@RobertTheFat wrote:
@cicopo wrote:
I don't think there's anything to worry about for some time yet. Canon still puts a CF card slot in its high end cameras ...
I think I've mentioned this before, but it probably bears repeating. On the 5D3 (and I suppose also the 7D2) you can set the camera to use one specific card by preference, but fail over to the other one if the preferred card is full or missing. So suppose, with both card slots filled, you set the camera to use the CF card. You take some pictures, on the preferred (CF) card, and then take that card out to put it in your card reader. The camera, sensing that the CF card is missing, immediately fails over to the second (SD) card. When you've finished reading the CF card, you put it back into the camera. You might expect the camera to notice that the CF card is now present and revert to your original setting (i.e., use the CF card first), but it does not. To restore the original setting, you have to set ti again manually.
The punch line is that this behavior occurs, even if the camera is turned off during the entire time the CF card is out of the camera!
Very annoying.
I think it's safe to say that Canon thoroughly botched the dual card reader in the the 5d3. But every camera has to have an issue, seems a relatively small one. Still, I'd expect they iron this out (as well as the slow SD card reader) in the next version.
As to the SD/CF debate, I'll weigh in just to keep things balanced. I don't think CF cards will go away any time soon, but I do think they'll continue to get phased out. The speed really isn't an issue anymore; SD cards are plenty fast enough for dSLRs. At least, they are for the mega files coming out of the D810, perhaps if you're just holding the shutter on the 7D2 you will eventually see a difference. But in real world shooting, for most people, speed isn't going to be an issue.
I've never lost nor broke an SD card. I don't know what these guys are doing to them, but I suspect this is more a theoretical issue than an actual one. I've heard more about bent pins on CF cards than broken SD cards. I find it funny that in most things making it smaller is considered a benefit that many pay more for, but suddenly with SD cards it's a liability. I'm terrible about putting things back where it belongs while shooting; I'm always pulling out triggers and lens caps out of various pockets. But I've never lost a card that I know of. I have a couple old cards bouncing around in my "ashtray" in my car, uncovered, that still work fine. Which brings me to the real reason why I use SD cards: because my laptop, my desktop, my work computer, my tablets, and even my car have an SD card reader. They're convenient.
