CF card reader?

No-One · 24 Jul 2013 at 18:34

I've just noticed the the USB port of my 400D is getting a bit weak. The plastic bit the hold the pins is a little loose. Seems only a matter of time before it'll break but hardly something worth replacing an entire camera over. I've got a card reader built in to my HP printer but the performance is terrible, (around 500KB/sec) and it seems to struggle with cards larger than 1GB.

So I'm looking to get a card reader. Has anyone got any recommendations? Are they all generally the same these days in regards to performance? My system doesn't have USB3 so would a USB3 reader be backwards compatible with USB2?

Thanks

Oddball · 24 Jul 2013 at 19:21

I've got a lexar usb 2.0 reader, has CF and SD slots and seems much faster to me than using the usb socket on my 40D - highly recommended!

Genoma · 24 Jul 2013 at 19:32

I have the same but the USB 3.0 version. Lexar Professional 500MB/s USB 3.0 Dual Slot Reader. I would go for this, USB should be backward compatible (I'll try in a minute to make sure for you) then you have got future proofing and a great reader to boot.

Also, consider picking up a USB 3.0 PCIE card, they are cheap and mine works really well as my motherboard also doesn't provide native USB 3.0

Genoma · 24 Jul 2013 at 19:34

On that note, you will gain a great deal of speed if you go down the USB 3.0 PCI card route and USB 3.0 external HDDs. Light and day performance (I have 4 runnign off a USB 3 external Hub connected to the USB 3 PCI card)

Raymond Lin · 24 Jul 2013 at 21:10

I have a Kingston USB 3.0 reader...it is very speedy.

No-One · 24 Jul 2013 at 21:17

As long as it's not like my printer i.e. waiting over 5 mins for it to load the directory never mind transferring to pc, I'll be happy.

The Lexar USB 3.0 is £18.67 from a well known place online. Will that work for sure with USB 2 as well? (I'll also be using it with my laptop when I travel.)

Vertigo · 24 Jul 2013 at 21:41

No-One said:
As long as it's not like my printer i.e. waiting over 5 mins for it to load the directory never mind transferring to pc, I'll be happy.

The Lexar USB 3.0 is £18.67 from a well known place online. Will that work for sure with USB 2 as well? (I'll also be using it with my laptop when I travel.)

I use that reader and yes, it's fully backwards compatible with USB2.

mrk · 24 Jul 2013 at 22:58

I have Sandisk's USB3 reader and was around £15 IIRC. It's faster than a fast thing and looks cool too.