E510 Read/Write rate

[Kirika]

Hello,

I can never seem to find any solid info about how fast the E510 can read/write into their CF or xD cards. Does anyone have the tech specs on that? Olympus did not respond to my queries regarding this, either. Thanks, guys!

[holidaydom]

This link might be of some help...

http://fourthirds-user.com/2007/07/h...ries_dslrs.php

[diCam]

More here

[wrx_sti_22b]

I think the 266x CF card i bought is not useful for this cam.

[spheredome]

I am not sure what is the professional's expectation for dSLR write speed but the E510 is not the average fast action camera and card writer. At greater than 6sec, more delay overhead from NR.

[trying101]

Originally Posted by wrx_sti_22b I think the 266x CF card i bought is not useful for this cam.

You might not see much difference in write speeds on the camera but you will however, enjoy a much faster transfer from the card to your computer if using a card reader instead of the USB transfer cable. Especially compared to the xD cards.

[olymac]

Originally Posted by Kirika Hello, I can never seem to find any solid info about how fast the E510 can read/write into their CF or xD cards. Does anyone have the tech specs on that? Olympus did not respond to my queries regarding this, either. Thanks, guys!

A fair bit depends on your cards as well. The E-510 is NOT a UDMA device so forget the UDMA cards.

[Mikefellh]

Some faster cards can actually be slower on the camera, as some manufacturers may use their read speed rather than their write speed when rating their cards. To me, the speed of the card on the camera is most important...I can always get something to drink/eat while the card is downloading, but when doing rapid shooting I can't tell a subject to stop while the internal buffer of the camera clears.

I haven't seen any decent test results yet for the E-510...for the older cameras the ExtremeIII is the fastest card, IV isn't any faster...haven't seen if the IV is faster on the 510. Of course there's also the possibility as faster (major player) cards come out Olympus may update the firmware to support those cards.

[wrx_sti_22b]

Originally Posted by olymac The E-510 is NOT a UDMA device so forget the UDMA cards.

Originally Posted by Mikefellh I haven't seen any decent test results yet for the E-510...for the older cameras the ExtremeIII is the fastest card, IV isn't any faster...haven't seen if the IV is faster on the 510. Of course there's also the possibility as faster (major player) cards come out Olympus may update the firmware to support those cards.

Whether the camera is UDMA enabled a not can be firmware upgraded meh ??

[Mikefellh]

Originally Posted by wrx_sti_22b Whether the camera is UDMA enabled a not can be firmware upgraded meh ??

Don't know specifically about UDMA, but the E-1, E-300, E-410, AND E-510 have all had firmware upgrades including adding support for higher speeds cards!

I will say though that if adding UDMA costs Olympus money, they won't do it as they are skinflints (cheap)...look how long it took them to have USB2.0 high speed in their cameras (the earlier E's (except E-1) only had USB 1.1 speed even though users demanded the higher speed and it was a joke to have 1.1 speed).

[Kirika]

Hmm. Seems that read/write rates are more complicated than I thought, which explains Oly's reluctance to provide any concrete figures. I wonder if the Extreme III or IV maxes the thing out. heh. But basically? I think the II works just fine.

[Mikefellh]

Well, the ExtremeIII did max out the E-500...the IV operated a little slow on that camera. Here's a list of tests done by various users of various cards including the IV:
http://myolympus.org/E500/writetime/

[holidaydom]

I use only Sandisk Brand CF Cards and have used the Ultra II and Extreme III series on my E500. (And previously my C7070)

To be honest, the speed increase is marginal and only somewhat noticable.

Speed is always nice to have but I think a lot also depends on your style of shooting.

If you're a single shot type of shooter then an Ultra II card will be more than suficient and also more cost efficient in terms of $$$ vs capacity.

If you like to machine-gun your shutter, Ultra IIs and Extreme IIIs can achieve the same FPS rate but the Extreme IIIs allow the camer's buffer to be cleared a little faster; so you can start machine-gunning again a little sooner.

But we're talking differences of +/- 1 second from what I've experienced and so you'll have to ask yourself if the price is worth it.

That said, if you're like me you'll still end up getting the Extreme IIIs so that if you ever miss a shot you can only blame yourself and not your equipment.

[Kirika]

Ehhhh...naw =p I'm pretty much a snipe shooter. One shot, one frame. Doesn't really work that way in practice, but I do try. The thing is that the E510 already has a max of approximately 3fps, so no amount of carding is going to improve machinegunning anyway. It's more of an academic-type interest, I guess.

[holidaydom]

Originally Posted by Kirika ... no amount of carding is going to improve machinegunning anyway...

Haha.... but the mind is a powerful thing...

I swear that on my E500, the Extreme III CF Card gives me an extra 0.128 FPS!

But jokes aside; I shoot as a hobby and so having the top of the line equipment doesn't always make sense cost wise.

[Mikefellh]

Originally Posted by holidaydom But jokes aside; I shoot as a hobby and so having the top of the line equipment doesn't always make sense cost wise.

But when you have to sit and wait for a card to finish writing, a faster card makes sense...I know for me there are times that even the ExtremeIII is too slow in writing!

[achanth]

Spent a few hours at the bird park..using the extreme IV I found the read and write rate very fast...in fact, downloading via camera on to PC extremely fast...Having spend much money on E510, spending on a good memory card will help you...try it

[wrx_sti_22b]

Originally Posted by holidaydom I shoot as a hobby and so having the top of the line equipment doesn't always make sense cost wise.

But when you have used a high speed 133x CF already, you dun want to go back to use a normal speed 45x CF card. When you have used a high grade f2.8 lens already, you dun want to go back to use a f3.5- f5.6 kit lens.