DSLR users compact flash or SD?

[Astro Waves]

Hello,

To all the DSLR users out there I wanted to see what your thoughts were on this. 

I've been a photographer for many years and alway used CF cards for storage in camera, when shooting through out the day and sometimes night shoots and never had any problems with them what so ever but.....I've recently start shooting astro and tonight the temp dropped quite a bit and I had a problem looking back through the images on the camera which I've never once had before but I've never situated my camera to sitting in constant cold temperatures before. Although the images had trouble playing back (meaning they didn't on camera) and it couldn't read them they were all there when I went to transfer them to laptop but I don't want to risk a corrupt card when shooting a nights session and lose the data. 

Has anyone found if using SD cards are much more stable for night time shooting due to the temperature of the camera?

Cheers

 

[wxsatuser]

Good quality SD cards always worked ok for me.
Hot or freezing I don't remember having any trouble with them.

[davew]

I've used SD, CF and XQD and never had a problem. The lowest temperature I know I've used a CF card at is -12* C. In that case the battery went flat early.

The only time I've heard of a CF problem in the dark and cold was when a friend of mine somehow bent the pins at the bottom of the card slot one night. Don't do that, it's an expensive fix !

Dave.

[Dr_Ju_ju]

As I use BackyardEOS to control my DSLR, I save all the images to either the local computer, or directly to a network storage location....

[Astro Waves]

1 hour ago, davew said:

I've used SD, CF and XQD and never had a problem. The lowest temperature I know I've used a CF card at is -12* C. In that case the battery went flat early.

The only time I've heard of a CF problem in the dark and cold was when a friend of mine somehow bent the pins at the bottom of the card slot one night. Don't do that, it's an expensive fix !

Dave.

Yeah bending the pins would not be good. 

 

Think I might get a few SD cards and try them out and also see if they feel cold to the touch on when I take it out the camera as the CF card last night was freezing but seen as how its the first time that's ever happened can't say I'm too worried. 

[pete_l]

Both my Canon 20Ds use CF cards. One of them is about 15 years old and still plods on.   It seems to me that the connections to CF cards are more robust than those to SD cards. There is positive mating (which as others have said can occasionally lead to a bent pin, though I've never experienced that) but with an SD card it is only a spring loaded connection with the SD card having exposed contacts.

[BCN_Sean]

A few years back I rationalised all my memory to SD cards, then use CF to SD adaptors on the cameras that don't use SD more for not doubling spend on memory cards than anything else.  Both types, always good brands, never had any temperature related issues using them in air temps of +40ºC to -20ºC, but the internal temperature in the cameras would be higher.

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi @Astro Waves and welcome to SGL. 

I am not an astro-imager at present. I have used SmartMedia, CF & SD cards in sub-zero temperatures and I have not had issues with either media to date. My cameras and media are as below...

• Olympus C2040 - SmartMedia 
• Nikon Coolpix900 - CF 
• Nikon D80 & Nikon D40x - SD 

The only issue is the batteries in sub-zero temperatures.   

Edited March 6, 2021 by Philip R

[Shimrod]

13 hours ago, Astro Waves said:

Hello,

To all the DSLR users out there I wanted to see what your thoughts were on this. 

I've been a photographer for many years and alway used CF cards for storage in camera, when shooting through out the day and sometimes night shoots and never had any problems with them what so ever but.....I've recently start shooting astro and tonight the temp dropped quite a bit and I had a problem looking back through the images on the camera which I've never once had before but I've never situated my camera to sitting in constant cold temperatures before. Although the images had trouble playing back (meaning they didn't on camera) and it couldn't read them they were all there when I went to transfer them to laptop but I don't want to risk a corrupt card when shooting a nights session and lose the data. 

Has anyone found if using SD cards are much more stable for night time shooting due to the temperature of the camera?

Cheers

 

I have a Canon 7d Mk2 which uses both CF and SD cards. I've used it for astro-imaging and also on several Icelandic trips to capture the norther lights. I've never had any problems with either card type in cold temperatures - only with reduced battery life as Philip R has said.

Given the images were OK on the card, more likely is a bit of moisture ingress on the camera has affected some of the functions. I have experienced similar with my camera (supposedly weather sealed) with erratic functionality. As long as it is not salt water (lost two cameras that way!), the camera should work fine once dried out.

[Astro Waves]

Thanks for the input form every. I'll stick with CF cards for now any way as the weather is getting better so not too worried.

 

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