Read / Write card speeds
Mar 11, 2019 14:59:14 #
I'm going to kill two birds with one stone. Need a bigger card for a trip to Iceland. But I also want a good burst mode for hummingbirds. Right now I have a 64 with a read/write of 95~90 and can usually get 8 - 10 shots in burst mode. Before I have to give the camera a one second pause. I'm looking at a 256gb with a decent price, but the read/write is 170~90. With no improvement in write speed, this may not be what I want??? 256gb is probably over kill, but I really would like a card that takes the worry out of shooting hundreds of RAW shots and running out of room on my D810. And keep up with the industry, as in maybe buying a D850 and beyond.
Mar 11, 2019 15:06:14 #
Looks like your camera was tested here so take a look..................chase
https://www.cameramemoryspeed.com
https://www.cameramemoryspeed.com
Mar 11, 2019 15:11:01 #
b2bjacks wrote:
I'm going to kill two birds with one stone. Need a... (show quote)
https://www.cameramemoryspeed.com
Lists cards, speeds & current costs - also shows tests by camera make & model. Good reference.
FWIW - I had a Nikon D7100, and regardless of the fastest card was severely limited by a tiny buffer for bursts - I switched to a Canon 80D mainly for the increased buffer size which coupled with a fast card write speed allows a much larger & faster burst rate.
Mar 11, 2019 15:18:33 #
jdubu
Loc: San Jose, CA
Faster write speeds come at a cost, so you need to find a balance where speed and a thinner wallet makes it right for you.
I am not the adventurer that would go on a trip or shoot with only one card in my kit. To me, cards are an important part of digital shooting I don't cheap out on. I'm not talking camera or lenses, but in terms of reliability, I may use cheap umbrellas and DIY accessories... not cards. I could never utilize a large card for shooting everything unless it's being used to do time lapse on a second body. Now that my cameras have dual slots, I do go bigger, but shoot raw to both cards.
I am not the adventurer that would go on a trip or shoot with only one card in my kit. To me, cards are an important part of digital shooting I don't cheap out on. I'm not talking camera or lenses, but in terms of reliability, I may use cheap umbrellas and DIY accessories... not cards. I could never utilize a large card for shooting everything unless it's being used to do time lapse on a second body. Now that my cameras have dual slots, I do go bigger, but shoot raw to both cards.
Mar 11, 2019 15:28:54 #
wdross
Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado
b2bjacks wrote:
I'm going to kill two birds with one stone. Need a... (show quote)
If you buy for the very near future, buy the fastest you can for the size you want. It is more expensive but then you have chips for the new camera as well as now. If your camera can't go faster than the 8-10 shots, you will gain nothing right now. But if and when you get the D850, you will be happy that you bought the faster chips. I buy the fastest chips at the time I purchase the chips and then phase out the older chips by fill them with pictures and then retire them as image storage. That way one has relatively the fastest chips for the fastest cameras.
Mar 11, 2019 15:45:29 #
A waste of money IMO. You are married to the buffer as well as the write speed capability of the camera. I do short bursts on occasion with my 500 and 850 and a 256gb fast card is not going to enhance anything notable.
Mar 11, 2019 15:45:47 #
larryepage
Loc: North Texas area
b2bjacks wrote:
I'm going to kill two birds with one stone. Need a... (show quote)
You don't say whether you are currently using the SD card or the CF card as primary in your D810. I don't shoot bursts right now, so 90Mb/s cards are fast enough for me. But on my last trip to Micro Center, I noticed that they had some very fast CF cards in their memory display cabinet. Note that these were being sold as straight CF cards, not the follow-on generation that follows the same form factor. They were also in large capacities.
You might research this option to see if it gets you where you want to go. I'm going to do the same, but it may take a few days. Be prepared, though. The new faster cards come at a significant price premium. And you are correct that a D850/XQD combination (or a D500 with an XQD card) should get you where you want to go. And I can tell you that the D500 will give you images with identical character to what a D850 will give, albeit at a lower resolution. Controls are almost identical to the D850 and very similar to your D810.
Mar 11, 2019 15:53:38 #
The fastest SD UHS-I card that I've seen is the Sandisk Extreme Pro. It has a minimum write speed of 30MB/s and a fastest write speed of 90MB/s. I don't know about the CF cards though.
If you get a D850, speed won't be a problem. It has one XQD slot and the SD slot supports UHS-II speed cards - quite a bit faster then UHS-I. I have XQD and SD UHS-II cards for my D500.
I've read that the UHS-II speed SD cards are not as strong as the UHS-I cards because of the extra row of contacts on the back. It weakens the card's outer shell.
If you get a D850, speed won't be a problem. It has one XQD slot and the SD slot supports UHS-II speed cards - quite a bit faster then UHS-I. I have XQD and SD UHS-II cards for my D500.
I've read that the UHS-II speed SD cards are not as strong as the UHS-I cards because of the extra row of contacts on the back. It weakens the card's outer shell.
Mar 11, 2019 16:02:23 #
Love this website/blog. Lots of good info!! Love the memory speed website too! Thanks Hogs!!!
Mar 11, 2019 23:28:44 #
tjw47
Loc: Michigan
Better to get a few smaller cards than one big one...
If your one big card fails all is lost...
If the pictures are split between 3 or 4 cards you only lose a small portion of your trip.
Cards are small so space is not an issue.
If your one big card fails all is lost...
If the pictures are split between 3 or 4 cards you only lose a small portion of your trip.
Cards are small so space is not an issue.
Mar 11, 2019 23:45:15 #
wdross
Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado
b2bjacks wrote:
I'm going to kill two birds with one stone. Need a... (show quote)
Also, the fastest SD style card on the market is the Sony. It is 300 / 299. And I believe Lexar makes a similar chip. I believe the largest size for each is 512gb, but I usually only get 32gb or 64gb. If you shoot large stretches of burst mode, you would then want to consider larger chips.
Mar 12, 2019 09:06:49 #
wdross wrote:
Also, the fastest SD style card on the market is the Sony. It is 300 / 299. And I believe Lexar makes a similar chip. I believe the largest size for each is 512gb, but I usually only get 32gb or 64gb. If you shoot large stretches of burst mode, you would then want to consider larger chips.
True, but only if your camera can take a UHS - II card....
https://www.cameramemoryspeed.com/sd-memory-card-faq/fastest-memory-card/
A UHS-II SD card inserted into a UHS-I slot will slow down quite a bit due to not using the extra row of contacts. Inserted into a device that is not UHS-II, the card will drop back to UHS-I standard speeds of <104 mb/s.
https://www.pretzellogix.net/2014/10/24/a-list-of-all-uhs-ii-sd-cards-readers-and-cameras/
Mar 12, 2019 10:38:26 #
Mar 12, 2019 11:04:02 #
olemikey
Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida
Just a reminder, all your eggs will be in one basket....take very good extra special care of that basket!
Personally, I'd go for a batch of Hi-Q 64GB cards, rotate daily (or as often as needed), have safe storage for used cards, and consider uploading/laptop/cloud, etc. Cards are so inexpensive today, why not have a few eggs in the basket.
Personally, I'd go for a batch of Hi-Q 64GB cards, rotate daily (or as often as needed), have safe storage for used cards, and consider uploading/laptop/cloud, etc. Cards are so inexpensive today, why not have a few eggs in the basket.
Mar 12, 2019 12:44:47 #
b2bjacks wrote:
I'm going to kill two birds with one stone. Need a... (show quote)
Be sure to buy cards that are absolutely compatible with YOUR specific camera. Read the manual to find out what Nikon recommends.
While SD, SDHC, and SDXC cards are physically similar, they are not the same. Some older cameras will not even recognize SDXC cards, for example. Some newer cameras require a specific card type for maximum performance, perhaps with high end video formats. Some cameras will work with the fastest cards, but will not/can not take advantage of the speed.
It's difficult to make assumptions about future hardware purchases and card compatibility... Some newer cameras are using different memory card standards. That trend will continue as cameras become 8K video-capable in the future. It's probably best to buy cards that are most compatible with your current equipment — all of it, preferably — but not to count on future compatibility unless you research a model already on the market that you plan to buy.
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