SD & CF card speeds

Hello.

 

I've been trying to descramble all the information on SD & CF card speeds and was hoping someone could link me to

a good article on the subject -- that's not two years old. Most of the information I found through Google came up a

bit short and was quite stale.

 

My immediate question is concerning a 133X 2GB SD card, which I can put in either a Canon 700IS, Panasonic TZ5,

or Ricoh GX100. Which of them actually takes advantage of the full speed?

 

Is there a database somewhere that shows the MAX card read/write speeds for all cameras?

 

Thanks,

ALF

Rob Galbraith keeps a CF / SD card performance database - this is geared more towards dSLR's but it can give you some overall idea on how a particular card performs.

 

You can find it here: http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007

I doubt there are any compact camera which can take advantage of ultra high speed memory cards. I dislike how manufactures have labeled their card with "x" speeds. Sandisk has started giving (or made it more visible) megabytes per second information on product packaging which is much more informative.

Most dSLR users don't need high speed cards. There's a small number of people who can actually take advantage of them, like professional sports and pj shooters. For everyone else, it works primarily as a way to enrich the card makers.

Jeff is correct of course, but if you want a "fast" card for the same money as a "slow" card B&H is offering a rebate from Lexar on 2, 4, and 8G cards.

 

 

BTW, I have nothing to do with B&H at all, was just passing on a good deal...

While the B&H deals are good in the context of B&H, I just bought 8gig fast cards through Amazon for the same price as 4gig cards through B&H.

Jeff, if you beat this you got a heck of a deal...

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/553941-REG/Lexar_CF4GB_300_381_4GB_UDMA_300x_CompactFlash.html

I can't use UDMA, but I buy 133x 8gig cards for around $35-40.

 

Also, I don't trust rebates. I've had rebates never show, even after calls, from Sandisk and Lexar. I buy Kingston cards now, they are almost always at the same price without needing rebates.

Similarly, I have stuck with Transcend 150x and Sandisk Extreme III cards, getting them at very good prices without

rebate nonsense. Performance has been excellent, no reliability problems, and download speed is good enough that I'm

never annoyed.

 

Very very few cameras, and all of those DSLRs, can achieve the write speed of 133x to 150x cards. Even fewer

photographers actually need it.

 

When buying SDHC cards, be sure to get Class 6 compliant cards if you need fast IO. Class 6 cards are supposed to

allow a minimum write speed that is approximately the same as a 133x high speed card.

 

Godfrey

The advantage of high-speed cards for most photographers will probably not be the high-speed writes that they can do, but

instead the very high-speed reads that they can do. Simply put, high-speed cards combined with a high-speed card reader

can cut in half the amount of time you spend waiting while you download your photographs from your card to your

computer. This can be a significant amount of time if you are using 4GB and 8GB cards and you're filling them completely

up during your shoots.