class of sd card (1 Viewer)

Steve Babbs

Well-known member

• Dec 29, 2009

• #1

I'm sure this has been asked before but I can't do a search on sd card as sd is too short. How much difference does it make which class of sd card you have? I have just bought a Canon 500D and I take RAW shots.

Cheers

 

Wildmoreway

Well-known member

• Dec 29, 2009

• #2

I have got a Sony a550 and have tried various recent 2 gig, 4 gig and 8 gig SD cards in it and there does not seem to be any difference between them performance wise.

 

Duke Leto

Without habitat, there is no wildlife. It's that s

• Dec 29, 2009

• #3

its a read / write issue, if I recall the fastest card has a peak access speed of 20Mb/sec, these are class 10 cards, the lower ones class 2 etc have a speed of around 4Mb/sec. If you use a high rate of fps when shooting the lower class cards will slow down the overall speed as the cameras buffer will fill up quicker.
Check the right times of the 500D and try and get a card that matches if you want optimum speed, if you only shoot one or 2 frames each time you push the shutter it makes little difference except for when you dump to the pc.

 

Steve Babbs

Well-known member

• Dec 30, 2009

• #4

Duke Leto said:

its a read / write issue, if I recall the fastest card has a peak access speed of 20Mb/sec, these are class 10 cards, the lower ones class 2 etc have a speed of around 4Mb/sec. If you use a high rate of fps when shooting the lower class cards will slow down the overall speed as the cameras buffer will fill up quicker.
Check the right times of the 500D and try and get a card that matches if you want optimum speed, if you only shoot one or 2 frames each time you push the shutter it makes little difference except for when you dump to the pc.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately the write times are not listed in the specifications. I do shoot quite large bursts at times - and I did consider other cameras due to their better buffer size - so I would like it to write as quickly as possible, to free the buffer, but if the camera's write speed is less than the maximum speed of the cheaper cards presumably it won't make any difference.

 

Duke Leto

Without habitat, there is no wildlife. It's that s

• Jan 1, 2010

• #5

That's right, I'd guess that any modern device like your camera will write faster than 10mbps so I'd get the fastest cards possible. If your handbook doesn't state write times contact Sony

 

Steve Babbs

Well-known member

• Jan 2, 2010

• #6

Decided to order fast ones, there was only a few quid difference in price fronm Zoombits.