How important is the speed of the SD card?

[pop]

I was at the book fair just now and chanced upon a Kingston SD card
1G going for $37. The seller suggested that I get an Imation one, same capacity but at $59. He said the Imation one is 150X and the Kingston one 20X. Now, I'm not sure how important this speed thing is, so in the end I didn't buy cos' I need to find out more. My camera is Lumix FX9. Can enlighten me? Thanks.

 

[boen]

so that the pic can record faster and u can see the image faster lor...:bsmilie:

 

[pop]

Just clarifying. I'm not debating price.

Just want to know how important or relevant is the speed of the card to my camera? In other words, does 20X or 150X matter to my camera?

 

[pop]

oh, is that all?

 

[jdredd]

dont be fooled by the write speed claimed by manufacturers...

check the performance database here..
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007

for any normal digicams, a normal SD/CF card from kingston, sandisk or lexar should be fine.

 

[Phildate]

Depends what you are shooting and whether you anticipate shooting lots of pictures in quick succession. It also affects how quickly the images are transferred back to the computer. Impatient people will prefer a faster card!

 

[elfvin]

and also the camera's processor. faster card = faster viewing too

 

[sail2horizon]

Put it as your Computer processor speed. The faster the more Ex it'll be. But the faster the better right??

 

[AdyH]

Dude

U need to check if ur camera support high speed writing. I.e does ur camera has e ability to write/record pictures quickly.

Secondly u need to noe do u take successive shots often. Example are u those who take sports photos where u like click,click, click ur shutter non stop for a couple of frames.

If e answer to both e qs is yes, then get the card with the speed that can be utilised by ur camera. Dont buy something higher than tat cuz in e end it wont be of any benefit.

People tend not to noe abt their camera's speed, so here u have to do some research cuz i dont noe wat's e write speed of ur cam. Next if u only take pictures of people(statis n not fashion runsway) or landscape then i guess u wudnt need e higher speed card. But it's good to buy something which is not too slow cuz u might wanna buy new camera in e near future n might still b able to use those cards since it's not too slow.

Hope tat helps.

 

[jdredd]

just a note, but even for high FPS cameras, we are talking about taking in the order of 5 frames/ second for 10+ frames before buffer fills up and then its a questino of how fast your card is..

 

[pop]

Thanks, guys.

I'm not sure if I understood all the points correctly since some get a bit too technical for me, but I use my cam mainly for shooting sceneries when I travel, and it would seem then I dun need a fast card.

Think I'll just settle for a normal SD card.

 

[drewdam]

hey,

i will suggest u go for kingston elite pro (50x) at $40.50 for 1 GB, if you stil want the normal speed go to pc show, Best Bargaim's booth is selling it at $33.30.

the question of high and normal speed is the same as should i but 512mb or 1 GB since the price is not must diff nowaday...cos u may not use up all 1GB b4 transfer pic to PC, rite...

buy some thing in between so that u may need move up later and still able to fit the required performance.

 

[zcwnfx]

i think simply, if u not those shooting lots of continuous shot, the speed isnt that much of a prob.

Esp if you the kind to preview every single shot, then all the more it doesnt matter

 

[pop]

Many thanks for sharing.

I bought the normal 1G. Could have gotten the elite pro but no stock.

 

[ExplorerZ]

I would say not important at all if you don use burst mode and see image preview :bsmilie: