edstubbs Loc: East Coast; 1st state, Delaware

I have a Canon 60d. Looking to purchase some more SDHC cards. My Canon's manual recommends using SDHC card Class10 (which I do).

Now looking at some of the newer Class10 cards, they have a speed(?) rating of 40, 45mbs & higher, opposed to my cards that are rated at 30mbs. Is this higher mbs worth the extra money?

Does this faster rating help in the capturing of the pictures or just the recording of them onto the card itself; (quicker?)(buffering?). I just don't know.

I do strictly photos. I have not and at the present time do not do videos with my camera.

I thank you all in advance for your comments or replies.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

The 30MB/s is the read speed. The write speed is usually between half and 2/3's of that. Canon does not publish buffer write speeds for their cameras, but the 30 MB/s Class 10 cards should be more than fast enough to handle the 60D. Faster cards that are above the cameras write speed will not make a difference in camera, but may transfer images faster to a computer from a card reader if you use one.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

I have always used Class 10 cards - but within class 10 are the speed ratings you noted. I picked up a class 10, 90 Mbs card recently and will say that while the writing of the files is really closer to 45-50 mbs, the time to empty the buffer is greatly reduced.

I shoot raw with a Nikon D7100, so files are 25MB in size, I have a buffer of about 6 shots, then the camera needs to wait until a shot is written to the card before it can take another - there is a noticeable difference in speed when shooting burst with a 45-90 Mbs card versus a 30 Mb card.

Actually I believe that the speeds advertised on many cards are READ speeds, not write speeds, so a 90 Mbs card reads at 90 Mbs, but writes at about half that speed.

Anyway, in my opinion, YES the higher speed class 10 cards... (UHS-1) are worth a little extra money. I would assume most of the newer DSLR's will have a write speed of 45-50 Mbs anyway, but they don't usually advertise the write speeds.

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

Your camera spec's will have info on the read/write speed it is capable of. Anything much faster then that is a waste of money EXCEPT if you download your photos using a card reader. Depending on the speed of your reader (built in, USB 2.0 or 3.0) a faster card could be an advantage. Don't know the speed differences. I'm never in that big of a hurry!

Edit: MT Shooter is correct. Canon doesn't publish the read/write rates. At least not on their website. I thought they did. See what I get for thinking! :D

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

May I bend this thread a little bit into manufacturer or brand of memory brand. I recently ran into a dog made by Dane.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

I use Sandisk, PNY or Sony - no complaints so far....

I shoot with a PNY 64 GB, 90 Mbs card in my D7100 and a Sony 32 GB class 10 card in the second slot.

I have a collection of cheaper lesser known cards as spares... little 4-8 GB cards....but they hardly ever get into the camera anymore.

edstubbs Loc: East Coast; 1st state, Delaware

Gentleman, I thank you all very much for your help, replies and input. Please for give me for these last two questions: (1). Is that fact that I am using a SDHC Class10 card my maximum writing speed regardless of the 'quoted' mbs?

The reason I ask this question is because my EOS Canon60D instruction manual only states and I quote:
"SDHC and SDXC cards featuring UHS (Ultra High Speed) enable a maximum writing speed of SD Speed Class 10".
(unquoted).

(2)Can I now assume that the mbs is the read speed?

Once again, thank you all for your time and patience.
:) :thumbup: :) :thumbup:

edstubbs Loc: East Coast; 1st state, Delaware

Sorry JohnF you lost me with a dog made by Dane. But I am currently using SanDisk Extreme and also looking at SanDisk's Extreme's newer versions.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Dane SD and CF cards (and USB flash drives) are sold by Dane Electronics, I have only seen them on Amazon and Ebay, and they appear to be a privately labeled, mass produced card. I personally would not buy one as the savings over a proven, name brand card, is VERY little.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

Class 10 cards refer to a minimum speed, so a class 10 card will write (I believe) at LEAST at 10 mb....

The speeds normally displayed on the SD cards are READ speeds, write speeds will be 1/2 to 3/4 of that speed... so a 90 MB card will read at 90, but write at 45-50 roughly.

There are loads of info on the internet explaining all this, but making it very confusing for sure...

Basically today, a class 10 UHS-1 card will be the fastest card most cameras will use... UHS-2 cards are being developed or may be available now and they are blazingly fast, BUT most cameras cannot use them, at least not at the faster speeds because they have additional pins that the cameras do not have built in yet. They will work, but at the UHS-1 speeds.

Bet that muddies the water huh? :)

http://www.lexar.com/support/sd-uhs-i-faqs

edstubbs Loc: East Coast; 1st state, Delaware

Thank you Sir. I will be getting the 30mbs Class10 card which I am currently using. On Amazon, I can get two of the 30mbs for $6.76 each (total $13.52), while the 40mbs is $12.49 for just one.

Mr PC Loc: Austin, TX

On my lowly D5200, I use the best Class 10 cars I can get. I usually shoot RAW+Fine JPG for single shots, and HDR tripod stuff where I really want all the dynamic range I can get. I only can get 5 or 6 shots off in a burst mode for sports or birds in flight before the buffer fills, so I backoff to Fine JPG only and can machine gun away. From what I've seen, the higher level cameras would get a few more shots off with larger buffers, but not very many more. When you're talking 50MB per shot, you'd need one heckuva buffer.

edstubbs Loc: East Coast; 1st state, Delaware

Thanks Mr PC

dancing2flower Loc: MD>Crystal River, FL

Does this faster rating help in the capturing of the pictures or just the recording of them onto the card itself; (quicker?)(buffering?). I just don't know.

I do strictly photos. I have not and at the present time do not do videos with my camera.

I thank you all in advance for your comments or replies.[/quote]

With my t3i I started out an ingenue with PNY Professional SDHC-- 32GB for personal, 16GB for dance photos, both 20mb's speed, both class 10. The camera seemed slow for action so tried to improve every way I could and upped the cards to Sandisk Gold Extreme Pro class 10 SDXC I, 64GB/95mb for personal and 32GB/95mb SDHC I (my order error) for dance. Results--maybe a tad faster shots into camera, though found setting changes made more difference. However, the loading time into computer is MUCH faster. I started with a Vivitar series 1 reader 72-in-1 Hi Speed reader/writer and had to switch to a Transcend USB3 in order to load the SDXC. From info I could glean online and from UHH writers (aren't they great?!!) I have too upgrade to get in-camera speed. But first I am working on testing myself on settings. Hope this helps a little

dancing2flower Loc: MD>Crystal River, FL

I shoot RAW or RAW+finejpg