Memory cards

[gazzag]

Any "pearls of wisdom" regarding different brands and different specifications of memory cards? Or is this, for the beginner photographer, just another area where it will be really difficult to see the difference from one to another?

Gary

 

[WozzaTT]

Any "pearls of wisdom" regarding different brands and different specifications of memory cards? Or is this, for the beginner photographer, just another area where it will be really difficult to see the difference from one to another?

Gary

I think because they're digital, in terms of quality they're all exactly the same. The only difference you'll see is in terms of how fast they perform when taking shots, and the amount of memory of course. For shooting movies you would need a fast card.

I think you can't go wrong with SanDisk or Kingston.

How are you finding the 500D? I got myself one on New Year's Eve but have hardly used it so far due to work and generally apathy etc. Must try harder!

 

[gazzag]

The 500D - it's great, but, to be honest, I probably would have said that about any DSLR. Results are far superior to anything that I achieved with a compact digital - although, to be fair, i never paid any attention to the settings on that.

I wanted the video capability as a "nice to have" rather than essential and I'm happy with that for just capturing short clips of my four year old lad, James, and his antics.

Realised very early on that I need to spend some time on my own to experiment but that's difficult. Will keep persevering because I'm certainly enjoying the new hobby.

 

[Kaouthia]

Sandisk all the way for me. I've been using Sandisk memory cards ever since I got the D100 and have never had a single issue with them. Just make sure you're buying genuine ones and not one of the many fakes that float around eBay at bargain prices.

There's another post on here at the moment about memory cards, but some people report having issues with Kingston.

I do use a 16Gb "Integral" SDHC card for recording video in my D300s alongside an 8Gig Sandisk 60MB/sec Extreme CompactFlash, which I use for stills. No problems with it so far, but only time will tell.

I needed a 16Gb or larger SDHC card for recording video, and the Sandisk offerings were just too expensive to justify the purchase. Once the prices on the larger SDHC cards drop, it'll definitely be getting replaced by a Sandisk.

There are sites out there that also review different makes and models of memory cards when used with different bodies. This was why I went with the 60MB/sec extremes for the D300s, even though it writes out at about 30MB/sec (which is what my Extreme III cards claim to handle).

In reality, the Extreme III in the D300s writes out at around 20-22MB/sec, which means it takes longer for the camera's buffer to clear. So, I use the Extreme III cards in my D200 now, and bought new ones for the D300s.

Depending on how often you max out your camera's buffer though, and how quickly you need it to recover, the speed may not be an issue, and you can go for slower cards. But, Sandisk definitely gets the #1 spot for reliability in my opinion.

 

[fezzr]

Have a read here.
The key thing people often forget is the speed of the camera. There is no point buying a 6000mb/s card if your camera can only handle 60mb/s.

 

[Kaouthia]

Have a read here.
The key thing people often forget is the speed of the camera. There is no point buying a 6000mb/s card if your camera can only handle 60mb/s.

There is and there isn't. Like I said, the D300s does 30MB/sec. The Extreme III cards claim 30MB/sec, but in the D300s body they only do 20MB/sec, so it was worth going for the 60MB/sec card.

But yes, once you've got a card that'll read/write the max speed of your camera, there's only 2 advantages of getting a faster card.

Transfer speed to the PC, although again limited to the speed of the camera if that's what you use as your USB card reader, and possible future proofing against any faster body you may eventually buy.

 

[andyred]

Personally, I'd recommend Sandisk cards

 

[gazzag]

Thanks guys.

So now I trying to find the speed of my Canon 500D. Had a good look through the manual, and can't find it. (Probably there somewhere!).

It does mention using at least Speed Class 6 for video, but no mention of camera speed. Can anyone help?

 

[Little John]

I think I read in the manual that the 500D has a limit of 4GB per video file so that is one thing to remember. Im thinking of buying another 2 4GB cards and am looking at the class 10 sandisk extreeme cards from 7 day shop about £18 each. I already have 2 4GB class 6 cards none sandisk and they seem ok but after about 4 raw shots the thing is chaseing its tail. If it still does then I guess its the camera and not the cards I am useing.

 

[Kaouthia]

It does mention using at least Speed Class 6 for video, but no mention of camera speed. Can anyone help?

Ooooh, "Speed Class 6" is an SDHC term. I didn't realise the 500D was a SD/SDHC camera. SDHC is generally pretty slow when compared to CompactFlash, Class 6 being 6MB/sec.

Have a look at this page on wikipedia for a bit more information on memory speeds. Class 6 is generally about the cheapest as it's the most commonly used/sold out there. There are faster available (assuming your camera can make use of faster speeds), but you can pay a large premium for them.

I think I read in the manual that the 500D has a limit of 4GB per video file so that is one thing to remember.

That's a limit of the Fat32 file system often used by cameras & computers when using memory cards (basically because a lot of the cameras out there don't support NTFS that can break this 4GB barrier).

Also, just because it has a 4Gb limit for a single file does not mean that it's a 4Gb limit on the total memory card size. Assuming the body supports it, you could put a 32Gb card in there and have 8 4Gb video files.

 

[Little John]

Yeah I know about using larger cards I just prefer 4GB cards 120 images is sort of ok to loose the number of people who come to me with a knackered memory card and wanting data recovery of their holiday photos and some other event is crazy I never understand the not transfering and clearing the card everytime you use it. I also never fill a memory card I change cards when I get to about 100mb remaining.

But it hadn't crossed my mind that it would be the fat32 factor giving the file size limit since I now always use NTFS it isn't an issue.

 

[Kaouthia]

the number of people who come to me with a knackered memory card and wanting data recovery of their holiday photos and some other event is crazy

That's because most people buy unreliable crap, and just assume that all cards are created (you're only paying for the name, didn't you know?). Personally, I'd definitely trust a genuine Sandisk 64Gb CompactFlash over a generic unknown brand 1Gb card.

I never understand the not transfering and clearing the card everytime you use it. I also never fill a memory card I change cards when I get to about 100mb remaining.

Yeah, my mum does that, she's just about learned to back the images up and then wipe the card each time she uses it.

I wipe my cards before every shoot.

 

[Little John]

The last one I had was a sandisk SD card, the girl forgot her camera before going on holiday so bought a new one at the airport and picked up a memory card as well at dixons duty free, got home and couldnt transfer the images off could view them on the camera but not get them off. I got them all but 2 and the card was returned for a replacement. They also had 2 holidays and 3 nights out on that card so I educated them in how they should be doing things in the future.

 

[Kaouthia]

If she could view them on the camera, why could she not hook the camera up to the PC via USB and transfer them over that way?

I'm guessing she just put it in and started snapping away? Didn't format it beforehand?

 

[andyred]

Thanks guys.

So now I trying to find the speed of my Canon 500D. Had a good look through the manual, and can't find it. (Probably there somewhere!).

It does mention using at least Speed Class 6 for video, but no mention of camera speed. Can anyone help?

This might help with the speed rating of the card

http://www.sdcard.org/developers/tech/sdhc/

If you look on a lot of the newer SDHC card it normally states the class on them http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-Ext...7?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1264345049&sr=8-7

Hope this helps