Memory cards,get what you pay for or are they all the same?

I think Sandisk are a bit over-rated and the most likely to brand to be fake if you aren't careful where you buy.
I've not seen much hard evidence that any of the other actually fail more often in normal use.
- so long as they are not fakes from ebay!

Compared to buying and developing film even the priciest brand is great value now, so no need to economise.
 
So far I've had 3 cards fail, a Transcend CF, Sandisk SD and recently a Lexar Professional SD. My most used card is a Komputerbay 1000x from Amazon and so far it's been faultless and read/write speeds are excellent. I also use 3x Transcend CF, a Lexar CF, 3x Sandisk SD and an Integral SD.

I think that the brand isn't as important as where you buy it from.
 
When I recently went into my local camera shop to buy a new card, I was told that there are only a couple of manufacturers who make memory cards, they just put different labels on them. Don't know how much truth there is in that, but it wouldn't surprise me.
 
Claire said:
When I recently went into my local camera shop to buy a new card, I was told that there are only a couple of manufacturers who make memory cards, they just put different labels on them. Don't know how much truth there is in that, but it wouldn't surprise me.
Click to expand...


It's true :)
 
Big Rob said:
I'm quite new to the forum so I don't know if this topic has come up before. I have just purchased a Canon 60D and plan to do some Airshow and motorsport photography with it. Is it worth spending a bit extra and getting expensive memory cards for it,even though the frame rate is only 5 F.P.Second,or will cheap and cheerfuls not have a problem taking a couple of second burst of shots?:snaphappy:
Click to expand...

I use the cheapest ones I can get from my memory.com. They're usually Kingston or MyMemory branded and really cheap.

I shoot video on them, I shoot sports on them, I shoot events on them. They're not as fast as the ultrasuperfastSandisk cards, but there seems to be no difference other than the speed that they transfer back to the computer.

I'm quite a high volume shooter when I do events - up to 3000 shots in a long weekend potentially plus some video. And I really hammer those cheap cards for all they're worth. The only card I've ever seen fail (not mine) was a Sandisk. I have pretty much concluded that failure is pot luck and brand/speed is irrelevant in this case.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Phil V said:
Well if the first bit of that advice is as useful as the 2nd sheesh!!

You'll want fast cards if you plan to shoot video
Click to expand...

As you say, sheesh!

Video is incredibly undemanding. 6MB/s is sufficient for video unless you use ALL-I compression. Even then 20MB/s is enough.
 
Getty, AP, Reuters and AFP all tend to use Sandisk or Lexar. Make of that what you will.
 
Most of my memory cards have come from 7day shop and are either Lexar, Sandisk or Kingston. Not had one fail yet..
 
Hello everybody,

I'm hoping to get some advice regarding a good fast SD card. I got some card from Play.com about 2 years ago, they still work, but they start to split apart at the bottom, and sometime seem to have problem with recognising the lock/unlock switch.

I am look at both durability and speed. I am thinking of SanDisk Extreme Pro or Samsung Pro (which meant to be very durable).

As well as that, where would be a safe place to buy without being ripe off. Currys and PCWorld usually seem to be a bit high, while I'm don't trust buying from SD card from eBay.

Does anyone have any recommendation.

Also is class 10 the fastest SDHC?

Many thanks in advance
 
Last edited:
Your right to be wary of eBay because of the fakes. I have used Amazon for my SanDisk cards, they seem to be as competitive as any. If you stick to a major supplier or specialist in memory cards like 7day you should be safe as far as getting a genuine card is concerned.
 
Does the performance/output of a card deteriorate with use? If so, what sort of usage should be a guide to this?
 
Sandisk from MyMemory. Never from Ebay or Amazon Marketplace.
 
I think cards get slower as they fill up, but unlikely to get terrible, and probably not notice unless you burst shooting
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top