Memory Cards

[Peter_Panski 0]

While there is a lot talking about digital still cameras, I haven't seen too much treads about the memory cards which are the modern film rolls. I have an EOS 350 D and just bought my second memory card. It is a Lexar Professional 1GB, 80x.

I noticed significant difference from the previous noname 1GB 40x card. The new card is much faster and you can feel it up with pictures on burst with no stopping(full speed)at medium quality(which on 350D is 4mp). That means you just bite the switch on exit and release it at opening if you want...At full quality (8mp) the camera goes at full speed for 20-25 pictures,and then slows down to around 1,5 pictures/second, but never stops!!!

It looks that buying the fastest cards on the market changes the whole camera. I will recommend that especially for people with Digital Rebel (Eos300D) which is a slower model, and needs a little "kick".

Any opinions or experiences with different cards/speeds.

Has anyone experienced loss off data with the cheaper noname cards?

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[dragon2 2]

A 80 x card is not going to make the 300D any faster, any decent card will work (san disk extreme, san disk II, pqi, lexar 40x, lexar 80x, etc also microdrives but you can't use those for jumping).

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[Peter_Panski 0]

Quote

A 80 x card is not going to make the 300D any faster, any decent card will work (san disk extreme, san disk II, pqi, lexar 40x, lexar 80x, etc also microdrives but you can't use those for jumping).

Have you tried it out? It makes the 350D alot faster. I spent last day on tests and the difference is significant on my camera! My friend tried that card out on the 300D and he noticed the difference also. Maybe the card he got first was really crap and performed under average?

The pictures are stored in cameras buffer memory, and then it is up to the card how fast it is possible to write on it. Things like formatting, erasing and transwer to PC goes also faster with my new card.

It is like burning CD's. 40x means it burns 40 times faster than standard speed and 80x burns 80 times faster (think the development stoped at 52x in CD world).

Why do you think the card type is not significant on 300D? Is the "burning" technology to slow?

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[dragon2 2]

Yeah I tried. Like I said, you need a decent card, but other than that, the camera is just not fast enough to make use of the fastest cards. Therefore I'd save my money. I tried various cards, all performed at about the same speed.

On faster camera's (D20, D70 etc) the faster cards may show an improvement.

There are various testing sites on the 'net which show which cards work best with which camera's. This is one just googled:
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-6816
The D70 is a fast camera and it takes advantage of the fastest cards, working best with SanDisk Extreme/Ultra III and Lexar 80x cards.

Same for the 350D:
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-7699
About the same results too for 10D/20D.

The 300D gives very weird results if you look at the order of cards, but most cards give about the same speed, except the cheapo ones, so why buy top-of-the-line:
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-6425
Same results for D30/D60.

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[billo 0]

I don't know about the performance of the 350D, but I can tell you about something I found out when my friend and I sat down with our 20Ds and different CF cards...

He's got a 1GB Sandisk Ultra II CF (9MB/s write, =60x) and I've got a 1GB Sandisk Extreme III CF (20MB/s write, = 133x). Setting shutter priority to 1/8000 and letting both cameras rip, mine takes about 45 or 46 shots nonstop before the buffer gets filled and the camera slows from 5 shots a second to about 2 or 3. His buffer fills after 37 shots and then slows from 5 shots a second to 1 or 2.

I've got another friend who has been using the Lexar Pro 80x since they came out, and he's been pretty happy with it. If I get the chance to do a side-by-side comparison with the Extreme III I'll be sure to share the results.

Although I won't fire off a 45 shot burst on a typical jump, it's good to know it's there, just in case of a special jump or exit...

[Peter_Panski 0]

Quote

He's got a 1GB Sandisk Ultra II CF (9MB/s write, =60x) and I've got a 1GB Sandisk Extreme III CF (20MB/s write, = 133x). Setting shutter priority to 1/8000 and letting both cameras rip, mine takes about 45 or 46 shots nonstop before the buffer gets filled and the camera slows from 5 shots a second to about 2 or 3. His buffer fills after 37 shots and then slows from 5 shots a second to 1 or 2.

Wow! That's a significant difference!!! Wonder if it is similar on 350D. Not often you need it, but there can be times it's nice to have this function on optimal level (ex.slider up basejumps).

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