coolpix 5700 and speed of writing to cf card

Richard Tomkins wrote:
Found it, here are the actual test results I posted last week.I sat
down with my three Compact Flash cards and did some basic timing with
a watch with a seconds hand. This, compared to my previous post,
where I had been estimating time.

Here are my findings.

Shooting at full resoluiton in RAW NEF mode, camera is setup for USB
transfers and I format the card before running the test.

E5700 Firmware version 1.1

Shika Flash Turbo 256MB
format card by camera
1 picture takes about 45 seconds to store and then release the camera.
3 pictures taken sequentially, the camera is released for another
pricture at 48 seconds, and a complete release of the camera at 2
minutes, 12 seconds.

SanDisk 256MB
format card by camera
1 picture takes about 30 seconds to store and then release the camera.
3 pictures taken sequentially, the camera is released for another
pricture at 34 seconds, and a complete release of the camera at 1
minute, 26 seconds.

NIKON SanDisk 32MB
format card by camera
1 picture takes about 25 seconds to store and then release the camera.
format card by camera
3 pictures taken sequentially, the camera is released for another
pricture at 25 seconds, and a complete release of the camera at 1
minute, 6 seconds.

My conclusions from this test is that there is a distinct measurable
difference between the storage times of the three cards that I have
and thier interoperation with the NIKON 5700. I further conclude that
I was misled by the verbage on the Shika card, believing it to be
faster and thus shooting with it most of hte time when I should have
been using the SanDisk.

Couple this information wiht that from others and it would seem that
the camera does react to Compact Flash card speed, but as to how much
is not known. NIKON are definately not passing on complete or
accurate information about this camera and the Compact Flash cards.
The 8700 is a CoolPIX and if it does support the Lexar WA, then the
NIKON statement that CoolPIX do not is bogus.

Now on to another question, what settings in the camera could possibly
influence the storage times. I did my tests with my camera set to
User Mode C1, which I have some typical things predefined, possibly
these setting are causing the DSP inside to work on the data before
it gets stored or what?

rtt

Thank you for your efforts. It'll take some digesting, but I'm usre that
is useful information.

Couple days ago I did a little experimenting, too. See if I can make
this simple and significant:

I set up my 5700 on a tripod, filled the monitor with a view of a CRT
showing the Windows Time/Date adjustment facility, so the photograph
would include a record, and I could see what was happening in real—and
verifiable, if needed—time.

Camera saw everything at 1/15 second, f2.8, same view for every
exposure.

RAW, full-size exposures after format of a CF card in camera.

I waited until the on-screen digital counter said xx:00 or xx:30,
depending on how long it took me to record data and reformat the card
between shots. As soon as the 00 or 30 digits appeared I pushed the
shutter release button. The effect of this was that the camera monitor
screen went blank at :01 or :31, very consistently.

The camera monitor and the CRT were in a sight line, so I could look at
the time and still see when the camera recovered a view (screen
un-blanked). I recorded that interval for the first few trials, but
ceased when it seemed clear the time was the same independent of card
type or speed: 8 (eight seconds, approx.).

Once the camera monitor acquired a view, I watched the little recording
symbol until it disappeared, and recorded the time I saw on the CRT time
display.

Re-format the CF card, repeat the exposure, three exposures per card,
change cards, repeat for each card. Actually I had to repeat a repeat or
three, as I nodded off and failed to note the time on a few trials.
(more seniorness)

These are the cards I used, and their sources:
Viking 512MB, two years old, no speed marked on card, Amazon.com
SanDisk 512MB #1 plain, one month old, Costco
SanDisk 512MB #2 plain, one month old, Costco
San Disk 512MB Ultra II, two weeks old, Costco
Lexar 512MB 40X #1, eight months old, disremembered online source
Lexar 512MB 40X #2, two months old, BandH
Lexar 1GB 80X, less than a week old, Adorama

These are the times I recorded as elapsed between button-push and
symbol-gone. I chose the mode if times were not identical; otherwise,
they were consistent (identical) among trials.

CP5700 and
Viking 512MB 83 seconds
SanDisk Plain #1 32 seconds
SanDisk Plain #2 39 seconds
SanDisk Ultra II 22 seconds
Lexar 40X #1 25 seconds
Lexar 40X #2 20 seconds
Lexar 80X 22 seconds


Then, with absolutely the same setup, I used the 8MP, ISO 50

CP8700 and
Viking 512MB 23 seconds*
SanDisk Plain #1 16 seconds
SanDisk Plain #2 17 seconds
SanDisk Ultra II 16 seconds
Lexar 40X #1 18 seconds
Lexar 40X #2 16 seconds
Lexar 80X 16 seconds

I take this to mean that identically inscribed cards (two SanDisk
Plains; two Lexar 40Xs) can be as different one to the other as the
differences between comparable but differently branded cards in these
cameras; cards perfomed fairly consistently relative to each other, in
two different but similar cameras; the remarkable differences are
attributable to the camera; the camera can drag a mediocre performer to
the level of much more expensive cards (SanDisk Plains' latencies went
from 32-39 to 16-17 seconds, an improvement of 200-240%, Viking improved
by 360%, and the others were better by 125-140%, camera-to-camera).

* First trial with the Viking card in the CP8700 was a mind-blower: it
lost the view at shutter-release, reacquired it with the writing symbol
on screen, and as near as I could tell, was still writing at five
minutes! Then eight minutes. At ten minutes I started pushing buttons,
but everything was frozen. I had to remove and reinsert the battery tray
to make it come alive again. Reformatted the Viking card (again) and the
rest of the trials went as expected, but quite a bit faster.


This morning I sat in the waiting room while my car was serviced, and
did this:

CP8700, 1GB 80X Lexar CF card, ISO 50, 1/125, f7.2, camera propped up
and as little disturbed as I could manage, framed a glass doorway with
New Car displayed beyond,

I took one dozen RAW photos, releasing the shutter as quickly as the
camera would allow. I counted down between screen blank and view
recovery (about 8 seconds) and looking at EXIF info for actual
button-push times.

The camera would accept a new photo (shutter release) as soon as the
view was reacquired, for the first four photos, even though the writing
symbol was displayed. After that, the hourglass buffer-full symbol would
display for increasing amounts of time, but never exceeded sixteen
seconds after view reacquisition.

After the twelfth shutter release, I let it close itself out, and it
wrote for about 24 seconds.

I take this to mean the CP8700 writes to the 80X Lexar card at 16
seconds per 12,374KB RAW image, and that a user can depend on the camera
to allow about four exposures per minute as long as battery and memory
hold out. Does that sound right?

--
Frank ess

Richard Tomkins wrote:
Found it, here are the actual test results I posted last week.I sat
down with my three Compact Flash cards and did some basic timing with
a watch with a seconds hand. This, compared to my previous post,
where I had been estimating time.

Here are my findings.

Shooting at full resoluiton in RAW NEF mode, camera is setup for USB
transfers and I format the card before running the test.

E5700 Firmware version 1.1

Shika Flash Turbo 256MB
format card by camera
1 picture takes about 45 seconds to store and then release the camera.
3 pictures taken sequentially, the camera is released for another
pricture at 48 seconds, and a complete release of the camera at 2
minutes, 12 seconds.

SanDisk 256MB
format card by camera
1 picture takes about 30 seconds to store and then release the camera.
3 pictures taken sequentially, the camera is released for another
pricture at 34 seconds, and a complete release of the camera at 1
minute, 26 seconds.

NIKON SanDisk 32MB
format card by camera
1 picture takes about 25 seconds to store and then release the camera.
format card by camera
3 pictures taken sequentially, the camera is released for another
pricture at 25 seconds, and a complete release of the camera at 1
minute, 6 seconds.

My conclusions from this test is that there is a distinct measurable
difference between the storage times of the three cards that I have
and thier interoperation with the NIKON 5700. I further conclude that
I was misled by the verbage on the Shika card, believing it to be
faster and thus shooting with it most of hte time when I should have
been using the SanDisk.

Couple this information wiht that from others and it would seem that
the camera does react to Compact Flash card speed, but as to how much
is not known. NIKON are definately not passing on complete or
accurate information about this camera and the Compact Flash cards.
The 8700 is a CoolPIX and if it does support the Lexar WA, then the
NIKON statement that CoolPIX do not is bogus.

Now on to another question, what settings in the camera could possibly
influence the storage times. I did my tests with my camera set to
User Mode C1, which I have some typical things predefined, possibly
these setting are causing the DSP inside to work on the data before
it gets stored or what?

rtt

Thank you for your efforts. It'll take some digesting, but I'm usre that
is useful information.

Couple days ago I did a little experimenting, too. See if I can make
this simple and significant:

I set up my 5700 on a tripod, filled the monitor with a view of a CRT
showing the Windows Time/Date adjustment facility, so the photograph
would include a record, and I could see what was happening in real—and
verifiable, if needed—time.

Camera saw everything at 1/15 second, f2.8, same view for every
exposure.

RAW, full-size exposures after format of a CF card in camera.

I waited until the on-screen digital counter said xx:00 or xx:30,
depending on how long it took me to record data and reformat the card
between shots. As soon as the 00 or 30 digits appeared I pushed the
shutter release button. The effect of this was that the camera monitor
screen went blank at :01 or :31, very consistently.

The camera monitor and the CRT were in a sight line, so I could look at
the time and still see when the camera recovered a view (screen
un-blanked). I recorded that interval for the first few trials, but
ceased when it seemed clear the time was the same independent of card
type or speed: 8 (eight seconds, approx.).

Once the camera monitor acquired a view, I watched the little recording
symbol until it disappeared, and recorded the time I saw on the CRT time
display.

Re-format the CF card, repeat the exposure, three exposures per card,
change cards, repeat for each card. Actually I had to repeat a repeat or
three, as I nodded off and failed to note the time on a few trials.
(more seniorness)

These are the cards I used, and their sources:
Viking 512MB, two years old, no speed marked on card, Amazon.com
SanDisk 512MB #1 plain, one month old, Costco
SanDisk 512MB #2 plain, one month old, Costco
San Disk 512MB Ultra II, two weeks old, Costco
Lexar 512MB 40X #1, eight months old, disremembered online source
Lexar 512MB 40X #2, two months old, BandH
Lexar 1GB 80X, less than a week old, Adorama

These are the times I recorded as elapsed between button-push and
symbol-gone. I chose the mode if times were not identical; otherwise,
they were consistent (identical) among trials.

CP5700 and
Viking 512MB 83 seconds
SanDisk Plain #1 32 seconds
SanDisk Plain #2 39 seconds
SanDisk Ultra II 22 seconds
Lexar 40X #1 25 seconds
Lexar 40X #2 20 seconds
Lexar 80X 22 seconds


Then, with absolutely the same setup, I used the 8MP, ISO 50

CP8700 and
Viking 512MB 23 seconds*
SanDisk Plain #1 16 seconds
SanDisk Plain #2 17 seconds
SanDisk Ultra II 16 seconds
Lexar 40X #1 18 seconds
Lexar 40X #2 16 seconds
Lexar 80X 16 seconds

I take this to mean that identically inscribed cards (two SanDisk
Plains; two Lexar 40Xs) can be as different one to the other as the
differences between comparable but differently branded cards in these
cameras; cards perfomed fairly consistently relative to each other, in
two different but similar cameras; the remarkable differences are
attributable to the camera; the camera can drag a mediocre performer to
the level of much more expensive cards (SanDisk Plains' latencies went
from 32-39 to 16-17 seconds, an improvement of 200-240%, Viking improved
by 360%, and the others were better by 125-140%, camera-to-camera).

* First trial with the Viking card in the CP8700 was a mind-blower: it
lost the view at shutter-release, reacquired it with the writing symbol
on screen, and as near as I could tell, was still writing at five
minutes! Then eight minutes. At ten minutes I started pushing buttons,
but everything was frozen. I had to remove and reinsert the battery tray
to make it come alive again. Reformatted the Viking card (again) and the
rest of the trials went as expected, but quite a bit faster.


This morning I sat in the waiting room while my car was serviced, and
did this:

CP8700, 1GB 80X Lexar CF card, ISO 50, 1/125, f7.2, camera propped up
and as little disturbed as I could manage, framed a glass doorway with
New Car displayed beyond,

I took one dozen RAW photos, releasing the shutter as quickly as the
camera would allow. I counted down between screen blank and view
recovery (about 8 seconds) and looking at EXIF info for actual
button-push times.

The camera would accept a new photo (shutter release) as soon as the
view was reacquired, for the first four photos, even though the writing
symbol was displayed. After that, the hourglass buffer-full symbol would
display for increasing amounts of time, but never exceeded sixteen
seconds after view reacquisition.

After the twelfth shutter release, I let it close itself out, and it
wrote for about 24 seconds.

I take this to mean the CP8700 writes to the 80X Lexar card at 16
seconds per 12,374KB RAW image, and that a user can depend on the camera
to allow about four exposures per minute as long as battery and memory
hold out. Does that sound right?

--
Frank ess

JS wrote:

Hi,

I have a coolpix 5700 that I'm reasonably happy with, but lately I've
been more and more annoyed at the time it takes to write the raw photo
to the compact flash card. I realize I'm writing almost 7 megs worth
of data, but it's taking what feels like a minute per shot (probably
closer to 30 seconds, I'll admit I haven't timed it). I can also only
take about 3 raw photos before I have to wait a few minutes for the
camera to write its buffer to the card.

Is this normal?

I've seen the ads for the high speed cards, 45x!, 32x!, super fast!,
yadda, yadda, yadda, but do the really work? Will the 5700 actually
write the picture to the card faster on these cards? Is this just
marketing? Or do only the newer cameras take advantage of the high
speed cards? I've been lusting after the 8 megapixel models like the
8700, the digital rebel, and the pentax (I forget the model), so I'm
curious if this is an even worse problem on the bigger data files.

Thanks for any suggestions.

I extensively researched this a while back.
10-12x is about all the faster the 5700 can write.
The WA stuff is not used in this camera.
Buy the best 12x cards or thereaouts you can, and save your cash for going
places to take photos.

RSP