Card speed and speed test for new members nad beginners

[birddog114]

I re-post the following for new members who's interesting to look at:

http://www.hjreggel.net/cardspeed/speed-tests.html

According to the test report the Transcend 45x CF is fast than the Sandisk and Lexar.

[coolpix]

Thanks birddog for the link. Interesting to see the different write speeds for the cards. My understanding is that the D70 has a slow write speed so then is card speed important?

[Glen]

Coolpix, not slow but card speeds now exceed it. Buy a good quality quick card (the difference is small) in case you want to do continuos shooting for sports, children, etc. Transcend, Astone, Lexar, Sandisk Ultra, etc

[birddog114]

Thanks birddog for the link. Interesting to see the different write speeds for the cards. My understanding is that the D70 has a slow write speed so then is card speed important?

The card used for D70 is around 45X is more fast enough! It's got the limitation!
If you have the 80x, you WON'T see the difference on the D70 but perhaps the D2h, D2x etc...

[W00DY]

In continous shooting is it also true that you will not get as mnay shots continuosly if you are shooting RAW?

For instance say I was shooting a sports event and I needed lot's of continous shots to get the best action would I be better off shooting JPEG?

Cheers,

W00DY

[birddog114]

In continous shooting is it also true that you will not get as mnay shots continuosly if you are shooting RAW?

For instance say I was shooting a sports event and I needed lot's of continous shots to get the best action would I be better off shooting JPEG?

Cheers,

W00DY

I shoot RAW in continuosly mode/ 8fps + 40frames and did not see any slow.

[ru32day]

I thought the tests showed about what you'd expect.

The Transcend 45x is faster than "standard" San Disk and Lexar cards, however the SanDisk Ultra II (which is 60X) does show up as being quicker (ie reads and writes more data per second). The interesting thing these tests showed for me was the relatively slow access time for the SanDisk Ultra card. Since the Transcend, Astone cards etc are high speed cards, comparing them to high speed rather than "standard" cards by other manufacturers is probably a more helpful comparison point (although comparison against these other "standard" cards is fairer from a "bang for equal buck" point of view).

Re Lexar cards, it is likely that, if tested, there would be little difference between the Transcend and the Lexar Pro 40X, but the Lexar Pro 80X would be quicker.

In my own "real world use" tests, although the SanDisk Ultra IIs and Extremes are definitely quicker than the Transcend (I think this is the same card as the AStone that I tested, by a different name, but could be wrong), but the difference is so slight that it is insufficient to make any appreciable difference in real world use. I agree that you see little speed gain for the extra $s in buying a 60x over a 45x card for use with the D70 and I'd say no benefit in buying 80x over 60x.

I'd also be interested to know how long other users have used the Transcend, AStone etc cards and their potential failure rate. Birddog has probably used them the most and he still recommends them, so I've just accepted his word that they must be OK. Isn't it nice to have people in the forum whose word you can trust - just like the salesman at your friendly local camera store (not).

[W00DY]

I shoot RAW in continuosly mode/ 8fps + 40frames and did not see any slow.

Sorry, so is this what you would also get shooting JPEG?

[Glen]

Woody, jpg is smaller so yes the buffer can fit a few more in. Numbers are in manual. Not sure of write speed to card though. It is the af and shutter speed which often becomes the limitation, eg dont use 1/2 sec shutterspeed and hope for 3 fps.

Further to my above comments, one doesn't need to buy the fastest card, just one above 40-45X. What I meant is don't buy a std Kodak or Officeworks card to save $20

[stubbsy]

I have too much money & not enough sense so I have nothing but Lexar 80x. Shooting in continuous mode there is a perceptable slowdown once the D70 starts to write to the card, but the write speed remains constant after that and it's bloody fast - I'm happy.

Edit: I shoot Raw

I'm thinking for us 45x and over should meet our speed need.

Come to think of it I don't have enough money. Oh the lens Lust....

[W00DY]

Woody, jpg is smaller so yes the buffer can fit a few more in. Numbers are in manual. Not sure of write speed to card though. It is the af and shutter speed which often becomes the limitation, eg dont use 1/2 sec shutterspeed and hope for 3 fps.

Further to my above comments, one doesn't need to buy the fastest card, just one above 40-45X. What I meant is don't buy a std Kodak or Officeworks card to save $20

Thanks.

[robw25]

Oh the lens Lust


Stubbsy go lay down for awhile and think of .... a 200-400vr mmmmm

[skyva]

On a related topic, it seems that card speed, file size and file type are all factors affecting fps and buffer clearance. It seems obvious that a smaller file (jpeg fine large) will be quicker to write to the card than a raw file. However, I have also heard people say that raw is quicker because jpeg requires post processing. That is, the camera has to do a lot of work to the data when making a jpeg before it can even put the data into the queue to be loaded onto the card. From memory it adjusts certain aspects (sharpening, colour saturation etc) before then compressing the data, into another file. Does anyone know whether this affects the fps issue or not?
Sorry if this is a little of-topic but it seems that it may be less important to get a fast writing card if you shoot jpegs and the real bottlemeck is the on camera processing of the data. Faster cards will not noticeably increase fps in such a case. If the post processing is virtually instantaneous then card speed may be more sigificant in shooting raw.
Hope I havent' confused the issue. I think I may have confused myself.

[ru32day]

Sorry, I should have qualified my post - my tests were shooting in RAW in continuous mode and relate to enforced wait between each shot after the buffer is full - wait is very short (I'd estimate less than a second, but didn't actually time it) with Astone 45x and a tiny tiny bit shorter with Sandisk Ultra II or Extreme

[Raydar]

I re-post the following for new members who's interesting to look at:

http://www.hjreggel.net/cardspeed/speed-tests.html

According to the test report the Transcend 45x CF is fast than the Sandisk and Lexar.

This would be true mate.

My Transcend seams quicker than the Sandisk I’ve noticed in the time I have been using them

Cheers
Ray

[MattC]

I shoot RAW in continuosly mode/ 8fps + 40frames and did not see any slow.

Definitely not with a d70!
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About that test:

While very interesting, the test results on that page are for various cards and readers. To make a comparison of real world d70 performance based on these results would be at best flawed. As far as performance of those cards in a d70 goes, best bet is to look here. Those test results would be best used as a comparison of card readers for the card of ones choice for their d70.

While the recomendation that a 45x card (Transcend 45x delivers ~78% of the performance of the fastest cards) will deliver adequate performance is quite right, to get the very best from the d70, faster cards are required. The fact is, is that the d70 writes at closer to the performance of a 60x card than it does to a 45x. This may be a consideration for continuous shooting. Even my 1GB IBM Microdrive performs adequately for most use but once the buffer is full there is about an 8s wait for it to clear.
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Woody,

Here is a summary of what to expect from the d70 using a 2GB Ultra 2:

RAW 2.9fps for first 4 shots then 1.0 fps continuous.
Large/JPEG Fine 2.9fps for first 12 shots, 2.4fps for next 8 shots, then 2.2fps continuous.
Large/JPEG Norm 2.9fps for first 14 shots, then 2.4fps continuous.
Large/JPEG Basic 2.9fps for first 15 shots, then 2.5fps continuous.

These numbers came from the d70 review at dpreview
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I use the Sandisk Ultra 2 cards for 2 reasons. Performance, and warranty. The reason why I chose this card over the Lexars is the warranty and price. The Sandisk has a lifetime warranty - the Lexar a 5 year warranty plus the Lexar was considerably more expensive at the time of my purchase.

A note about those 80x Lexar cards. These cards are write accelerated (WA) cards. To get the full 80x they need to be used in hardware supporting WA. The d70 does not support WA. Looks good to have 80x printed on the card for the "wow" factor, but is otherwise a useless feature unless there is a plan to upgrade to a D2X which does support WA. The speed of the Lexar 80x is about the same as the Ultra2 when used in the d70.

Cheers

Matt

[birddog114]

Matt,
1/8fps and 40frame is the D2h, D70 is not go far like that, only 1/3.

2/ Lifetime warranty or 5 years warranty is not too worry about.
5 years down the track, perhaps 45x or 60x (Sandisk Ultra II) is not useable or slowwwwwwwwwww in the new Dxxxxxx.
So with me everything from 2 - 5 years is enough.

3/ Totally agreed! 80x card in the D70 is similar of: you have the big Grunt V8 engine into the toyota Echo 1.3/ or modified a bicycle with an engine of Yamaha 200cc/ Not help at all, just a marketing type

4/ I have and use the Transcend or Astone cos they're so cheap in comparison with Lexar or Sandisk Ultra II, but they do the same job and I don't have to wait on my D2h and D70, tiny tiny waiting on the D100.
If you're compare the price on the real market, Lexar or Sandisk Ultra II nearly double the price ant those brands never give me any problem in the past.

5/ For all the test, I used as my reference, but never take it as an important point to select. Everyones has a difference test, can't tell:
they're wrong or right.

[MattC]

Birddog,

I figured you were using the D2H.

Quite right about the warranty, but I am fairly sure that at the time I bought my Sandisk cards, Lexar was only offering a 12 month warranty. That is a big difference, and to be honest I look at warranties these days - I am sick of electronics packing it in just out of warranty.

The 1GB Ultra 2 cards have dropped substantially in price in recent times. They can be had for as little as US$90 - less than AU$150 including freight. These cards are really for those who want the very best performance that their d70 is capable of.

As far as tests go, I think that the only way to test a card is to put into the camera and test it there. Some cards do very well in a reader, but not so well in the camera. Personally I do not care how fast or slow a card is in a reader.

Cheers

Matt

[MattC]

And BTW, as you mentioned, card test are really only guide. The same cards from different batches can perform quite differently.

Cheers

Matt