SD card speed, how fast can my camera write?

My camera is incredibly slow at writing RAW files - 6 to 7 seconds at my
count. Generally, for the sort of shots I take this isn't too much of a
problem, but there are times when I may want/need to get shots more
quickly - an unexpected development in the scene I don't want to miss,
for example.

I'm currently using SanDisk Ultra II cards. How much faster are the
fastest cards? Will all cameras write as fast as the card can handle or
are there cameras that can't keep up with current cards capability?

If I can shave a couple of seconds off the save time or even 50% I'd be
much happier.

I look forward to your comments.

--
Justin C, by the sea.

In article (Justin C) writes:
$I'm currently using SanDisk Ultra II cards. How much faster are the
$fastest cards? Will all cameras write as fast as the card can handle or
$are there cameras that can't keep up with current cards capability?

You're on the right track with your last question. It's not just
the card; it's the combination of card and camera. You didn't mention
what camera you have so nobody can tell you whether your specific
camera will benefit from a faster card and, if so, by how much.

According to Sandisk's Web site, the Extreme III SD cards are
about twice as fast as the Ultra II SD cards. So there's a definite
speed improvement possible -- if your camera can keep up, which is a
big if.

If your camera is listed in Rob Galbraith's database (go to
http://www.robgalbraith.com/ and click on the CF/SD link near the
top left), you'll probably find useful information there as to
whether a faster card will help. Looking at the camera I have
(which uses CF, not SD, so it's obviously not the same camera you
have), Ultra II, Extreme III, and Extreme IV are all within a
few percent of each other, so even though Sandisk claims each
generation is about twice the speed of the previous generation,
my camera simply can't take advantage of the extra speed.
--
Stephen M. Dunn
---------------- http://www.stevedunn.ca/ ----------------
------------------------------------------------------------------
Say hi to my cat -- http://www.stevedunn.ca/photos/toby/

Stephen M. Dunn wrote:

In article
(Justin C) writes:
$I'm currently using SanDisk Ultra II cards. How much faster are the
$fastest cards? Will all cameras write as fast as the card can handle or
$are there cameras that can't keep up with current cards capability?

You're on the right track with your last question. It's not just
the card; it's the combination of card and camera. You didn't mention
what camera you have so nobody can tell you whether your specific
camera will benefit from a faster card and, if so, by how much.

According to Sandisk's Web site, the Extreme III SD cards are
about twice as fast as the Ultra II SD cards. So there's a definite
speed improvement possible -- if your camera can keep up, which is a
big if.

If your camera is listed in Rob Galbraith's database (go to
http://www.robgalbraith.com/ and click on the CF/SD link near the
top left),

Mine's not there. It's a Leica Digilux 2. I've just Googled some more
and found someone on a Leica forum posting on the same subject. One
reply he received suggests that the Leica was designed for write speeds
of not more than 66x... which is the speed of the Ultra II.

Looks like I'll not be improving the write speed then.

Thanks for the reply.
--
Justin C, by the sea.

On Sun, 14 Jan 2007 00:56:13 +0000, Justin C wrote:

If your camera is listed in Rob Galbraith's database (go to
http://www.robgalbraith.com/ and click on the CF/SD link near the
top left),

Mine's not there. It's a Leica Digilux 2. I've just Googled some more
and found someone on a Leica forum posting on the same subject. One
reply he received suggests that the Leica was designed for write speeds
of not more than 66x... which is the speed of the Ultra II.

Dpreview tested the Digilux 2 using the supplied 64MB Leica SD
card and a Sandisk Ultra II. Leica's card was abysmally slow (7
seconds to write a JPG file, 18 seconds for RAW). A 512MB Ultra II
was 3 times faster (1,600KB/sec vs. 570KB/sec), which indicates that
the Digilux 2 can't take full advantage of the Ultra II's speed.
IIRC, a 1x card has a speed of 150KB/sec, so Leica's card would be a
bit slower than 4x, and using the Ultra II card, the write speed was
found to be between 10x and 11x. While the performance would be
just as good using a much slower card, the Ultra II's price is
reasonable, and probably allows for much faster transfer of files to
the computer via the Digilux's USB 2.0 High Speed port. Same thing
if you use a High Speed card reader instead.

Justin C wrote:
My camera is incredibly slow at writing RAW files - 6 to 7 seconds at my
count. Generally, for the sort of shots I take this isn't too much of a
problem, but there are times when I may want/need to get shots more
quickly - an unexpected development in the scene I don't want to miss,
for example.

I'm currently using SanDisk Ultra II cards. How much faster are the
fastest cards? Will all cameras write as fast as the card can handle or
are there cameras that can't keep up with current cards capability?

If I can shave a couple of seconds off the save time or even 50% I'd be
much happier.

I look forward to your comments.


There are two factors to consider.
1. The write speed of the card.
2. The write speed of the camera.

If it takes 6-7 seconds to write a raw file to a SanDisk Ultra II card,
it is likely the holdup is NOT the card. The SanDisk Ultra II card
should be able to write a RAW file in less than a second.
Unfortunately camera companies don't usually publish their write speed
specs.

Ron Hunter wrote:

Justin C wrote:
My camera is incredibly slow at writing RAW files - 6 to 7 seconds at my
count. Generally, for the sort of shots I take this isn't too much of a
problem, but there are times when I may want/need to get shots more
quickly - an unexpected development in the scene I don't want to miss,
for example.

I'm currently using SanDisk Ultra II cards. How much faster are the
fastest cards? Will all cameras write as fast as the card can handle or
are there cameras that can't keep up with current cards capability?

If I can shave a couple of seconds off the save time or even 50% I'd be
much happier.

I look forward to your comments.


There are two factors to consider.
1. The write speed of the card.
2. The write speed of the camera.

If it takes 6-7 seconds to write a raw file to a SanDisk Ultra II card,
it is likely the holdup is NOT the card. The SanDisk Ultra II card
should be able to write a RAW file in less than a second.
Unfortunately camera companies don't usually publish their write speed
specs.

It looks like I'm going to have to be more careful when I press that
shutter. Be certain it is the "decisive moment".

Thanks for your comments; the same/similar has been hinted at by others.
I'm disappointed but it's not enough to persuade me I need to replace
the camera.
--
Justin C, by the sea.

Justin C wrote:
My camera is incredibly slow at writing RAW files - 6 to 7 seconds at my
count. Generally, for the sort of shots I take this isn't too much of a
problem, but there are times when I may want/need to get shots more
quickly - an unexpected development in the scene I don't want to miss,
for example.

I'm currently using SanDisk Ultra II cards. How much faster are the
fastest cards? Will all cameras write as fast as the card can handle or
are there cameras that can't keep up with current cards capability?

If I can shave a couple of seconds off the save time or even 50% I'd be
much happier.

I look forward to your comments.

--
Justin C, by the sea.

Cameras are limited in both their buffer and transfer speeds. I bought
a 150x SD card for my Nikon, which didn't improve much on the camera
seeing as there is a buffer limit and a limit to how fast it can
transfer data to and from a PC. The super fast SD cards are more suited
for Palm-type devices rather than cameras, but speed increases have
been noted when using high-speed SD cards.

sgtdisturbed wrote:
Justin C wrote:
My camera is incredibly slow at writing RAW files - 6 to 7 seconds at my
count. Generally, for the sort of shots I take this isn't too much of a
problem, but there are times when I may want/need to get shots more
quickly - an unexpected development in the scene I don't want to miss,
for example.

I'm currently using SanDisk Ultra II cards. How much faster are the
fastest cards? Will all cameras write as fast as the card can handle or
are there cameras that can't keep up with current cards capability?

If I can shave a couple of seconds off the save time or even 50% I'd be
much happier.

I look forward to your comments.

--
Justin C, by the sea.

Cameras are limited in both their buffer and transfer speeds. I bought
a 150x SD card for my Nikon, which didn't improve much on the camera
seeing as there is a buffer limit and a limit to how fast it can
transfer data to and from a PC. The super fast SD cards are more suited
for Palm-type devices rather than cameras, but speed increases have
been noted when using high-speed SD cards.

New cameras are also trending toward higher speeds. Many of the new
cameras support 32 bit FAT formatting for larger cards, and USB 2.0
HighSpeed for data transfers to the PC. I expect the cards to keep
ahead of the cameras, speedwise, however. It is somewhat simpler to
replace a card than a camera.