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    CompactFlash Expresscard Adapters

    Discussion in 'Accessories' started by traveller, Oct 16, 2007.

  1. traveller

    traveller Notebook Deity

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    FYI,

    CF seems to be less popular now a days due to it's size, but many SLR owners, eg. Nikon, Canon,... are still tied to the CF format.

    It wasn't a problem with my Lenovo Notebook which has an "old" cardbus (PCMCIA) interface, but now that I only have a 54mm Expresscard interface with my Dell XPS M1330, it's certainly become an issue!

    While there's no reason you can't hook a modern, USB2.0-ready camera to your Notebook, it does mean that you have to lug the camera, as well as cable around with you. For example*, you shot a bunch of pics during the day but didn't have time to upload them to your Notebook and you're now headed out for dinner and you want to review your pics and/or show them to friends. etc.
    *Well that's my "excuse", anyways ;-)

    So I came across two cards that look promising, one for 34mm and a newer one for 54mm Expresscard interfaces, both from Delkin. Here's the links to the "ultra-new" 54mm adapter and the 34mm. The 34mm was also reviewed at Rob Galbraith as is quite speedy!

    I prefer the 54mm because it has a smaller extruding profile and thus I can leave it in the Expresscard slot and still pack the Notebook up w/o worrying about harming the card. But, for those that have 34mm-only interfaces (I guess Macbooks, the small Sonys, etc.), the 34mm is definately better than nothing ;-)

    Last but not least, the 54mm version uses "UDMA Enabled" interface and the website suggests that it can handle up to 30MB/s! That should cover modern CF cards such as SanDisk's Extreme IV cards too :D

    Btw, if you're in the UK or in EU you can go to Delkin's respective sites - just don't be surprised that the prices will vary accordingly... I ordered mine from the EU site and was quite :eek: at the final price...
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 8, 2015
    traveller, Oct 16, 2007
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  2. traveller

    traveller Notebook Deity

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    So I got it today & tested it out, not bad! I managed 15MB/s* with a 1GB SanDisk Extreme III and although that value may not sound impressive, it's the fastest "real world" flashcard to PC transfer rate I've personally experienced! It will be interesting to see how the interface performs with an Extreme IV card or equivalent :D

    SD-card users should not be overly concerned because I managed to transfer the same data* from a 2GB SanDisk Extreme III SD card to the same system (XPS M1330) at a rate of 10.5MB/s, which is plenty fast.

    *Values based on transferring one 580MB file.
     
    traveller, Oct 18, 2007
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