achammar Loc: Idaho

Hi all!
First I want to thank you all that post here. I read this forum every day and love it. I've contributed a few times on subjects I knew a lot about, but mostly I just learn stuff here every day.
I just have a quick question. Higher end camera cards have higher write speeds. For example I paid extra for one quite awhile back that said 15 m bytes/sec. Then not too long ago I bought one that was 20 m bytes/sec.
I'm sure I'll eventually see one that's faster.
I have a Nikon D60. My question is does the camera have a maximum write speed where there is eventually no advantage to having a card over a certain write speed? For example, IF my camera was capable of writing at 15 m bytes/sec, then there is no point in having a card that has a faster write speed than that. I don't know if that's how it works though. I do need to take shots as fast and close together as possible.
Can someone please explain if continuing to get cards with faster write speeds will always be an advantage, or is there a point where the write speed of the card will not matter to my camera anymore because my camera can't write that fast anyway? I'm not sure how the camera writing to the card, and card write speed relate to each other.

Thanks!

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

The D60 writes at a maximum of 9.5MB's per second so thats all the faster card you need for the camera (Class 2). However, a faster card will not hurt, and if you use a card reader to load your images on your computer, a faster card will transfer faster, especially if you use a USB 2.0 connection.

achammar Loc: Idaho

Ok, Thanks MT Shooter! I never even thought about the faster upload speed to my computer, so I gained there regardless. I knew there would be no harm in having a faster card than the camera (eliminates any possibility of a bottleneck), but what I didn't know was the cameras fastest writing speed or if it was only limited by the card's write speed or what. I searched briefly on line earlier, but was short of time and didn't find it. It's easier to just ask and hopefully someone has an answer anyway, and most of the time, it's better info anyway, or at least easier to understand. So now I know I don't need to get anything faster, and I also know that both my 15 mb/s card and my 20 mb/s card will perform identically in my camera. I am really glad to know that.
Thanks again!
achammar

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Camera write speeds are almost a secret amongst manufacturers. Its not that they don't release that information, its just that they make you search really hard for it. I have compiled a listing of Nikon body write speeds and posted it here:

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-38873-1.html

achammar Loc: Idaho

Wow! very interesting. Some of them have write speeds WAY faster than the fastest cards I've every seen at Best Buy.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

With memory cards there are two speed ratings:
Write speed is the speed at which they will accept data being written TO the card by the camera.
Read speed is the speed at which data can be read FROM the card by the reader, whatever it may be.
These speeds are both MAXIMUMS for that card and can be affected by several factors including age, cleanliness of the contacts, actual free capacity of that card and yes, even ambient air temperature, although the temperature has much less effect on the cards performance today than it did when CF cards first came out. There was a time when, in the cold, you had to remove your battery AND your card to warm them in your pocket just to assure good performance.

marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL

I like to buy the fastest card available at a reasonable price. I don't mind paying extra for write speed up to a point. I do this because I sometimes find a sale and buy SD cards without a designated camera to put them in. Sometimes they end up being used for 1080p HD video which should have a minimum of Class 10 speed. So I just buy Class 10 and if it gets used in a still camera that only requires Class 4, oh well.

And while the camera you have currently doesn't require Class 6 or Class 10, that doesn't mean the next camera you buy won't require faster speeds because it has a higher MB size file to write and has higher write speed to do so, thus you don't want to be stuck with slow minimal cards when you could have bought higher speed ones initially.

It's like having 300 horsepower in your car for driving around town. You don't usually need it but if the gas mileage achieved is comparable to a much smaller engine, why not have the reserve available just in case?

GeneS Loc: Glendale,AZ

The Sony A77 is a 24mp camera and on burst mode of 12 fps the buffer fills up at the same speed no matter which card I use. The difference is in how fast the buffer writes to the card. Only a few cameras support the UHS1 cards to the fullest.
Sony's fastest card 50 m/s takes 8 sec to empty the buffer while the toshiba sdhc uhs-1 95 m/s card only takes 4 sec
my understanding is the new uhs-1 cards can support up to 100 m/s but most cameras can't use any where that write speed. The a77 can as can a couple of nikon's and Canon's.
If your camera only supports a slower write speed you are wasting your money unless the speed writting to the computer is important to you.
The biggest difference on my camera ,that I notice, is if I shoot in RAW because of the larger files

Clicker2014 Loc: Canada

While we are on this subject...I took some movies of my granddaughter. I use a Class 10 and have a T2i. The video played back well on my camera and my son and daughter-in-law's laptops. But when I tried to play them on my PC it had problems. It was all broken up (pixelating?) My PC has 6GB ram and has no problems with any other videos I download, etc. Any thoughts..

Ronny Loc: Netherlands

Todays computers have also usb 3.0 connections. And that is even faster. One of my external harddrives has one cable with two usb 2.0 connection. All for faster speed.
My home computer has 6 usb 2.0 and 4 usb 3.0 connections, which is great.