FZ30 SD card

[fmoore]

Anyone - Is there a way to test a flash card to determine its read/write speed? Seems like there would be some kind of software that couldrun sometests. Anything out there?

[genece]

There is some info here fred...and while I have seen many tests posted very few agree with what I seem to notice in real life....I guess it may have to do with no all cards work the same even from the same mfg.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...ssage=16854026



And there are a couple sites on the web that have a list of most all cards some even broke down to how they work in different cameras.

I imagine google can turn them up.

[squirl033]

i'm not sure how much it really matters what the actual speed is, except from a purely academic/curiosity standpoint. if a high-speed card will let you shoot in "c" mode and the camera doesn't stop every few frames to clear the buffer, then it's capable of accepting data faster than the camera can send it, so the exact speed of the card doesn't matter. the Kingmax cards i use in my FZ20 are rated at 60x, and will let me shoot as many frames as i want without interruption (i've shot upwards of 30 continuously, which is more than i'd ever do in actual use, just to test it), and willrecord bursts as fast as the camera can take them (you still have to let off the shutter and press again for the second burst, and with the FZ20, it refocuses between them).at that point, whether the "60x" cards are really 50x or 70x is immaterial...

[KENNETHD]

mtngal wrote:

I've been using the Sandisk Ultra II and it seems to work quite well. I haven't compared it to any other cards, so don't know how it compares with other ones.

Edited to add: I'm using the 1 GB card because I prefer to shoot raw files, and they take up lots of memory.

I'd be grateful if you could set your Camera to raw, shoot, and time the process with a stop watch. I'm curious to know how fast the ultra 2 is compared to my plain jane sandisk. My sandisk takes about 3 sec to reset for another shot in raw. Thanks...

KennethD

[mtngal]

You've given me an excuse to go out tomorrow and shoot something tomorrow at lunch (thank you!). It certainly doesn't seem like 3 seconds to me (never timed it) - I would have guessed only 2 seconds at the most, though I'm not very good about such things. 3 may be more accurate.

[digcamfan]

Sandisk Ultra II 1G. Have not shot raw yet but best JPG writes to card in less than a second.:-)

[KENNETHD]

digcamfan wrote:

Sandisk Ultra II 1G. Have not shot raw yet but best JPG writes to card in less than a second.:-)

Thanks, I get about the same with mine, but need to know tiff or raw speeds. That's about the only way I can tell if the ultra series is faster than my plain jane. Reason I need to know? I previously bought the Lexar pro for my other digital cam, and was totally shocked when a cheap old sandisk at less than half the price matched it's write speeds perfectly. I read a really neat article that explained that these products are radomly tested and if a batch has one that doeesn't perform to spec, they (as in their top of the line) they downgrade the entire batch to the low end rating and sell it so it's not misleading whoever buys it, So, apparently when you get these, at the very least you get what you pay for, and sometimes maybe more. I have been able to reproduce these results now with 2 separate "plain jane" sandisks and wonder if the same is true for one gig I bought for my 30. Would appreciate it if you would time a raw or tiff shot as they have massive files and will definately show any speed difference. Best regards,

KennethD

[DarrellGG]

Like many of you I was wondering about the write speed of the FZ30 and went to the source...here's the respone from Panasonic Canada.




From: "IMS...CustomerCare" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2006 11:39 AM
Subject: RE: Accessories Inquiry, TV/Video/Camera (Consumer)


Thank you for your email.

In regards to the max write speed of the camera, it is 20MB. As you stated
buying SD cards that write at faster speeds cannot speed up the write speed
of the camera and are not worth the extra cost.

Best Regards,
Panasonic Canada Inc
Customer Care Centre
SM

[squirl033]

so if the FZ30 writes at 20MB max, it would match perfectly with a 133x SD card...

[digcamfan]

I shot a couple of throwaway indoor shots in RAW.

They loaded almost immediately. Say...1 to 11/2 seconds on my Sandisk Ultra II SD.

Whoa...much faster than previous dig cam!