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Sandisk
"standard" CF: this is the
cheapest line of Sandisk card; it is easily recognizable by its
blue label. I don't recommend it. These CF are really slow and
even the oldest cameras are able to take take advantage of
faster cards.
Sandisk Ultra II:
these CF are cheap, but they are quite slow, and even the
oldest cameras are able to take take advantage of faster
cards. I recommend Ultra II CFs only if you have a limited
budget and you don't need need a lot of speed.
Sandisk Extreme
III (133x version, discontinued): these cards
are now discontinued, replaced by the 200x version. That said,
on all Canon cameras except the 1DsIII (that supports UDMA),
cards faster than Extreme III 133x don't give any
real speed increase, even with the recent Canon 40D and Canon
1DIII. Unless you have the Canon 1Ds3 (or another Nikon or
Sony camera that supports UDMA), the Extreme III 133x gives
the best performance that you can obtain from your camera, and
they were avaiblabe at good prices.
Sandisk Extreme
III (200x version): Highly recommended. Sandisk
has recently updated the entire Extreme III line, that now
offers a write speed of 200x (very close to the Extreme IV,
that are 266x). If you have a camera that supports UDMA, the
new Extreme III offer a fantastic price/performances ratio -
they are available at the same price of the 133x version that
they replaced, and they are almost as fast as the much more
expensive Extreme IV. In practice, currently in the Canon lineup the 1Ds3
is the only camera that supports UDMA, and the Extreme III
200x are the best choice for this camera, if you need speed:
the camera is not able to take advantage of the faster Extreme
IV.
Sandisk Extreme IV:
not recommended, at least if you have a Canon camera. Even the
1Ds3 is not able to take advantage of the 266x write speed, so
you get the same performance of the Extreme III 200x, at a
much higher price. If you want a fast card, I recommend the
new Extreme III, that offers a much better price/performances
ratio.
Transcend 32 GB
133x CF: this memory card offers an
huge capacity and it is quite cheap at $150; it is not super fast (even tough it is rated
133x, it is slower than Sandisk Extreme III 133x), but if you need a lot of storage space and you don't
take photos of action that requires fast writing speeds, it is
an excellent choice. Currently, this is one the largest CF on the
market - the only bigger card is the Pretec 48 GB 233x, that
is faster but much more expensive (US$600).
Secure
Digital and SDHC Cards
Sandisk
"standard" SD: these SD are
pretty cheap, but they are very slow. I don't recommend them
for SLR cameras.
Sandisk Extreme
III SD: very fast! Sandisk claims a 20
MB/s write speed, and with the 1DsIII the result iis pretty
good - I have measured 14 MB/s. If you have a camera
that takes SD cards, I highly recommend the Sandisk Extreme
III SD.
How to make
the test - Contributing to this page
The next points described the procedure to
test the writing speed. It is quite easy, but you have to
follow carefull every point if you want to get results
comparable with my tests. If you have a CF or a camera that is
listed here as "not tested", you can submit the
results (click here to write me an
e-mail) and I'll be glad to publish them in this page,
together - if your want - with your name and website :-)
1)
Format the memory card (in-camera).
2)
Set the camera on these parameters. File size: RAW (if you
have a Nikon camera, select lossless compressed nef); Mode: M
(manual); Shutter speed: 1/2000; Aperture: f/5.6; ISO: 400.
Set the shooting mode on the fastest continuos shooting speed.
Turn off IS
and AF, and I place the lens cap on the lens - in this way,
every image will be simply a black area, and the test is
easily repeatable, since I am sure that it is not influenced
by the scene that I photograph. Turn off every
noise-reduction option (if it is available); the other
parameters (e.g. saturation, contrast, white balance) does not
matter (usually, I leave them on default values).
3)
Take a
burst of photos at the fastest FPS speed until the buffer is
full. As soon as you press the shutter release, start the timer, and
keep an eye on
the blinking led that shows when the camera is writing on the
card. When the led stops blinking, stop the timer. For
example, with the 1DsIII and a Sandisk Extreme III 200x CF,
after a burst of 17 RAWs the led blinks for 12 seconds.
4)
Download the RAWs to your computer and measure the file size (of the entire burst, not the file size
of a single RAW). The writing speed is the result of file size
/ time. For example, if the file size is 260 MB, and the
camera takes 12 seconds, the writing speed is 260/12 = 21.66
MB/second.
5) Repeat
the test two or three times to check the results.
Thanks to...
A big thanks to those who contribute to this
page!
Alberto Daloiso, Arthur Tiutenko, Danilo
"Stalker", Darioca, Denis Cheong, Janne Heimonen (www.janneheimonen.net),
Maori, Marco Barberis, Prusso, Sergio Gilardi, Soleoscuro, Vladimir (www.vladimirmedvedev.com).
Do you have
comments or questions?
If you have comments or questions about this
article, feel free to ask in the Juza
Nature Photography Discussion Forum!
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