Card write speeds vs. what your camera's write speed is

[Goat Roper]

The subject of write speeds on SD and CF cards has been brought up from time to time so I thought I would write about it. I also found a great site that compares these times.

There are many MANY fast cards out there now and everyone seems to think that the faster the better but in some regards you might be pissing money away that you do not need to.

Take for instance my 1DsMKII. The CF card side can write at a max of around 8mb a second while the SD side can write at 9mb a second. Now as you do get into different cards it CAN make a few tenths of a second difference but you will pay dearly for them. Here is a chart of write times for different cards in my camera; http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-7344

Here is the Canon XSi. It certainly writes faster than my 1Ds but still tops out at around 13-14mb a second; http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/camera_multi_page.asp?cid=6007-9424 Funny enough that the PNY card is writing faster than the Sandisk.

The new 5DMKII certainly has some nice updated writing abilities with it's UDMA. I heart UDMA; http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/camera_multi_page.asp?cid=6007-9784

Anyway, just more of an FYI than anything.

[DirtyMax]

Good read. Thanks for sharing. I usually buy SanDisk but it's nice to know I may be able to save a buck. At the same time, it seems like they're money well spent though too.

[domokun]

Thank you Scott!

I can only get about 6 shots in raw on burst with my Xsi before it stops to catch up.

I didnt know if it was the cameras write / buffer, or the card

Im using 2 4gb Sandisk Ultra II SDHC. its supposed 15mb/s *shrugs*