Note: Not all SDHC cards are created equal (might be obvious to some of you)...

[jeff_roetman]

Hey everyone,

 

I just wanted to share my experience with you.

 

I bought a D80 three weeks ago, and picked up a Class 6 Kingston SDHC 8GB card

with it. I paid $65 for it (I thought this was cheap compared to some of the

higher tier brands, and since it was a Class 6 like the Sandisk Extreme III

cards, I assumed that the transfer speeds would be similar).

 

I used the camera for a while, and I recently noticed that dpreview.com said

that the camera is capable of a rock solid 3 shots per second for 33 straight

seconds. My camera would not do this. It slowed down significantly after about

13 exposures.

 

I decided to try returing the card to the dealer and asked if I could try one of

the 4GB Sandisk Extreme III's. This card made ALL the difference. Now it will

shoot at 3fps for over 100 exposures.

 

Clearly, this new card has a higher write speed than the Kingston. I don't know

if it is capacity related, but I immediately bought 2 of them so I had the same

capacity as the original card. (On a side note, I paid $49 each for them, and

they each included a Micromate SD card reader. They are also eligible for a $70

total rebate in the form of a gift check to the store I bought them from. This

is a great deal, IMHO).

 

I also prefer this arrangement better, since all my photos aren't in one

"basket" if something on a card fails.

 

Just thought I would share this if you are considering less popular brand.

[john schroeder]

The best price is rarely the best value.

[oxide blu]

Jeff, thanks for the info. You are correct, nothing that I didn't already know. :) It's ok, we all experience the same learning curve. :) :) :)

 

Btw, I think you are better off with two 4gb cards than one 8gb card. Personally, I don not use anything bigger than a 2gb card because of value and vulnerability of images on the card. But then less memory per card also means more cards are necessary, and more cards means greater opportunity for one of them to get damaged or fail.

[fraczekp]

Although cheap is not always highest quality, part of the problem you are seeing is that larger cards have slower write times... It's a technology limitation...

 

Your comparison makes sense and can be easily replicated with other media not just SD cards. Recently I update a series of bootable USB flash drives for a client going from 2GB to 8GB slowing down the write time of 1GB file from 8 min to 36 min... Fun!

[jeff_roetman]

I wondered whether the size difference might be contributing, but we didn't test a Kingston 4GB card... Would have been interesting to know, though...

 

Thanks

[walterh]

Hmm I wonder how often cards really fail. I am talking about high quality cards that are well treated. Anybody have a card fail and actually loose data without overwriting or by fiddling after any problem showed up? I would expect this to be very rare for e.g. Sandisk or Lexar cards.

 

Of course in harsh environment I also would go for double safety but effects of such conditions are hard to predict.

 

Perhaps we should have a poll of card failure and number of shots without failure.

[jeff_roetman]

I actually did have a Sandisk SD card fail a while back. It was a 128MB card (pretty big for its time).

 

It wasn't being used in a camera, though - it was in a PDA.

 

Sandisk honored the lifetime warranty without issue, and sent me a new one.

[oxide blu]

Walter, I have had both a Lexar and a Sandisk card fail. The Lexar was rarely removed from the camera since downloads were done via USB. One day it just decided to quit working. The Sandisk was removed from the camera on a regular bases and like the Lexar, the Sandisk just stopped working. Two diff cards in two diff cameras, both cards failed.