Memory cards

sureshot

sureshot

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Daft question but does it make much difference which make model of card you use? more money the better it is.
 
It's has more to do with the technical specification of the card - faster write times come with a price premium (so 20x, 30x and 60x will all cost progressivly more).

A faster card will allow more shots to be taken before the camera's buffer fills up - meaning you can machine gun until your hearts content.

Arguably the more expensive cards will be better made which should give greater reliability.

Also branded cards will have better warranties than unbranded/generic/ebay cards
 
With memory cards, best to use a name you recognise.

You can buy memory cards with faster read/write times, but if you don't have a high end camera, it's not something to be too concerned about.

The market leaders are Sandisk and Lexar, but there are others to consider. If you go look at the MyMemory or the 7dayshop sites, you see most of the main card sellers.
 
i got a 7dayshop branded 32GB class 10 for only £17. it's been 3 months and still working reliably.

but im also wondering the same question, is something like Sandisk Extreme worth it?
 
sandisk SD cards are solid internally, the PCB inside fills all voids which makes them stronger, they have kids stamping on them on their website to show their druability. I have only lost one sandisk card and that is becasue the edge of the case broke worked for a ages but when someone else used the card it was broke even more and came back without the write protect tab so it was useless.

As for the speed of cards it does make a difference, my 60mb/s sandisk extreme compact flash will take 17 frames at 10 frames per second in large jpeg and raw before it starts to slow down. iw ill do some more tests later with different speeds of cards.
 
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You have to always be wary of reported write/read speeds especially on cheaper generic cards. I cannot find the link (will update if I do) but a while back I read an interesting test on a variety of cards from different manufacturers and basically the upshot was that some cards were woefully slower than claimed. If I recall the cards by the big boys Sandisk, Lexar etc all came out pretty well.
Just like internet speeds which are often way off the mark by many ISPs you should always think of the words "up to" when reading claimed figures.
 
Sandisk extreme 16gb SDHC card is usually less than £20 on amazon. reliable, fast and reasonably priced.

the 'class' system is pointless on mem cards. theres no regulators to check that the class stated meets any terms required - basically, anyone can put "class 10" on a memory card.
 
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I've got 4 16Gb CF cards and about 8 or 10 various sized Class 10 SD cards and they are all Duracell brand and they were all bought from www.7dayshop.com for very good prices. The CF cards I have timed when uploading to the computer and the upload speeds are within a couple of % either way depending on what load the computer is under. The SD cards are very good too, when I put a 16Gb Class 10 card in my 550D it managed to burst to 54 frames before the buffer was full, bearing in mind Canon say you should be able to get to the mid 30 with a Class 6 card.
 
Yep I have one of the Duracell cards among my Sandisk Xtremes and it performs every bit as well (also bought from 7dayshop).
 
I use Sandisk / Lexar cards and have been very happy with them.

I also tend to use small (ish) cards - 4 / 8GB over larger cards
 
And always use a reputable dealer, there are a lot of fakes about, especially ebay and Amazon resellers. I'd recommend Sandisk too, used them for a while and never had a problem so far.
 
I've used integral ones for years and they've been ok until recently. Just bought a load of sandisk ones as they were £12 each for 16GB and 45mbs write speed.

These ones are probably faster than either camera can write to them.
 
I use Lexar Pro range, but I was recommended to use Sandisk extreme pro when I checked on Amazon they had stopped selling them due to discrepancies reported by end users.
Seems like some clones are creeping into reputable dealers
 
I have loads of cards from all different makers in different sizes mostly CF and Sony MS..some SD as well...and only ever have one total failure which was ironically a Sandisk which should have been the best of the bunch.
 
I've been happy with transcend 133x cards, they have never let me down once.
Now that I have a new body I might go for the faster transcend cards, 400x I think they are.
 
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