The Attack of the Washing Machine
Maytag vs. Hoodman Compact Flash Card
I have read numerous times about the success of washing your Compact Flash cards and up until last weekend, I always called BS on being able to use a CF card after washing. Last weekend I left a Hoodman CF card in my jeans pocket after shooting in the studio (yes I had backed up the card before I left the studio); into the wash the jeans went. I realized what I had done when the card fell out of the pocket as I was putting them into the dryer. Following a one day air drying, into the camera she went. I hit play back and up came all of the images. I then downloaded them into LR and determined that there was no damage to the files. Even now that I know that I can do this, I don’t intent to make washing my cards a standard operation.
I started using Hoodman cards sometime ago shortly after their introduction of their 300x card. Yes, they are more expensive than SanDisk however, they are made in American and they are the only card that is tested three times before leaving the factory. According the local Hoodman representative, they have yet to record a failure, either before departing the factory or from the field. Some can argue that these cards are not as fast as the ScanDisk IV’s but I seldom find myself in a shooting situation in which I am filling up the buffer. At the end of the day, I want dependability rather than speed; of course the best of both worlds would be greatly appreciated. Bottom line, I’m a Hoodman kind of guy; too bad they never go on sale.
Cheers and happy photo’ing