Sony HX5v first impressions

[Ric01]

Originally Posted by FiveO

All you need is a good Class 4. Check reviews for actual performance as advertised performance means nothing. You can however use a Class 6 or Class 10 if you wish. You will gain nothing in performance though. Beware of reliability issues with the ultra cheap brands. (i.e. Adata)

I've been testing both class 10 and class 4 for a month for my Hx5v.. for 1080 video, multi-burst, etc I could not tell the difference between the performance of the two classes.. I measured the time it took for the 10 multi-burst shots at 7M each to be written to class 10 card and then took the same 10 multi-burst shots 7M each using class 4 card... BOTH cards took approx 16 sec to write all the 10 shots to card memory.

Hence, I returned both 16GB class 10 which I had paid for at $89.00 each and in exchange, bought two class 4 at 32GB at $99 each. Now, I can shoot 14 hours of video (HD 1440p) by paying $20 more. However, the 32GB brand is SanDisk (Made in China) and I am not sure about its reliability yet. It says data transfer speed of up to 15MB/s read and 9MB/S write

[FiveO]

Originally Posted by Ric01

However, the 32GB brand is SanDisk (Made in China) and I am not sure about its reliability yet. It says data transfer speed of up to 15MB/s read and 9MB/S write

Sandisk is generally considered one of the most reliable SD brands. Their Extreme cards are plenty fast. The Class 2 cards are pretty much just that. I haven't tried the mid-level Ultra cards.

The best way to test the actual speed once you get the card(s) is in a card reader connected to your PC. The sustained transfer speed is the most important. You can test using a utility like HD Tune.

[Ric01]

Originally Posted by FiveO

Sandisk is generally considered one of the most reliable SD brands. Their Extreme cards are plenty fast. The Class 2 cards are pretty much just that. I haven't tried the mid-level Ultra cards.

The best way to test the actual speed once you get the card(s) is in a card reader connected to your PC. The sustained transfer speed is the most important. You can test using a utility like HD Tune.

Thanks FiveO, unfortunately I don't owned a card reader..may be it's time for me to get one.

Though Sandisk Ultra II rates at 15MB/s read and 9MB/S write, I am wondering what Hx5 internal speed limitation is eg frame rates, cache emptying rates to ensure that we don't buy too fast a card... waste of card bandwidth. An analogy I could think of is buying a lamborgini sports car to try driving in a 50 mph speed limit zone... waste of horsepower

[Ric01]

Originally Posted by FiveO

I actually have both the HX5V and the ZS7 atm btw. I've got a few days to decide before one has to go back. I'm going on vacation May 1st and I'll be outdoors, visiting an aquarium, seeing some historic sites ... I'm really looking for the more versatile of the two. yet another comparison to come.

For your Hx5v, how many additional batteries and SD cards do you intend to bring along for your trip?

After my Hx5 experience that it will drained a fully charged battery after shooting 25 mins of video footage and 180 or so still shots.. I feel paranoid

[FiveO]

Originally Posted by Ric01

For your Hx5v, how many additional batteries and SD cards do you intend to bring along for your trip?

After my Hx5 experience that it will drained a fully charged battery after shooting 25 mins of video footage and 180 or so still shots.. I feel paranoid

I picked up a 16GB SD card which will more than cover me on stills and a fair amount of video. I am also bringing my dedicated camcorder to the aquarium. It only weighs 1lb and will give me much better video than any P&S could. I'll use the P&S for any other videos though.

I'm planning on bringing 2 spare batteries.

[Ric01]

Don't forget your Hx5 battery charger ... :-)

The dimmed lighting in the acquarium will present you with the opportunity to compare the low light video capability between Hx5, Zs7 and your dedicated camcorder... though I have a feeling Hx5 will not do well in the low light video department

[FiveO]

Ric01,

Here are the results from my Class 10 Panasonic card. Yes I am the one who said it's not needed and I stand by that. However, I only had the option of Class 2 or Class 10 at the store where I bought it. Anyway, here are the results using Flash memory Toolkit and a Sandisk Micromate USB card reader:

Read
Min: 18.5 MB/s
Max: 19.2 MB/s
Avg: 19.1 MB/s
Access Time: 0.8 ms
Burst Rate: 15.2 MB/s

Write
Min: 15.1 MB/s
Max: 17.2 MB/s
Avg: ~15 MB/s

Note that the speeds are in line with a good Class 6 card. I did actually read an article yesterday stating that the Panasonic Class 10 cards are binned Class 6 cards. (Class 6 cards that passed Class 10 benchmarks).

[costa]

just wanted to let you know, that my first tests are popping up on the HX5 blog.





http://hx5v.blogspot.com/

[ciro2001max]

Originally Posted by costa

just wanted to let you know, that my first tests are popping up on the HX5 blog.





http://hx5v.blogspot.com/

Hello, very good job is your blog, thanks. Maybe the pictures of the flowers is seen to saturate the red? Another thing I saw on Ebay 1100mAh batteries will be true? with this battery last longer.

[Ric01]

Originally Posted by FiveO

Ric01,

Here are the results from my Class 10 Panasonic card. Yes I am the one who said it's not needed and I stand by that. However, I only had the option of Class 2 or Class 10 at the store where I bought it. Anyway, here are the results using Flash memory Toolkit and a Sandisk Micromate USB card reader:

Read
Min: 18.5 MB/s
Max: 19.2 MB/s
Avg: 19.1 MB/s
Access Time: 0.8 ms
Burst Rate: 15.2 MB/s

Write
Min: 15.1 MB/s
Max: 17.2 MB/s
Avg: ~15 MB/s

Note that the speeds are in line with a good Class 6 card. I did actually read an article yesterday stating that the Panasonic Class 10 cards are binned Class 6 cards. (Class 6 cards that passed Class 10 benchmarks).

Thanks FiveO for doing the speed tests, they are pretty impressive... if I am not mistaken, I think the packaging of the panasonic Class 10 16GB says up to 22MB/s data flow which is quite close to your test results

Meanwhile, I will try out my two 32GB Class 4, Scandisk Ultra II (Made in China). May be, for peace of mind sake, I may purchase two panasonic class 10 16GB (made in japan) as back-up just before my trip for emergency use and will return them unopened after the trip if the other two scandisk class 4 are OK.