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Is there any difference in actual in camera use with memory cards of different speeds? (for example: the basic san disk, the ultra II, and the extreme III).
The reason I'm asking is that I'm getting another camera and was telling my friend that I was going to get the fast memory. He said he had spent a lot to get a fast memory card several years ago and found that there was no difference in the time it took to save images between the slower and faster card. I'm thinking maybe his older camera didn't move data fast enough for the difference in memory speed to make a difference.
I guess possibly the only way to know for sure if there will be a difference in my camera will be to experiment.
Depending on the size of the files he was writing it might not have made a difference. Today's digital cameras produce images that are well over 10 mb. If your shooting in continuous mode, you better believe it makes a difference.
The difference is enormous in many instances, best suggestion is to try before you buy. Some of the scenarios that will show up the difference:
Long exposures (dark environment)
Multiple exposure bursts/continuous shooting
Reviewing images
Copying into other devices/terminals
Multiple exposures are where you see the difference. If you take a picture then wait more than 15 secs before next picture you will not see any advantage. But if you mash on the shutter release and take 4 pictures one right after the other, you will see a difference.
Thanks for the help. The camera just came in the mail this morning. This camera does have a burst mode whereas my old camera didn't. Don't know if I'll use that function much, but I'd rather have the memory card that can handle it if needed than not to have the capability if I want to use it.
Also check the memory card's website and see if your camera is able to utilize the faster speeds. Not all are.
The card will still work in the camera, but not at its fastest capture speed.
Sherry, even 512MB is small these days. You can pickup decent 1gb cards for $10 and fast ones for just a little more. I am considering getting either an 8gb or a 16gb card.
Make sure your camera will work with the larger size. Older cameras wil NOT take some of the large cards. I can't believe I'm sayong this , but read the manual to find out. Then also if you are used to putting the memory card in the computer, I had my son and daughter both get 4g cards that worked in the camera but did not work in the computer. They had to use it with a USB cord to download pictures. They both said the extra real estate was worth it.
Bill, you are correct. All digital cameras have a buffer to process the images before writing them out to the media card. The buffer does vary in size. My digital SLR can buffer a bunch of images so it is quite fast from shot to shot. OTOH, my 4 year old cheap compact hardly has a buffer at all, but even todays "slow" cards are penty fast for it.
A pro sports photog may get the fastest card because he may fill the buffer and the faster card can clear the buffer at a higher rate so he can continue shooting.
I always got the cheap SanDisk cards since the photography I do doesn't require speed even though I shoot only in RAW mode on my SLR. I need more space over the speed.
I use the Extreme III after trying the card that came with my SLR. The camera is always ready for the next shot. I find these regularly on sale at Circuit City In 2GB for $29. Only buy when they run the big sale.
I ended up buying 40GB worth of cards this week. 2 8GB and 2 12GB sandisk extreme III. They currently have a sweet rebate going on. I found the 12GBs at calumet photo for $149 ea and then $130 rebate when you purchase 2 of them.
Big memory is no problem with my 40D. It has only been available for 2 months. BTW I love this camera.
One thing you need to remember too, is that the larger the capacity a card is, the faster it should be. For the 1 GB and below, you don't have to worry too much. But above that, it takes longer for the buffer to seek out the empty blocks on the memory card to write to. For whoever go the Canon Powershot. I would get an SD HC (Secure Digital High Capacity) it features faster write speeds and will allow you to shoot shoot shoot very quickly. I use a 4 GB in my Powershot SD750 Digital Elph.
Also a GREAT resource is www.dealram.com (www.dealcoupon.com is great too). DealRam will show you who has the cheapest cards out there, and gives you a link to that site. It works for computer memory (RAM) as well as Flash Memory (the kind you use in a digital camera).
