SD/SDHC card question

[bigblockmatt]

I just purchased a new digital camera (Fuji z33wp. it isnt an amazing camera or anything - only $150. I needed a new one since i broke my old one and i just liked it.

my question is, will i see a difference if i get a new SD card? I have an 'old' 2 gig sandisk card that i bought however long ago. would i see a difference when taking pictures in speeds if a get a new, fast card?

[dicecca112]

No not really. Maybe in transferring them off the camera if you using the card directly. But you only really need the speed when your taking a bunch of pictures in a row with a DSLR. Did it with my Nikon Coolpix a while back, made no difference

[KnightRid]

Depends if you ever want to hold that button down to take a few shot in a row. When I got a 150X SD card for my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7, I noticed a HUGE difference!

Now I tend to hold the button down to take a bunch of shots in a row, then pick the best one out later, so this might not be you ;)

Mike

Also, when i use a standard SanDisk card in the Lumix I will sometimes get a wait screen while it writes the info to the card - how lame! Mine is only 6MP too ;)

[bigblockmatt]

hmm. ya i do plan on taking several in a row. the camera is 10mp. I'll give it a whirl with my current sd card and if i dont like it, i guess i will spend the extra couple bucks to get a new card - atleast they are cheap!

[Illuminati]

I noticed a big difference in save time on my camera when taking video to a high speed (Class 4, I think) SDHC card, vs our old 1 or 2 gig SD card. So it definitely makes a difference in the camera.

[bigblockmatt]

i see there is different classes (class 6 is the top now right?) are their different speed ratings within the classes? i want to say i've seen them rated as like 150x or something like that also??

[skier]

i have a 2GB regular SD card that is class 2 and an 8GB Class 6, i'll run some tests and let you know, now to make a HUGE file on my camera....

[skier]

so here's the rundown:
Classified/Rating minimum write speeds from Wikipedia

Rating------Speed (MB/s)-----SD Class
6x--------- 0.9----------------n/a
10x--------1.5-----------------n/a
13x--------2.0-----------------2
26x--------4.0-----------------4
32x---------4.8-----------------4
40x---------6.0-----------------6
66x--------10.0-----------------6
100x--------15.0----------------6
133x--------20.0----------------6
150x--------22.5----------------6
200x--------30.0----------------6
266x--------40.0----------------6
300x--------45.0----------------6


my Class 6 8GB SDHC card is advertised as 22MB/s Read and 10MB/s Write
it did: 14.022MB/s average Read of 3.87GB from card to Hard Drive; 6.886MB/s average Write of 3.87GB from Hard Drive to card

my Class 2 2GB SD card doesnt say speed on the card(and i don't have the packaging)
it did: 10.143MB/s average Read of 923MB from Card to Hard Drive; 4.382MB/s average Write of 964MB from Hard Drive to Card

misc. info: i used a combined file size of ~half capacity of the card, with each card already half full(copied 3.87GB off the 8GB card with ~4GB used, wrote 3.87GB onto the card when it already had ~4GB used, to essentially fill the card up, same goes for the 2GB card, but with 900+ MB files instead of 3.87GB)

testing done on my rig, with a Silverstone FP35 Card Reader that uses a USB 2.0 header


so the tests show the class 6 slightly faster as it should be, but the Class 2 Holds its own, basically i'd say go for what capacity you need first and foremost, then consider speed rating afterward as it won't make a huge difference in actual use

[bigblockmatt]

Thanks!! I have my 2 gig card now that i guess i will see how it does. if i notice a lag time while taking pictures i will upgrade. so i could get a 150x class 6 and a 300x class 6? am i reading that correct or is there only one type of class 6 but it can do those speeds?

[skier]

Basically because Class 6 is the highest standard available, everything faster than the minimum listed of 6MB/s can be classified as Class 6, and the speed is all down to the manufacturer, my 8GB card is faster than some Class 6 cards, and it's marketed as "turbo" (SDHC: Turbo) because it's faster than the standard the class is based off, the 300x cards have their own name that they are marketed under, it all depends on the manufacturer, and with greater speed will come a greater price, just like with performance Flash drives

hope i didn't make it MORE confusing, not really sure what the best way to describe it is

[bigblockmatt]

no, that helps. i was looking online at some places to buy them and some classify as class 6, others as 150x... no real consistency (typical technology).

[hercules71185]

For your camera. if you hold the button down as in burst, how many pictures can you take in 10 seconds?
Take that number and add up the file sizes for the pictures. And find out how fast your camera is transferring. If the number is less than the speed of your memory card then you are not memory speed limited. As someone before said you usually only notice a difference taking the pics off your memory card and putting them on your computer.. In Raw picture taking I don't think the camera is the slow link.... Maybe though