Which memory card is better, a compact flash or a an SD card?

We have compiled a list of the TOP50 questions that we hear on our workshops. From gear, to settings, to composition, and shooting styles, we have decided to post three questions and answers a week till we get through them all.

We hope they answer some of the questions that you may have. Here is todays question.

Question: Which memory card is better, a compact flash or a an SD card?

Answer: Lets first look at what both the cards actually are.

CompactFlash (CF Cards) was first produced in 1994 by the SanDisk company and quickly became the go-to portable mass data storage device for electronic devices. CompactFlash cards are physically a little bit larger than other formats but they are still one of the most reliable mass data storage units in the market.

Originally designed to operate with Intel’s NOR-based execute in place (XIP) flash memory, CompactFlash memory cards were converted over to NAND format and have since become the preferred memory card for professional videographers using digital video cameras. Their popularity has held strong enough, so that some camera manufacturers are again designing video cameras that accept the cards. For example, Canon’s line of professional high-definition video cameras released in 2010, Sony’s HVR-MRC1K tapeless video recorder released in 2008, and Ikegami digital video recorders all use CompactFlash cards. Due to their popularity, SanDisk, Sony, and Nikon, are jointly working to update and improve CompactFlash memory card capacity and functionality for use with HD digital camcorders and high-resolution cameras.

Secure Digital memory cards (SD Cards) are used in just about every type of portable device available, from digital still cameras, video cameras/camcorders, tablets, to cell phones and smartphones. Since being designed and distributed by the SD Card Association in 1999, the number and styles and manufacturers of SD cards have exploded. The SD card line expanded with the introduction miniSD in 2003, microSD in 2005, SDHC (High Capacity) in 2006, microSDHC in 2007, miniSDHC in 2008, SDXC (Extended Capacity) in 2009, and microSDXC also in 2009. Currently there are more than 400 manufacturers turning out over 8,000 SD cards in various styles and with various capacities.

Secure Digital memory cards are significantly smaller than CompactFlash cards, and are equipped with a nine-pin interface as compared to the 50-pin interface of the CompactFlash. The result of having fewer interface pins means that the SD cards are limited to a four-bit data bus, whereas CompactFlash cards have a 16-bit data transfer bus. While this sounds like it would make CompactFlash cards the better choice because the Secure Digital cards’ transfer speed slower, in reality, the difference is negligible due to advances in digital camera technology.

Another major difference between these two types of memory cards is the absence of a microcontroller in SD memory cards. This puts more of a load on the host device, but again, this isn’t really a major issue with newer cameras.

But the question runs deeper… your camera really decides which memory card you have to buy… so the difference between the two isn’t the real question. The question that I think is more relevant is writing speed of the cards.

For me, because I shoot in RAW, and a lot of times shooting in burst mode, I look for cards that write the fastest so that my processor in my camera does not buffer and write the images while the action is happening in front of my lens.

The faster the speed of the card, the more money coming out of your bank account. But for me, here is my memory card of choice… For a SD card it is the 32 GB SanDisk Extreme Plus and for Compact Flash card it is the 32GB Lexar Professional 3400x CFast 2.0 card

If you have any further comments, please add them to the comments section below. The more feedback and ideas the better.

Thanks for reading,

Northof49Photography