Hey Mike S.,

Any chance you guys could post a CF card matrix to keep us Nanos up-to-date on the latest and greatest CF cards tested by you guys.

Maybe as a link on CD's Nano page?

My eyes are going wonky trying to read and absorb all the threads on CFs hehehe

Cheers,

Micheal

Dear Michael,

We have been working hard on on new website.

But, it is not done yet.

Here is a page from our new website (still in work), I hope this helps. this page will look beter when we show it on our own website.

The following are the qualified and recommended CompactFlash cards for use with the nanoFlash and Flash XDR:

Brand ................... Type .......................... Capacity ... Maximum Bit Rate

SanDisk .............. Extreme III ..................... 32/16/8 ........ 180 Mbps
SanDisk .............. Extreme IV ..................... 16 ................ 280 Mbps
SanDisk ...............Extreme Pro .................... 64/32 ........... 280 Mbps
SanDisk ...............Extreme ......................... 32 ................ 280 Mbps
Delkin ..................UDMA .............................16 ................ 180 Mbps
PhotoFast ............533x .............................. 64/32 ........... 220 Mbps
Lexar ..................300x .............................. 16/8 ............. 280 Mbps



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Important Information

We highly recommend that you purchase your CompactFlash cards in advance,
then format them immediately upon receipt, to ensure that you have working cards for your projects.

The use of non-qualified cards places your project at risk, as does using a higher-bit rate than specified.
Please consult with us prior to using any non-qualified card.


All CompactFlash cards must be formatted (initialized) in the nanoFlash or Flash XDR before the first use.


When formating CompactFlash cards in the nanoFlash or Flash XDR,
one must remove all cards that are not to be formatted.

Formatting a card is a process that removes all recorded files from the card
and prepares the card for recording new files.

After the contents of a CompactFlash card are successfully transferred to one or more computers or other storage devices, it is important to reformat the card or cards in the nanoFlash or Flash XDR.


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The following cards may be used, but are not currently recommended.

Transcend Cards are not recommended for use with Mac Leopard Operating System.

Kingston Elite Pro 133x cards may be used if they pass our Format test.

Caution: There has been quite a few defective Kingston Elite Pro 133x CompactFlash cards.
These cards will not pass our Format test.


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Capacity is in Gigabytes (GB = Gigabyte = 1,000,000 bytes, CF = CompactFlash card)

I would like to add in reference to the Kingston cards for purposes of tracking a trend;

We have 4 each of these subject Kingston cards. They were from the "good" batch and formatted properly in the XDR and have been in use for several months.

However, this past week after copying the clips onto a Nexto 2700, when I went to reformat (erase) one of the Kingston cards in a nanoFlash I got the error message "Unrecognized Card" or something to that effect. It would not reformat. However the other 3 Kingston cards would format fine. I then tried to reformat in the XDR (F2 and F5) and this single card would still not reformat.

Then got desparate and tried to reformat the card in a PC - no go; then in a Mac - still no go.

The card is basically dead and unusable. Yet the other 3 Kingston Cards are still working fine.
All were purchased at the same time and have the batch numbers that were supposedly the good Kingston cards/controllers. So maybe I just had a card that went south?

But if others see this same problem of previously working Kingston cards going south when trying to reformat in the nano of XDR, then it may be a trend of things to come.

It's a shame because these cards were very economically priced. But I would stay away from them as Dan has recommended.

Dear Friends,

John is reporting problems with the Kingston cards.

Others have reported the same problems with these Kingston cards.

In essense, these were the "good cards", ones that passed the initial hurdle of being from a good batch. Then, after a while they seem to quit working, just has John has reported.

This is very regretable, as John said, as these were very nicely priced cards.

As a company, we would love to be able to recommend Kingston cards again. However, we can not do so at this time.

While these cards do have a lifetime warranty, what we need are very reliable cards.

Brand ................... Type .......................... Capacity ... Maximum Bit Rate

SanDisk .............. Extreme III ..................... 32/16/8 ........ 180 Mbps
SanDisk .............. Extreme IV ..................... 16 ................ 280 Mbps
SanDisk ...............Extreme Pro .................... 64/32 ........... 280 Mbps
SanDisk ...............Extreme ......................... 32 ................ 280 Mbps
Delkin ..................UDMA .............................16 ................ 180 Mbps
PhotoFast ............533x .............................. 64/32 ........... 220 Mbps
Lexar ..................300x .............................. 16/8 ............. 280 Mbps




Hey, Dan:

Photofast has two versions of the 533x card - 533x and 533xPlus.

Are both good to go for Nanoflash?

John

Dear John,

Yes, both the PhotoFast 32 GB 533x and 533x Plus are qualified.

The PhotoFast 64 GB 533x card is also.

We are testing the Delkin 64 GB card this afternoon. So far it is looking good.
Our tests show that this Delkin card works up to and including 220 Mbps, the same as the PhotoFast 64 GB card.

Dear Dan,
are this max Bit rates applying for both settings (Long GOP & I-Frame) or only for Long GOP? I am taking it as it is for both but wanna be sure. I have Extreme III 32 GB cards. Thank you
Cheers
Luben

Dear Luben,

Yes, the maximum bit rate applies to both I-Frame Only and Long-GOP modes.

Note: You can use a lower speed card, and a very high bit-rate when shooting time-lapse via the nanoFlash or Flash XDR. Thus a card that would otherwise only support 100 Mbps could support 280 Mbps in time-lapse mode.

Thank you Dan!
Luben

Is there an update on the qualified CF cards? Also are there recommended outlets for said cards?

Dear Andrew,

Yes, we have recently qualified the Delkin 64 GB CompactFlash card.

It passed all of our tests with ease. We are currently very confident with this card.

One source, for this card, and the PhotoFast 64 GB CompactFlash card is

nanoFlash.net (http://www.nanoFlash.net)

Please note that these two 64 GB cards are currently limited to 220 Mbps. We are working to improve this to 280 Mbps.

The only 64 GB card that currently supports the 280 Mbps rate is the SanDisk Extreme Pro which is a far more expensive card.

The only 64 GB card that currently supports the 280 Mbps rate is the SanDisk Extreme Pro which is a far more expensive card.

I could get another nanoFLASH for what four of those cards would cost me in the UK!

Dear Paul,

1. Our 220 Mbps I-Frame is very good, as are our numerous Long-GOP options.
280 Mbps is actually a luxury and would only be required for the most demanding of applications.

To put it another way, the lower bit-rate modes are more widely used.

2. We are about to start a project in an attempt to get 280 Mbps from the PhotoFast and Delkin 64 GB cards.

While we can not promise that we will be successful, we fully expect that these cards will support 280 Mbps via a future firmware update.

[QUOTE=Dan Keaton;1453605]Dear Michael,


The following are the qualified and recommended CompactFlash cards for use with the nanoFlash and Flash XDR:

Brand ................... Type .......................... Capacity ... Maximum Bit Rate

SanDisk .............. Extreme III ..................... 32/16/8 ........ 180 Mbps
SanDisk .............. Extreme IV ..................... 16 ................ 280 Mbps
SanDisk ...............Extreme Pro .................... 64/32 ........... 280 Mbps
SanDisk ...............Extreme ......................... 32 ................ 280 Mbps
Delkin ..................UDMA .............................16 ................ 180 Mbps
PhotoFast ............533x .............................. 64/32 ........... 220 Mbps
Lexar ..................300x .............................. 16/8 ............. 280 Mbps

Hello Dan,
I am confused when you quote the Maximum Bit Rate is that for Long GOP or IFrame ?

I have recently received my PhotoFast 533x 64gb cards and I have just finished verifying that they all write and have the correct capacity. In Long Gop the max is 180Mbps and in I-Frame 280 Mbps. Also the cards leave 1.3gb of free space.

Many thanks

Dear Paul,

1. Our 220 Mbps I-Frame is very good, as are our numerous Long-GOP options.
280 Mbps is actually a luxury and would only be required for the most demanding of applications.

To put it another way, the lower bit-rate modes are more widely used.

2. We are about to start a project in an attempt to get 280 Mbps from the PhotoFast and Delkin 64 GB cards.

While we can not promise that we will be successful, we fully expect that these cards will support 280 Mbps via a future firmware update.

That sound good! I was just say that a 64GB Card Extreme Pro in the UK costs me £699.99 (now reduced to £500.22) where as I paid £38.99 for a 16GB Extreme IV (four cards totalled £155.96 saving me £344.26).

They will come down a lot over the next year or so - I remember paying over £200 for a 4GB Extreme III, 3 years ago.

The high bitrate I-Frames has its place for me and the 16GB IV will cover me until you can qualify either 64GB cards that are much cheaper or Sandisk cards become cheaper.

Dear Lance,

The Maximum Bit-Rate that we list for the CompactFlash cards, is the highest bit-rate that we recommend, based on our testing, that can be used with the specific cards.

But, as you have noted, we limit our Long-GOP modes to a maximum of 180 Mbps, and our I-Frame Only modes to 280 Mpbs.

But, of course, to use these maximum bit-rates, one has to use a CompactFlash card that has the write performance to match.

Long-GOP is generally considered to be about 2 to 2.5 times as efficcient as I-Frame Only, so both 180 Mbps Long GOP and 280 Mbps I-Frame Only provide very high quality images.

In fact, our 100 Mbps Long-GOP is what we typically recommend for almost everyone.

Exceptions: For big-budget films, 140/180 Long-GOP and 280 Mbps I-Frame Only can offer slight quality advantages in certain rare situations. Think of it as insurance for the scene that has an excessive amount of detail, or an extreme amount of movement.

For almost all productions, 100 Mbps Long-GOP provides a level of quality that meets their needs.

Dear Friends,

Please note that we have fully qualified the Delkin 64 GB CompactFlash card.

Dear Friends,

Please note that we have fully qualified the Delkin 64 GB CompactFlash card.

That's great news! Same bitrates as the Extreme Pro?

Long-GOP is generally considered to be about 2 to 2.5 times as efficcient as I-Frame Only, so both 180 Mbps Long GOP and 280 Mbps I-Frame Only provide very high quality images.

In fact, our 100 Mbps Long-GOP is what we typically recommend for almost everyone.

I agree! 100Mbps is the sweet spot!

Exceptions: For big-budget films, 140/180 Long-GOP and 280 Mbps I-Frame Only can offer slight quality advantages in certain rare situations. Think of it as insurance for the scene that has an excessive amount of detail, or an extreme amount of movement.

Birds (the feathered variety) is where I'm using high bitrates at the moment to try and get the best detail possible, much like I can with my stills. The results are awesome! Superb feather detail including seeing the immense detail in the eyes too!

Dear Paul,

The SanDisk Extreme Pro is a much faster card, and it can be used up to 280 Mbps with the nanoFlash.

The PhotoFast 533x 64 GB card, and the Delkin 64 GB card are currently limited to 220 Mbps. We may be able to obtain 280 Mbps out of these cards in the future, but we are not promising this at this time.

It is certainly nice to be able to record, at 50 Mbps, for 5.3 hours continuously with two 64 GB cards. Or 2.6 hours at 100 Mbps.

Happy New Year to you and all the NanoFlash contributors. Thanks for that information Dan I have found that 50 Mbps recording on NanoFlash for long duration work looks far better than DVcam tape. I now make a quick copy of the CF cards and then edit directly from the CF cards which saves a lot of time. I am now using one 64GB card and one 16GB card gives me 196 min eliminating the need for card swapping.

Hey Dan,

Any news on options for 64GB/280Mbps cards other than the pricey SanDisks?

Cheers,

Micheal

Dear Michael,

We will be attempting to get more speed out of the PhotoFast and Delkin 64 GB cards. Thus, those with those cards, if we are successful, will get to use 280 Mbps.

Also, we are currently investigating another 64 GB card that, according to the spec's, will provide 280 Mbps performance.

awesome... I'm planning a feature this summer using the Nano and I really want to shoot at 280 to have the highest quality in case I want to do a film-out for distro... it would make the production workflow better if I could have two sets of cards (one set in the Nano while shooting and one set being offloaded by a DIT)

Micheal