Does larger memory card slow down the camera?

[DBB]

tmoreau wrote:

I bought a real cheap 1gb card before I had my dslr (so write speed didnt really matter), but now with my KM 5D the difference between it and a sandisk ultra II is HUGE. Then again, thats only when snapping away very quickly, especially in continuous drive. The cheapo card was advertised as high speed (40x or 20mb/s, I dont remember).

Now, I'll only buy lexar and sandisk cards. Prices are too good* to be stingy with this critical little device.

*Sandisk Ultra II 4 gb goes for $190 now!!!!!

Horror of horrors, I'm nder the impression that there are ONLY three companies that make Compact Flash.

Anyone who knows better is welcome to correct me.

But I have no hesitation in buying "Transcend," or "Ridatta."

dave

[kassandro]

That was the past. Nowadays virtually any DRAM manufacturer can also produce NAND flash chips, from which the memory cards are made, if he has the necessary patent licenses. As DRAM prices are currently low, switching to NAND flash chips may be more profitable.
I personally buy only Sandisk. If a cards gets broken they replace it by a new one - no matter where you bought it.

[JimC]

DBB wrote:

But I have no hesitation in buying "Transcend," or "Ridatta."

So far, the slowest CompactFlash card in a Konica Minolta Maxxum 5D that I've see users report test results for is a Ridata 52x Pro 1GB CompactFlash card.

A Secure Digital card used via an SD to CF adapter was slower, but a Ridata 52x Pro is in the lead for the slowest CompactFlash card in this camera so far.

It clocked in a 0.89 Megabytes per second in a KM 5D.

Even the Kingston Elite Pro Cards (which are notoriously slow in many KM camera models) tested faster than a Ridata 52x Pro Card (but, not by much).

The Transcend 1GB 80x Card is much faster, clocking in at 4.44 Megabytes/Second (almost 5 times as fast as the Ridata 52x Pro Card).

But, it still falls short of my Lexar 4x Card (4.63 Megabytes/Second).

The test result you see for the Lexar 12x 256mb Card is actually my 4x card. I got it at a yard sale a while back, along with 2 other cards for $5 (for all 3). :-)

I was curious how it would test compared to some of the newer cards and I clocked it several times to make sure.

I need to let the site admin know about it being a 4x versus 12x card (I put it in the comments for the test though). They didn't have a category for a Lexar 256mb 4x card.

I keep it in my Nikon Coolpix 950 now (which I still use from time to time).

The Sandisk Extreme III is fastest in a KM 5D, coming in at around 8.55 Megabytes/Second (approximately 9.6 times as fast as a Ridata 1GB 52x Pro Card in this camera).

http://www.dyxum.com/reviews/cfcard/index.asp?cam=5D

But, any given card can behave differently in one camera model versus another.

Added:

For example, a Ridata 52x Pro 1GB card clocks in at around 5 Megabytes/Second in a D2X

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/mul...?cid=6007-7697

[DBB]

kassandro wrote:

That was the past. Nowadays virtually any DRAM manufacturer can also produce NAND flash chips, from which the memory cards are made, if he has the necessary patent licenses. As DRAM prices are currently low, switching to NAND flash chips may be more profitable.

I stand, or in this case, sit, corrected....:?:

Dave

[JimC]

This is what Rob Galbraith has to say about it:

Though there are a myriad of brands on the market, most larger-capacity CompactFlash and Secure Digitalflash memory cards contain controllers from SanDisk, Lexar and a handful oflesser-known electronics companies such as Hyperstone, KTC, Skymedi andSMI.

Flash memory cards contain, in addition to a controller, several flash memory chips. Toshiba, Hitachi, SanDisk and Samsung are among the biggest flash memory chip suppliers. Almost all the companies included in this report purchase flash from one or more of these companies (or use their own if they're an industry heavyweight like SanDisk), for inclusion in their products. The controller and the flash memory together determine the raw performance of the card. In 2006, flash memory is fast, really fast; it's the controller currently that has the biggest impact on card throughput.

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/mul...e.asp?cid=6007

[tmoreau]

And just to reiterate, that cheap card I have is advertised at the same speeds as an extreme III but was absolutely blown out of the water by an ultra II both in camera and in the card reader.

I will never again trust any discount brand. (not that I had high hopes for this card, it serves as a great backup now. Most times, you dont need a fast card, anyway).

[Juggernaut]

Hi,

Thanks for the responses!

I bought a PNY 1 gig card at a great discount.

It works just as fast as the 256 mb sandisk card that I have, so I am happy with the performance...I still have no idea how fast either card actually is.

Thanks!
Juggernaut

[kassandro]

I sold all my smaller cards and have now only cards with 1 GB and 512 MB. Each time when you plug CF card into a camera there is a tiny risk that the pins in the camera get damaged. In this respect the SD card technology is much better. Also SD cards seems to have a slightly faster interface and are certainly cheaper now, because there is much more competition. Thus it is wise to use only larger cards. From now on I will probably purchase only 2 GB cards.

[DBB]

And the prices are falling like stones...


The below is only one of the places I check - this is just a link to their 2 Gig cards. Check the site for other sizes...


http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/s.n...category.91/.f