SD -> compactflash adapters?

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RJVB

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  • #1
    I have a Sony A(lpha)-700 dSLR that I'm not ready to see as obsolete. But with the way prices of CompactFlash cards are evolving I thought it'd be a good idea to find and invest in an adapter. You'd think those should be easy to find because, how difficult can it be. Right... ?

    Evaluations of the very few different models on A'zon quickly painted a different picture, but I found one that claimed compatibility with my camera, had recent positive reviews (and 1 or two confirming it doesn't work with cameras that aren't listed: https://amzn.eu/d/h5su82u

    It arrived in the kind of packaging that inspires confidence, esp. since it says "Made in Taiwan".

    Except my camera threw a "card error". Testing with my trusty old multi-card reader I had to conclude the item I got is a dud: Win11 says "ding" and shows nothing, my Mac shows the card as a 2.1Mb (!) USB drive - even when no SD card is inside.

    So it's going back.

    Does anyone here know of such adapters that actually do work (and do you have any reason to believe yours is one in 20 million that works because it was touched by a moonbeam)?
     
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    Oddabe19

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  • #5
    steelghost said:
    B&H, who from what I gather are a sufficiently big name in Stateside AV / photography that you'd hope they are not selling complete dross.
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    Since I assume you don't have access to them in Great Britain (judging from your tribus), they are THE name for AV and professional equipment over here. Great reputation; quality items; really good customer service. A few years ago, they started expanding to PC parts/power supplies/cases and some other DIY stuff, which you'll see on PCPartpicker. Still probably the best site for AV stuff though, if only slightly more expensive for similar from Amazon.
     
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    iljitsch

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  • #9
    I have one of these that works that I use with a CF to PCMCIA adapter to exchange files with my old Amiga 1200. The issue is that the SD card goes in from the side so I have to pull out the CF adapter to remove the SD card, so I ordered another one where the SD card goes in from the end. But that one doesn't work.

    So it seems they CAN work but often don't. Why not simply get enough a few new CF cards? 8 GB ones seem to be around 20 euros.
     
    Andrewcw

    Andrewcw

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  • #10
    Um dumb question what sized card are you trying to use? And are you sure it is formatted FAT32.
    Being you might need something 16GB maybe 32GB SD card. Or a True Old stock of a 2GB/FAT16 card.

    Honestly i'd pick up any CF card and a proper reader. It's not like you're gaining any less steps at trying get photos off the camera.

    Like https://eu.mouser.com/ProductDetail/ATP-Electronics/AF16GCFP7-TABXX?qs=iLbezkQI%2Bsj4Qr/tPsmXDg==
    While it is 35 Euro. It hasn't exactly budged in price in the past decade. It's been this expensive because the only people really left needing it are industrial use companies.
     
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    RJVB

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  • #13
    I actually use the cards like negatives, so they get full and then I continue on a new one.

    I'm happy to report that the adapter also sold by B&H seems to work. It's all a bit delicate and I had to disable the locking tab on the SD card because it gets slid into the locked position when you insert the card. But it's now doing its job.
     
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    continuum

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  • #18
    RJVB said:
    But it appears I'm going to have to hunt down my older cards to see if there's still anything readable on them...
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    Yah good idea to check. Brand-new flash cells have a longer lifetime than used ones, but if you're going on a few years old I would definitely check.

    steelghost said:
    I mean, you certainly can kill thumbdrives and such by saving over the same file again and again. But taking a load of pictures, which are written linearly to the disk, then formatting it and starting again, is pretty "kind" to the flash. I'd imagine each card should be good for 30 wipe and re-use cycles at the very least
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    Yar... and should be a good lot more than that. I've used the same Sandisk Extreme Pro 64GB in my point and shoot for something like 8 years now and have filled-and-reformatted it probably 500 times over since then. Only in the past few months does it seem to have slowed down somewhat to the point I am considering replacing it.
     
    Andrewcw

    Andrewcw

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  • #19
    Not reusing a CF card? That's like advice "Pro" Photographers were trying to give out in the early days. Also buying smaller CF cards because of "High Failure Rates". Also that transition from SLC to MLC where one should never use a modern MLC flash memory card.
    But if you bought quality CF cards like Sandisk Extreme or maybe the Ultra line. I would take a wild stab that they'll be 10X better then any CF card made today as those should be bottom of the barrel industrial slow cards. Or still higher reliability then a SD card in a CF converter carrier.

    My only bad experience with CF or SD cards reading them with failures always had to do with the $0.99 cent adapter i bought to read them with. Yes it was less then a dollar what could go wrong ;)
     
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