CF-SD Adapter 5DM3 ??

[drdimento]

I am considering buying a 5DM3 to compliment a 6D and want to use only SD cards in the Compact Flash slot.

Can a Compact Flash to SD Card adapter be used if the SD cards are SanDisk Class 10 cards like I use on my HD XA20 and G20 cams?

Here is the adapter I am considering SD CARD ADAPTER

Thanks in advance for those who respond.

[cale_kat]

Lots of reviews on Amazon from satisfied 5DM2 users and your camera is practically the same.

[hsbn]

Just because you can, I don't think you should. If you already spend almost 3k for 5DMIII, then just pay a bit more to buy some CF card instead of using adapter.

[cale_kat]

I don't really ascribe to the theroy that if they didn't give you one, you shouldn't have one. What I mean is a second SD slot instead of a CF slot. Most every vendor now markets fast SD cards at a fraction of the price of CF media. What might once have been a clearly superior media, CF no longer holds big advantages for most users.

I think the CF slot is a legacy thing on the 5DM3. It is there for all the loyal Canon users that have a big investment in CF cards, not because it offers any particular benefit.

Frankly, the pin system that CF cards use I find worrisome. I am always mindful of bending a pin and the one thing I really like about the CF to SC adapter shown is that once installed, it can be left in place because the SD card uses push-push insertion and ejection.

Just my $.02

[drdimento]

Thanks to all for this help.  I too don't subscribe to the Compact Flash like I first did previously.  In the past, SD cards were very unreliable but of late they are totally awesome.  Easy to carry, easy to find, and low cost is totally awesome.

I personally think that the 5DM3 has a CF slot becuase there were two things . . 1) CF designers were trying to upgrade the speed of the CF card in the hope of competing with the newer faster SD cards and then Canon opted not to give the CF slot that NEW SPEED and 2) just to appease many low end 5DM2'ers who thought that unless it was CF it wasn't reliable.  In the latter case, Canon could have put 3 or 4 SD card slots and mirrored for safety net and would have made me happy 🙂

Just look at the newer 6D . . it is SD card.  Thus, I think I will buy the 6D and wait to see if there is another full framer from Canon forthcoming perhaps in the near future instead of getting the "slight upgrade" of the 5DM3.

Thanks to all for the help.  🙂

[TCampbell]

Keep in mind that the SD slot in the 5D III is not the high-speed "UHS 1" type slot.  If you want high-speed write performance, then you'll need to use the CF slot for that.

The new fast "UHS 1" SD cards are only fast if they're in a UHS 1 slot.  

[drdimento]

I am convinced more and more that the the 5DM3 was a partial design change and that left on the operating floor was the real camera that would have been a Canon exclusive like it's idler brother the 5DM2. That is the flagship wave ripple breakthrough of the 5DM2 was a camera ahead of its counterparts but instead of keeping that wave rolling the 5DM3 is a pause in Canon's forward move.

Why the mix in cards (CF and SD) and yet provide slots that are inferior to the markets present state? This is a rather confusing expensive the 5DM3. More and more I'm convinced that the 6D is the preference and cheaper (much like the 5DM2 was when it was launched).

If there is a 6DM1, I'm terribly afraid it be another "oversell" model, riding on it's predecessors performance and price advantage at the time.

6D or 5DM3 or 6DM1 ?? Hardly sounding like even a question.

[TCampbell]

Many people, myself included, want the dual slot capability with one of each. For all the great things the 5D II had going for it, the focus system was not one of them and owners made SURE Canon got that message. Apparently they did, because the focus system on the 5D III isn't just "good", it's arguable the best focus system in the industry. It is the same focus system as the flagship 1D X with the only exception that the 1D X links the iTR to the metering system.

I am VERY happy with my 5D III.

I like to leave my laptop at home when I travel and just use my iPad. With the II, I had to use the USB cable to transfer images and it's less convenient. With the III I can write images to the SD card and import them on the iPad. Here's the interesting bit I discovered... even if you shoot in RAW (and the iPad cannot open RAW) and even if you save everything to the CF card, there's an in-camera processing function on the 5D III which lets you create JPEGs from your RAWs afterwards. So you can shoot exclusively in RAW, find a dozen images you like, convert just those images to JPEG (with all the same choices you would have had at time of shooting included white balance, picture styles, etc.) copy them to the SD card (becuase it has in-camera menus to copy images between cards), and then just put the SD card into the iPad camera adapter dongle.

I could not do that with my 5D II.

The 5D III is a better camera in virtually every respect. One area where I would have liked to have had more improvement is in the dynamic range of the sensor.

[drdimento]

great review of the 5DM3. I don't want to give up on it especially since I have the 600 flashes 🙂

one question away from the 5DM3 and SD cards for a moment, do you know anyone who has the 6D and/or a comparison from a valid user who wasn't biased because Canon gave them a camera or pays them they some arrangement? A I read reviews all the time but honestly when some receives a camera as a function of their review I often feel (and have learned first hand from experience) that the review wasn't necessarily all true.

[cale_kat]

True, what you write about the reviewers and their preferences. But I don't know anyone who isn't biased in one form or another.

Ultimately, I don't think the question is "What's the right camera?" I think it's "What's the right camera for you?".