D200 Memory
May 3, 2012 08:05:31 #
I just acquired a mint condition D200 and it only came with a no name brand 1GB compact flash card. I need to get a new one. Can someone advise or give me an opinion of what size and speed I should buy? There are so many speed claims that I do not know what to get. I see speeds from 133x to 600x! I do not want to waste money on a speed the camera can never reach.
Thanks all
Thanks all
May 3, 2012 08:15:24 #
Personally I'm a SanDisk Fan, I've never had any issues with their Extreme III lineup.
Interesting read from the Ken Rockwell site:
Buffers versus Memory Card Memory
The D200 uses two very different kinds of memory for storing images.
We're all familiar with the CF cards used to store hundreds of images. These aren't that fast and card makers rate them for write speed. The D200 uses these for recording your images.
The D200, like all professional digital cameras, has a second very high speed internal cache memory called a buffer. You never touch this. This buffer memory stores 25 frames of JPGs, 21 frames of raw or 19 frames of raw + JPG.
The buffer memory is fast enough to store all these frames at the full 5FPS rate, or faster.
The D200 is never slowed by memory speed card. The D200, like other professional cameras, has a second independent set of processors which handle writing the contents of the fast buffer memory to the slower CF card. Because this writing is done with a second set of processors you never know it's working except for the green CF light on the back. The D200 can be busy for over a minute writing to the CF card and you still have the complete ability to shoot at 5 FPS and play back.
The buffer is so deep that even under the heaviest shooting it's unlikely that you'll ever fill it. Even if you fill the buffer you can still make photos and playback, just that the maximum shooting rate will lower a bit until the buffer write and frees up at least one frame.
It takes it a 100 seconds to write 400 MB of data from 19 uncompressed RAW + Large FINE JPG files to my 40x 1GB Lexar card. As a photographer you don't care how long it takes to write. So long as the buffer isn't full the camera works as fast as ever. Even if it is full you can shoot the next shot as soon as the buffer clears enough room. You don't have to wait for everything to write to make a next shot. Even with my slow 40x lexar 1GB card, a constipated buffer and huge compressed raw + JPG Large Fine files I can make a new shot every 3.2 seconds. With uncompressed raw + JPG Fine Large I can get off a new shot with a full buffer every 3.7 seconds. If you ever get to these limits you're doing something stupid. Just shoot JPG and you'll never be able to fill up the buffer faster than you can shoot. With Large FINE Optimal Quality JPGs the buffer clears at the rate of 1 FPS. With Large Basic Optimal Quality JPGs I can run at 2 FPS even with a full buffer. Use the smaller image sizes or the Size Priority JPG setting and you can shoot as fast with the buffer full as empty!
I've had to do seriously stupid tests to fill it up.
Interesting read from the Ken Rockwell site:
Buffers versus Memory Card Memory
The D200 uses two very different kinds of memory for storing images.
We're all familiar with the CF cards used to store hundreds of images. These aren't that fast and card makers rate them for write speed. The D200 uses these for recording your images.
The D200, like all professional digital cameras, has a second very high speed internal cache memory called a buffer. You never touch this. This buffer memory stores 25 frames of JPGs, 21 frames of raw or 19 frames of raw + JPG.
The buffer memory is fast enough to store all these frames at the full 5FPS rate, or faster.
The D200 is never slowed by memory speed card. The D200, like other professional cameras, has a second independent set of processors which handle writing the contents of the fast buffer memory to the slower CF card. Because this writing is done with a second set of processors you never know it's working except for the green CF light on the back. The D200 can be busy for over a minute writing to the CF card and you still have the complete ability to shoot at 5 FPS and play back.
The buffer is so deep that even under the heaviest shooting it's unlikely that you'll ever fill it. Even if you fill the buffer you can still make photos and playback, just that the maximum shooting rate will lower a bit until the buffer write and frees up at least one frame.
It takes it a 100 seconds to write 400 MB of data from 19 uncompressed RAW + Large FINE JPG files to my 40x 1GB Lexar card. As a photographer you don't care how long it takes to write. So long as the buffer isn't full the camera works as fast as ever. Even if it is full you can shoot the next shot as soon as the buffer clears enough room. You don't have to wait for everything to write to make a next shot. Even with my slow 40x lexar 1GB card, a constipated buffer and huge compressed raw + JPG Large Fine files I can make a new shot every 3.2 seconds. With uncompressed raw + JPG Fine Large I can get off a new shot with a full buffer every 3.7 seconds. If you ever get to these limits you're doing something stupid. Just shoot JPG and you'll never be able to fill up the buffer faster than you can shoot. With Large FINE Optimal Quality JPGs the buffer clears at the rate of 1 FPS. With Large Basic Optimal Quality JPGs I can run at 2 FPS even with a full buffer. Use the smaller image sizes or the Size Priority JPG setting and you can shoot as fast with the buffer full as empty!
I've had to do seriously stupid tests to fill it up.
May 3, 2012 08:21:02 #
I've always been confused about the speed thing, but the D200 seems to have a large enough buffer that I rarely had any issues with writing image data to the card
My standard up to now has been the 8 GB Sandisk Extreme cards. I could get 800 shots on this (JPEG, LARGE, FINE).
Recently I've started using RAW mode and my picture count/card dropped to somewhere around 250. Since I have an upcoming requirement of carrying very little, but taking lots of shots, I've ordered two 32 GB cards. They're speed spec was 300X. I should find out in the next few days whether these cards will work or not.
Hope this helps a little bit (at least with the pictures/card part)
My standard up to now has been the 8 GB Sandisk Extreme cards. I could get 800 shots on this (JPEG, LARGE, FINE).
Recently I've started using RAW mode and my picture count/card dropped to somewhere around 250. Since I have an upcoming requirement of carrying very little, but taking lots of shots, I've ordered two 32 GB cards. They're speed spec was 300X. I should find out in the next few days whether these cards will work or not.
Hope this helps a little bit (at least with the pictures/card part)
May 4, 2012 08:22:05 #
I have a small stable of D200's and always feed them Sandisk Extreme 4 GB, 40mb/s, 267x speed, udma 5 compliant (whatever that means). Probably faster than I need but have never had a problem. I know $'s per GB goes way down as card size goes up but I'd rather have a pocket of 4GB's than fewer larger capacity cards. You might want to make sure your firmware is updated to current versions (A: 2.01, B: 2.01) or download for free from Nikon. I would think maybe since these larger cards weren't around when the D200 came out there might have been compatability issues and corrections made with updates? Love those D200's!
May 4, 2012 10:23:44 #
Lucian
Loc: From Wales, living in Ohio
I use Sandisk and get a class 6 to 10 speed card and you will be fine. Get a 16gb or more size and you can shoot in RAW and Jpeg for all your shots. I hear people say only use 4gb cards but that is too many cards to keep around and keep changing and possibly losing.
Sandisk as so reliable you will probably never have a lost data issue with any size you purschase and they are so cheap to buy now. Get a few 32GB cards and then don't fill them up. That way if you are ever in need of the extra space you always have it available to you.
Sandisk as so reliable you will probably never have a lost data issue with any size you purschase and they are so cheap to buy now. Get a few 32GB cards and then don't fill them up. That way if you are ever in need of the extra space you always have it available to you.
May 4, 2012 10:51:40 #
Ditto ...on SanDisc 4G cards. Get'm on Amazon.com No sales tax & free or minimal shipping over $25.00
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