SD card brands - all the same?

[jlemire]

Are there major (or even minor) differences in the quality of SD cards? I am

about to order a K100D from Calumet and one of their packages includes a 1GB

Calumet ProSpec SD card. This package is actually the same price as the package

without it so I figured it was worth ordering anyways, but I wanted to know if I

should also order a SanDisk or other card as well? I don't want to use a low

quality SD card even if it is free if it means it will compromise images.

 

Thanks.

[ellis_vener_photography]

I have pretty much completely switched to SanDisk , but you should check the digital media

database at http://www.robgalbraith.com

[jim_doty]

I prefer SanDisk and Lexar. I've had other brands fail.

 

Jim

[mountainvisions]

The speed of the cards are the most important thing.

 

Most cards are close to the speed they list. But some companies, Lexar and Sandisk among others guarantee the minimum speeds.

 

As far as image quality, digital data is digital data. a bunch of 1's and 0's make up your image and they will look the same regardless of which card you save them too.

 

I personally have a mix of high speed cards. Sandisk, Transend and Lexar. Transend being the "off brand" is as fast as the Sandisk extreme II cards and I got it for half the price of the Sandisk ($25 vs. $50).

 

In anycase all cards of roughly equivalent speed should work roughly the same. since there are no moving parts reliability is about the same. Never had a card corrupt on me and I always format in camera before shooting.

[Jochen_S]

I haven't got much SD experience. My no-name card in the P&S recently caused one writing error after a bath in my coffee cup, but continued working after this.

 

I'd suggest to have plenty of cards and as soon one seems to cause trouble replace it with a more reliable one for important shots until you're running out of memory again. I haven't had a entire card full of finally lost pictures yet and I wouldn't blame such a thing on the card. Usually you get writing errors when there is trouble and will have a chance to recover your images later at home. Digital might change your shooting style so there will be a day when you are happy to own this free no name card you're getting.

 

I use to have trouble with my Magistor Microdrive, but it seems better to continue shooting on it, than quiting it totally when my CFs are filled. Until now I could always get my data out, besides these cases when one image gets corrupted during some writing error.

[dogbert]

I have had a Sandisk SD card fail on me. No images were recoverrable. At least Sandisk replaced the card for free.

[mawz]

No, they're not the same. But Lexar, Sandisk, ATP, Transcend and Kingston are all excellent brands that are worth buying.

 

I use cheapo KingMax's, they've always worked well for me, but they're also a little slow.

[bill_oneill]

Hmmm, most consumer type DSLR bodies (that includes all *ist Pentax bodies) do not write fast enough to be too concerned with the speed of the card. Most brands will work fine in these cameras. Besides, they are so cheap right now, just buy them and try them out. I have seen 1GB SD cards going for as little as $24 here in Canada. About the same cost as buying and processing 2 or 3 rolls of film. Cheap like borsht!

[david_acosta2]

<p>I just bought a Sandisk Extreme Pro 32 g SDXC 95MB ( I have 4 cards - two 64g & a 16g and the 32g that is defective ) 3 weeks ago on July 18th 2014. I shot a wedding that day and the card seemed normal I checked my card for lighting from time to time, long story short I uploaded the images on my MAC and didn't realize that 3 hours of shooting were missing from the start of the dress and getting ready to pass the wedding ceremony. The Sandisk card did not record the 3 hours of the wedding ( the whole wedding ceremony is gone ) so i called Sandisk for help and well the gave me a free card rescue program that didn't work ( that's it, I couldn't believe it they - India phone center could not help me in anyway, I WILL NEVER USE SANDISK EVER AGAIN, NOT ONLY DID I LOSE MONEY BUT THIS COUPLE HAS NO CEREMONY IMAGES. There was no way I could have known that the card wasn't recording, no warning, now i'm paranoid I have to upgrade my camera to a Canon with 2 slots to back up the files. SanDisk truly is just washing their hands of my problem. I will go back to Lexar and will continue to warn people about the SanDisk SDXC. I hope this helps people in making their decision in what is RELIABLE, as a wedding photographer I need my equipment to work properly.</p>