Fake Cards

[Dean Eades]

Interesting Read

Fake SanDisk Compact Flash card

[ron1863]

Interesting Dean, ebay is a treasure trove of fake gear, yet despite people complaining to ebay regarding fake gear, the dealers are still free to do so. Ebay refuse to stop this blatant trade unless you go through a complicated procedure.

[BillyPilgrim]

I wondered why he was buying a 2nd-hand 2gb card until I noticed the posting date of the article

[Jim Ford]

Beware also Amazon Sellers.

I bought a Sandisk 8Gig Extreme IV from an Amazon seller. As soon as I received it I saw that it was a fake. Sandisk technical support confirmed it.

The seller refunded all but £10 and I'm claiming that from Amazon through their Marketplace refund scheme.

Jim

[DuncanE]

Its not just these sort of sellers. The high street shops and the online equivilents can also be a victim of the dodgy cards.

We have this problem sometime in industry with electronic components. They come from reputable companies and somehow the knock-off products get supplied - though this happens rearly.

[LCPete]

Hi, I've been conned on ebay in the past as well the card was unreliable I sent it back but the replacement was the same.
I gave up and bought a couple from play.com
Bit of a shock about Amazon sellers thought they were OK, thanks for the heads up on that one
Pete

[d70mpv]

Oh yeah, been badly burnt with Ebay myself. Bought two 8GB SanDisk cards from there that turned out to be 1GB cards. Pretty easy to tell as they were both only 1GB in my 40D! They seem to work pretty well and the seller gave me full cash back and I got to keep the cards - not a risk I'd recommend taking though.

There's loads of articles on Ebay itself as to how to look for fake cards. I did a complete check of my fakes and this article was particularly useful for the extreme cards - it identified almost all of the flaws perfectly!

http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/FAKE-SanDi...00000001456526

One thing that was curious was that the card write-out speeds that I get from the generic 1GBs seem virtually the same as those from my genuine Extreme IIIs. I've heard many others say not to waste money buying the super-fast cards as the cameras can't match the speeds that they reach. Uploading them to a computer's a different matter of course . So my very-unscientific analysis would seem to suggest to not bother spending over the odds on super-fast cards - I know I'll keep on doing it though given that I don't even take my own advice half the time

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by d70mpv

Oh yeah, been badly burnt with Ebay myself. Bought two 8GB SanDisk cards from there that turned out to be 1GB cards. Pretty easy to tell as they were both only 1GB in my 40D! They seem to work pretty well and the seller gave me full cash back and I got to keep the cards - not a risk I'd recommend taking though.

There's loads of articles on Ebay itself as to how to look for fake cards. I did a complete check of my fakes and this article was particularly useful for the extreme cards - it identified almost all of the flaws perfectly!

eBay.co.uk Guides - FAKE SanDisk Extreme Compact Flash Cards Exposed

One thing that was curious was that the card write-out speeds that I get from the generic 1GBs seem virtually the same as those from my genuine Extreme IIIs. I've heard many others say not to waste money buying the super-fast cards as the cameras can't match the speeds that they reach. Uploading them to a computer's a different matter of course . So my very-unscientific analysis would seem to suggest to not bother spending over the odds on super-fast cards - I know I'll keep on doing it though given that I don't even take my own advice half the time

I think it depends on the size of images your camera takes.
I've got extreme III plus Ultras and there's a definite difference in the shooting performance between them, when shooting RAW. In my opinion the extremes are well worth the difference.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by glsammy

I think it depends on the size of images your camera takes.
I've got extreme III plus Ultras and there's a definite difference in the shooting performance between them, when shooting RAW. In my opinion the extremes are well worth the difference.

thats a good point - in addition it depends on your cameras maximum buffering/buffer clearance rate - in slower cameras like the 350/400D you wont see much difference because the camera can't write fast enough to take full advantage of the cards speed. as you move towards the pro end the advantages of fast cards become more apparent.

whether a sandisk extreme iii gives you much advantage over a simliarly fast lexar , kingston , or for that matter generic brand is another matter

tho it is worth noting that the sandisk IVs are built to a higher spec and can take a lot of abuse including dunking in salt water etc , which might matter if you do stuff like going out on RiBs to photograph diving sea birds

[d70mpv]

Interesting article done with a 40D (my body) that proves me 100% incorrect.

40D CAN take advantage of Extreme IV speed. - Photo.net Canon EOS Forum

Some guy actually took the time to put a stopwatch on the 40D writing out a full buffer to various different cards. And the Extreme IV won, though not by much. I might've somehow lucked out and got a half decent generic card...

I've not come across the write-out speed as being a big issue as I try to stop myself blazing away with the motor drive a lot and time shots a little more accurately. Doesn't always work but it's nice to know there's shots left in the buffer when a playful Badger's dancing cartwheels in front of you

Anyhow, I'm a country mile off topic and I need to find last-night's left over custard to have with a healthy slice of humble pie