SanDisk SDCFH-1024-901 1 GB Ultra II CompactFlash Card (Retail Package)

I looked at the Lexar 40x first. Lexar has a good reputation and "40x" sounds like a snappy number. For some reason, though, I liked the feedback about this [Sandisk Ultra] card more. So I bought this one and am very glad I did.

Little publicized is the fact that the Sandisk Ultra II blazes along at 60x (9 Mb/s) write speed. That translates to being able to record one more whole image per second than the Lexar, and two or three images more than SimpleTech or Viking Components. (Each card reads at the same speed, I believe -- 10 Mb/s.)

Worried about a trade-off in reliability? It's backed with a 5-year warranty. You can't go wrong with that, folks.


Great memory choice for the Sony DSP F828 camera   March 8, 2004
James F. Strasma (Chicago, IL)
83 out of 96 found this review helpful

I recently purchased a Sony DSP F828 camera, which uses 8MP per shot, so needed LOTS of memory for it. I also wanted that memory to be as fast as possible, so as not to slow down picture-taking. The SanDisk Ultra II 1 GB CompaceFlash card was my choice (faster and cheaper than the Lexar alternatives I found), and has turned out to be a very happy one.

The only caution for those buying memory for use with the Sony DSP F828 is that its 640 x 480 movie mode is limited to 15 FPS with this memory card, whereas it can do 30 FPS with a MemoryStickPro or a Hitachi CompactFlash hard disk (the other two kinds of memory usable in this camera.) Personally, I don't see this as much of a problem, because if that matters to you, you'll need a lot more than 1 GB of memory. 5 minutes of 640 x 480 at 15 FPS used over 100 MB of memory, suggesting 30 FPS would use up 1 GB in under 25 minutes.


Must Keep the Camera On to Save Images   May 23, 2005
theodore (Walla Walla)
58 out of 82 found this review helpful

I've known and happily used SanDisk CF cards before, high quality, good price. This Ultra II card comes with some worries. Since CF doesn't write at 9MB/sec, it uses a "buffer" to write a small amount (like 4 megs) to an ultra-fast buffer, then the image is slowly transferred to the main card. And there's the problem.

I lost every "last image" on my trip to Italy. When I powered on the camera, took say 5 pictures, it would record 4 and lose the last image. This is because I was turning the camera off after taking the 5th picture. I needed to leave the camera on another 20 seconds to be sure the memory card finished transfer of the images. So it's very fast, for a small burst of pictures, but LEAVE THE CAMERA ON. I did a lot of "that's cool!" pictures... you turn the camera on, take a picture, turn the camera off to save battery life. Mistake. Make sure you REVIEW the images (and not just the temporary image displayed after the picture is taken) before POWERING DOWN.


Good but also look at Sandisk Extreme III   March 24, 2005
Mir Islam (San Jose, CA USA)
32 out of 33 found this review helpful

This is undoubtely one of the best cards out there in compact flash category. However for about the same price you can buy Extreme III CF from SanDisk which has 20mb/s write speed.

However, before you buy this or any other high speed CF card take into account what it will be used for. Unless you are a professional photographer shooting 3-4 shots/sec with image size as large as 3meg, you will be fine with lesser speed cards. It is important not to get carried away with all the X (40x vs 80x etc..) and Y from different manufacturers. In most cases if you are shooting with a dSLR (D70 is what I use) your camera may have enough buffer memory to compensate a slower card. Which translates into more money saved for other stuff.

I personally like the SanDisk brand because they are one of the first one in the market with CF and most reliable and I own a 1Gig SanDisk Extreme III card that I am very happy with.


Great for the Nikon D70   November 28, 2004
Alex Krooglik (Cleveland, OH USA)
30 out of 30 found this review helpful

I got one of these for my new Nikon D70 and it works like a dream. I previously had a Canon G2 point-and-shoot with a slow 256 Mb card and it would take 3-4 seconds to grab and save the picture. With the fast 1Gb SanDisk and my Nikon D70 there is a barely noticeable lag between pressing the shutter and seeing the image on the viewfinder. You will be able to store about 96 high-res, uncompressed NEF images on the D70 with this card.

I highly recommend this card and the price is right at under $100.