gtobey Loc: Beaverton, Oregon

I'm a few months away from ordering a D7100 to coexist with my D90. With 2 slots on the D7100 I'm paying attention to classes, write speeds, etc. What are the "adapters" mentioned in some ads? Would my existing cards for my D90 work in the D7100 in a pinch?

sig-1975 Loc: Grand Forks, ND

Not real sure but are they talking about micro to regular
SD card size?

gtobey Loc: Beaverton, Oregon

I think you're on the right track. There's a tiny card in my phone which would not work in a DSLR.

jethro779 Loc: Tucson, AZ

The cards would work, but you would only get half the images on them and the write speed would probably not be optimal with the cards.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

http://www.cameramemoryspeed.com/nikon-d7100/fastest-sd-card-tests/

Good link to speedy cards tested in the D7100....

IMHO, forget about classes - they are good for MINIMUM SPEED only, so a class 10 is only saying the card is AT LEAST 10 MB/s - thats kinda slow today.

Dig down to the actual read/write speeds, especially the WRITE speeds since that is what is important when shooting in burst mode.

Adapters? Most likely they are talking about adapters needed to make use of MICRO cards in SD card slots - basically the adapter is a carrier for the teeny card, sort of like a cassette tape player adapter for an 8 track player ;)

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

SD Cards vary. The difference is a sleeve or no sleeve.
But micro and regular both work the same in my D3300.
I had a 32 GB micro in mine until it got too full. Then I remembered I had a 64 GB in my smarter-than-me-phone.
So I swapped them out to get the bigger capacity in my DSLR.
Most recently, Don Gallagher and I were discussing SD Cards on a thread. He was waiting on a card to test, and got "Smokin" results.
I ordered my flavor and waited. I'm not sure yet what I think of it.
It happens to be a "full sized" SD Card. But I'm not convinced it is really any faster in my camera. But it is as fast, and as big as, is recommended for my camera.
So I can unequivocally state the card is not a culprit in the speed equation.

I am, and have long been an advocate for the biggest storage you can get, and the fastest biggest RAM you can get.
In DSLR's that equates to the cameras buffer (RAM), and the SD Card or what-have-you that you can set the little gem up with.

I don't have a D7100. I'd like to, but don't see it on my horizon for a while, if ever.

But the same applies. Get the most biggest, baddest, smokin cards it can handle. Then never look back.

blackest Loc: Ireland

That is flat out wrong. The micro SD card is physically smaller than a normal SD card but its capacity is what it is (short of it being a counterfeit card that claims a higher capacity than it has).

There are adapters that look like physically like an sd card but have a slot for the micro SD card it goes inside and the small cards pins connect to the adapters pins. There are also CF adapters that you can insert an SD Card which are more complicated but can save a few bucks.

So what does matter? speed and capacity does.

speed there are a number of speeds i think currently class 10 has the fastest minimum speed it can manage but there is a lot of variation some class 10 cards can barely do the minimum for class 10 while others are a lot faster.

Now you can use slower cards but they can take a noticeable time to write to the card. All camera's have a buffer but once its full it has to be emptied it depends on how you use your camera can you wait 15 seconds say before you can take your next shot, because a slow card might make you wait that long or longer.

Capacity currently there are cards with typical capacities from 1GB to i think 512GB (older cards were much smaller in capacity). So buy the biggest? well maybe not , cards can fail how many pictures can you afford to lose?

My 16 Mega pixel camera makes an 18MB raw file and say 5MB jpeg so roughly 4 per 100MB or 40 Per GB
Raw + Jpeg on a nikon 810 probably around twice that or 20 shots per GB.

For me an 8GB card is enough for a day or 2's shooting (320 shots) for that nikon owner about 160 shots (if I shot jpeg only I might get 1600 shots). I think i'd prefer to lose a days shooting but not a weeks worth or longer.

I find a 32GB card stressful, I feel uncomfortable not transferring the images from that card daily. It could fail! So I'd feel better with 2 8GB cards than a single 16GB. It's your choice though

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

Right on! Bigger and badder - yep....

:thumbup:

jethro779 Loc: Tucson, AZ

Since he was talking about the cards he used in his D90 I would still say that the fact that the D7100 is 24mp and the D90 is 12 mp he would only get half as many photos on his old card. If the cards he is using were new when the camera was new they would not be as fast as new cards. Upon further checking the cards recommended for the D90 by Nikon had read speeds of approximately 5mbs and write of 1.5mbs so New cards would be faster as well. They also would not be optimal in the D7100.

blackest Loc: Ireland

I understand your original post now it makes more sense than when i first read it. I actually read it as only get half the image on the card. for that I apologize. I'd be surprised if he was using the same cards as when the camera was new, with the cost of cards and capacities dropping. There is an inclination to buy bigger and faster as the older models drop out the market.
but even with the originals they would do in a pinch.

Mike D. Loc: Crowley County, CO.

The SD cards you currently have will work but keep in mind that the camera will be limited by whichever card has the slowest write speed. These are what I use in my 7100 and they work great.

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-244896-1.html

gtobey Loc: Beaverton, Oregon

That was a SUPER link. Looks like a $90 adventure to get smokin speed.

Mike D. Loc: Crowley County, CO.

Shop around, my son bought those for me for my last b-day and the were right around $50 for the pair at B & H, I believe.

BTW, there are faster cards out there but the price jumps considerably.

sig-1975 Loc: Grand Forks, ND

Here is my solution to not worrying about lost pics! I carry 8 16GB SD cards and if I get some spectacular pictures I change the card so as to not worry about card fail! Might be a little hassle to be changing them but not as big of a hassle as loosing pictures. I have found the 16 GB cards are available much cheaper than the 32,64,128 and larger class 10 cards!

sig-1975 Loc: Grand Forks, ND

Nice link dude, THANKS....