Definition: Given an Amazon customer review, write a title for the review. The preferred titles are under fifteen words.
Input: I noticed several folks that had a bad experience with CF card compatiblity, especially in terms of expected vs actual performance.  You should check out the digital storage review section on dpreview.com, where they test the raw read/write speed (using a firewire card interface), the speed in high-end digital SLR type cameras, and representative point-and-shoot digicams.<br />It turns out that some high-speed CF cards are a poor match for digicams, and will actually perform worse than ones that are appropriately speed-matched to the device.  For instance, I've had very good performance with Lexar 12x 128 MB CF cards with my Nikon Coolpix 4500.  It comes packed with an 8x Lexar 'starter' card, and test results on dpreview.com with the Coolpix 995, which is very similar bear this out.  Faster cards for that camera would be a waste of money, and might not even perform as well.<br />On the other hand, I've ordered Simpletech 512 MB cards to go with my new Canon EOS Digital Rebel SLR, because if you go to Canon's site and look at their recommended storage media, they sell Simpletech cards.  There is a definite reason for this.  If you check out dpreview.com, you will see that Simpletech, among others, scored very well when married to such 'pro-sumer' or pro digital SLR's.  The Lexar and Sandisk CFs (two very well-known brands) fared poorly, by comparison.<br />So, if your camera came with a 'starter' card, find out the speed and manufacturer of that card, and buy some more just like it, or maybe a bit faster and more than likely more storage.  If your camera didn't include a card, check out the camera maker's web site to see what they sell, or pester them to tell you what they tested the camera with.<br />Unless you have a camera that shoots RAW photos (if you don't know what that means, you don't have one, and probably don't care), then you should always shoot in JPEG Fine at the highest (or possibly 3:2) resolution.  Digital storage is cheap, and life's too short to shoot in 640x480, and wish you hadn't, the one time you want to make an 8x10 enlargement.  Once you figure out the average size of JPEG file produced for typical shots, then get a couple of like-manufactured CF cards sized for about two rolls of film (about 64 shots).  For the 4 MP Nikon Coolpix 4500, that comes to about a 128 MB card (a far cry from the 16 MB 'starter' card they include).  With one card in the camera, and a spare card in your pocket, you are set for a day's worth of shooting (unless you are a button-happy picture-shootin' maniac -- in that case, get a battery-operated USB drive with media slots, like the Xs-Drive-II to store your shots on, instead of buying a ton of CF cards).<br />I'm now back for another 512 MB card.  I've had no problems or complaints with the first one in my Digital Rebel.  I'm currently using it with a Lexar USB 2.0 Multi-Card Reader, RW018 Rev. B on an ASUS P4B533-E motherboard-based system (has six USB 2.0 ports, and two firewire).  Works like a charm, after I found out that you don't need to load the Win2K drivers supplied with the reader, if you have a recent service pack on the system.  Otherwise, the two sets of drivers clobber each other.

Please check out compatibility before buying ANY CF card