries): 34 (17 CR2/JPG pairs)
Total bytes of all files recorded onto card (average of 3 tries): 608,925,777
Seconds that card status light remained lit (average of 3 tries): 16
Bytes/seconds = 608,925,777/16 = 38 MB/sec
The two ISO400/3200 tests for shooting only L(arge)-Fine JPG required a slightly different approach. Unlike the above four L(arge)-RAW-only and dual Large-RAW and Large-Fine-JPG tests where my 7D noticeably paused when the camera's internal buffer filled up and the camera then waited for a short duration for the Lexar card to catch up, when shooting JPG-only, there was a far shorter pause after about 6 to 10 seconds of shooting and then the camera would quickly shoot 3 or 4 more shots followed by another very quick pause. So to measure the throughput to the Lexar card when shooting JPG-only, I kept the shutter button constantly pressed for exactly 30 seconds, and then I also timed how long the card status light remained lit. As with the numbers for the "L-size RAW with L-fine JPG" listed above, there is a speed overhead when shooting JPG, either in JPG-only mode or dual RAW/JPG output. But as the numbers below show, it is interesting that after I kept the shutter button constantly pressed for 30 seconds, the camera continued writing to the Lexar card for only an additional 4 or 5 seconds. My 7D camera's internal pipeline is the actual limiting factor in how fast it could clear out its buffer and write everything on the card. With the 7D's new 2.0.0 firmware version, Canon states that the 7D's buffer can store about 130 L(arge)-Fine JPG files. So the extra 4 to 5 seconds of latency is due to the camera writing the remaining buffer contents onto the card.
L-fine JPG only at ISO 400
--------------------------------------------------
Maximum images that can be stored: 2084
Seconds that I kept the shutter button pressed: 30
Files recorded after shooting for 30 seconds (average of 3 tries): 235 (almost 8 shots/second!)
Total bytes of all files recorded onto card (average of 3 tries): 1,619,609,533
Seconds that card status light remained lit (average of 3 tries): 34
Bytes/seconds = 1,619,609,533/34 = 48 MB/sec
L-fine JPG only at ISO 3200
--------------------------------------------------
Maximum images that can be stored: 2026
Seconds that I kept the shutter button pressed: 30
Files recorded after shooting for 30 seconds (average of 3 tries): 230 (almost 8 shots/second!)
Total bytes of all files recorded onto card (average of 3 tries): 1,732,094,464
Seconds that card status light remained lit (average of 3 tries): 35
Bytes/seconds = 1,732,094,464/35 = 49 MB/sec
From the above results, a RAW-only continuous burst write speed of 68 MB/sec at ISO 400 is quite fast, and being able to continuously shoot more than 20 RAWs at 8 frames per second is ideal for action/sports/wildlife photography, but it still does not fully take advantage of this card's 1000x UDMA-7 maximum speed capability. But my tests proved to me that (1) the new firmware update for my 7D did indeed dramatically boosted the continuous burst buffer of my 7D, and (2) even with the 7D's fast shooting, the limiting factor was still the camera and I never even once bumped up against this card's upper speed ceiling for either shooting extended 1080P HD videos at 30 frames/second or high-speed continuous photo shoots.
I currently do not have a UDMA-7 USB 3.0 card reader, so I did not test this card's read speed when transferring files from a UDMA-7-compatible card reader to a computer. Although it may matter for your purposes, my card reader's read speed is not that important to me. When I need to transfer files from multiple CompactFlash cards to my computer, I use two separate USB 2.0 card readers that are both plugged into my computer, and I just keep feeding them cards while I work on other things. I will eventually purchase a UDMA-7 USB 3.0 card reader. But for now, using two USB 2.0 card readers to simultaneously transfer files to my computer works fine for me :)
Inside this card's box package are two sheets. One sheet states that in order to use these Lexar Professional 1000x CompactFlash cards with Lexar's Lexar Media Inc. Dual Slot USB 3.0 Reader Professional (LRW307URBNA), you must download and update its firmware from the URL on Lexar's Web site that is mentioned on the sheet. The other sheet includes a serial number code for use in activating Lexar's "Image Rescue 4" software. You can download the "Image Rescue 4" software from the URL on Lexar's Web site that is mentioned on this sheet.
The downloadable Lexar "Image Rescue 4" software that is included free with this CompactFlash card is similar to Transcend's "RecoverRx" and SanDisk's "RescuePro" software. As with software that tries to recover files that were deleted on a computer hard drive, the "Image Rescue 4" scans and looks for deleted/missing files that can be recovered. If you accidentally deleted some photo or video files from a camera memory card, your best chance for success is to immediately stop using the card, remove it from the camera, and try to recover it using the "Image Rescue 4" (or similar) software. If you have taken additional shots on your camera after accidentally deleting some files, there is a greater chance that the new photo/video files may have overwritten some part of the original image data that you are trying to recover. And if the card is actually damaged or corrupted, the data recovery software may also be of no use.
௫ Fuzzy Wuzzy's Conclusion:
This is an excellent UDMA-7 CompactFlash card that is suitable for the most demanding, large and fast camera buffer, and high frame-rate photo and video applications. Most consumer-class and prosumer-class dSLR cameras currently cannot write to this card fast enough, so your money may be better spent on a less expensive UDMA-6/600x, 400x, or slower card, especially if you have an entry-level dSLR. UDMA-6/600x CompactFlash cards have been on the market now for about three years, their prices have become cheaper, and their write speeds are a better match for the current crop of consumer/prosumer-class dSLR cameras. But some of the latest professional-grade dSLR cameras, such as Canon's EOS 1D-X and Nikon's D4, are now appearing that do fully support UDMA-7 speed. Likewise, if you rarely shoot in high-speed continuous burst modes that are indispensable for action/sports/wildlife photography and you rarely shoot 1080P HD video using your dSLR, a CompactFlash card with a speed rating of 133x, 266x, or 400x may be perfectly fine for your needs, and you can use the money that you saved to buy better high-end lenses :-) because, at the time of this review's writing, this 1000x card does cost more than most other 16-GB cards and you are paying a premium for its speed when used in a camera with fast photo/video shooting that can quickly feed data into the card. Action, sports, and wildlife photography can really benefit from a dSLR that has a high frames/second capability (at least 3 or 4 frames/second), a high internal memory buffer to keep the continuous shooting going without stutters, and fast hardware to write all that data to a UDMA-7 card like this Lexar CompactFlash. With this kind of action/sports/wildlife photography, I usually capture several perfect "caught in the act" shots while deleting plenty of other shots.
But one purchasing decision that you have to consider is if your camera can write data fast enough onto this card to fully make use of its speed, or if you have a UDMA-7 USB 3.0 card reader that can read data from this card at its maximum speed. A UDMA-7-enabled card reader is inexpensive to purchase, and the high speed at which you can transfer files from a UDMA-7-enabled card reader to your computer may be enough justification to buy this card. If you have a prosumer-class dSLR and you shoot a lot of 1080P HD video using the highest frame rate, this is also an excellent card choice. And if you have a professional-class dSLR that can output at UDMA-7 speeds, this card is a must-buy!
At the present time, the 16-GB size of this card being reviewed is my favorite CompactFlash card size for the main reason that I do not like the idea of "keeping all of my photo/video eggs in just one (or a few) baskets". Even though I have never encountered a complete card failure and inability to retrieve the files from any of my SanDisk, Lexar, or Kingston CompactFlash cards (knock hard on wood), and I have only encountered an occasional rare corrupted single file here or there, I still like the idea that my complete set of images, which may include many thousands of dual RAW/JPG files and HD videos that sometimes add up to 400 GB of data for a three or four week travel outing, are spread across multiple cards in case one particular card becomes totally unreadable, or even accidentally lost. And as added insurance, during the trip, I copy the files from my CompactFlash cards onto a laptop's hard drive or another portable hard drive. Eventually, I will migrate more of my card usage up to 32 GB sizes. But I do not trust the idea of putting all the photos and videos from a 3-week travel outing on a handful of 128-GB cards just yet, because if just one 128-GB card gets lost or corrupted, I lose a huge amount of photos :-) So far, after filling up this Lexar 16-GB card with photos/videos more than 22 times, I have not encountered any glitches, corrupted files, or data loss.
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