Tyler Vargo
Well-known member
I've been doing research on what write speeds my D70 is capable of so I don't go overboard and buy a CF that has, say, 80X max write speed when the camera only does 40X. Please take note that 1X=150kb/sec.
I found some very helpful tests on Rob Galbraith's site: http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007
I'm sure many have seen this page but I know there are some who haven't.
The results of Rob Galbraith's tests are suprising! Even the top-of-the-line Nikon D2X and Canon EOS1Ds MKII can't make 80X! They can only do 9.031mb/sec max and 7.983mb/sec respectively, which translates to 60.2X and 53.22X.
Of the most popular DSLRs, the D70, D100, 300D, 350D and 20D, only two manage more than 40X (6mb/sec). D70 can do 4.561mb/sec, the D100 2.184mb/sec, the 300D 1.335mb/sec the 350D about 6.263mb/sec and the 20D 5.983mb/sec. This makes for 30.4X, 14.56X, 8.9X, 41.75X and 39.88X respectively.
Of course, these are NEF and RAW write speeds, I didn't look for JPG speeds, which are slower anyway.
Rob Galbraith's tests have shown me that buying an 80X (12mb/sec) or even 60X (9mb/sec) at this point is probably a waste of money.
In my opinion by the time cameras can write at 80X I suspect that the buffers will be large and fast enough that CF card max write speed will be pretty much a moot point (if they even still use CF cards).
I know that when I get some more storage soon I'm going go for a couple of 40X 1Gb cards, not one 80X 1Gb card.
I found some very helpful tests on Rob Galbraith's site: http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007
I'm sure many have seen this page but I know there are some who haven't.
The results of Rob Galbraith's tests are suprising! Even the top-of-the-line Nikon D2X and Canon EOS1Ds MKII can't make 80X! They can only do 9.031mb/sec max and 7.983mb/sec respectively, which translates to 60.2X and 53.22X.
Of the most popular DSLRs, the D70, D100, 300D, 350D and 20D, only two manage more than 40X (6mb/sec). D70 can do 4.561mb/sec, the D100 2.184mb/sec, the 300D 1.335mb/sec the 350D about 6.263mb/sec and the 20D 5.983mb/sec. This makes for 30.4X, 14.56X, 8.9X, 41.75X and 39.88X respectively.
Of course, these are NEF and RAW write speeds, I didn't look for JPG speeds, which are slower anyway.
Rob Galbraith's tests have shown me that buying an 80X (12mb/sec) or even 60X (9mb/sec) at this point is probably a waste of money.
In my opinion by the time cameras can write at 80X I suspect that the buffers will be large and fast enough that CF card max write speed will be pretty much a moot point (if they even still use CF cards).
I know that when I get some more storage soon I'm going go for a couple of 40X 1Gb cards, not one 80X 1Gb card.