Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

peeb · Mar 27, 2008, 11:11 AM

Are they all the same, or are there differences in speed / reliability etc?
Thanks!

Railroader · Mar 27, 2008, 12:14 PM

I have been buying Kensingtons lately, but most major brands are pretty good like SanDisk. I usually buy 80X or faster media.

bearcatrp · Mar 27, 2008, 12:46 PM

I am pretty much a sandisk fan. Never had a problem. Just picked up a 8GB extreme III for 80 bucks from buy.com. Faster record time for multiple instant snapshots.

Veltliner · Apr 4, 2008, 12:29 AM

Sandisk.

Why save a few dollars on such a key item.

It's like buying a cheap external hard drive...

There are, of course, other good brands. But the price range will be approx. the same as Sandisk's.

badidea · Apr 4, 2008, 07:06 AM

I second Sandisk.

If you are shooting RAW, I would get a card that is as fast as possible - in case of Sandisk that would be an extreme III then, just like bearcatrp already said!

IceEnclosure · Apr 7, 2008, 01:26 AM

I have a Class 4 4GB SDHC card in mine. It's PNY brand, I got it for $15 at Sears during a sale. Works great, and my camera maxes out at 3 or so frames per second, I've never had a problem with speed or anything.

That said, name brands are a good bet, Kingston, Sandisk and such. Also, I make sure to offload my pics as soon as I'm near my computer. I've had a microSD card crap out on me when it was just a few weeks old. It was a Sandisk.

Peter · Apr 7, 2008, 04:52 AM

I really like the SD cards with the built in USB plug.

mduell · Apr 7, 2008, 03:57 PM

Any Class 6 SDHC card.

richwig83 · Apr 7, 2008, 04:11 PM

peeb.... what camera have you got??

peeb · Apr 7, 2008, 05:59 PM

Nikon D40.

ghporter · Apr 7, 2008, 07:35 PM

A lot of folks here have Nikons, so they'll be able to provide specific advice, but it's important to note that given a theoretically "faster than anything" SD card, the speed of the camera is the more important factor. No matter how fast your card, a camera that doesn't take advantage of it won't benefit from a fast card at all. I doubt that high-end cameras like the D40 are anything to worry about, but the "entry level" DSLR market probably is full of cameras that access the storage media slowly, and that's something to be aware of when buying both the camera and the media.

peeb · Apr 7, 2008, 09:03 PM

The D40 is an entry level DSLR, but gets about 3 shots per second - I was basically wondering whether different speed cards would affect this, or whether the bottleneck is elsewhere?

ghporter · Apr 7, 2008, 09:40 PM

Compared to some, the D40 is well above the "entry level" I was thinking of.

Still, somewhere in the documentation it should say what speed it connects to the SD card at...

peeb · Apr 7, 2008, 09:42 PM

Thanks - I'll have a rummage.

mkerr64 · Apr 7, 2008, 11:15 PM

if your planning to get one tigerdirect.com has some really good deals.
im using a 16gb extreme Sandisk on my d200
i found it really fast in comparison to others

IceEnclosure · 02:55 AM

I'd just assume get a fast card, they're all cheap. When you fill the buffer on a D40 continuous frame shooting speed drops a bit, and even at it's best it's only about 2.5fps.

some good info concerning this topic here:

Nikon D40 Review: 13. Timings & Sizes: Digital Photography Review

richwig83 · Apr 8, 2008, 05:26 AM

Id recommend getting the fastest card you can, even if your D40 only does 3 sps! You'll reap the benefits when transferring lots of photos!

I just got a 4gb Sandisk Extreme III (albeit CF) for my 40D and its like lightening!

ghporter · Apr 8, 2008, 09:24 AM

While I'd generally agree with both IceEnclosure and richwig83, I have a few reservations about their recommendations. First "they're NOT all cheap." When you go past a certain speed spec, even fairly small SD cards start getting more expensive, and it's a good idea to consider whether you need "ludicrous speed" media of a certain capacity, or just really fast media at twice that capacity or more. And while getting "faster than you need" is a fine idea, you can take it to an extreme. I'd get the most economical, fastest card I could, and move up later when I needed faster-because by then faster will indeed be cheaper.

IceEnclosure · Apr 9, 2008, 10:53 AM

Originally Posted by ghporter

While I'd generally agree with both IceEnclosure and richwig83, I have a few reservations about their recommendations. First "they're NOT all cheap." When you go past a certain speed spec, even fairly small SD cards start getting more expensive, and it's a good idea to consider whether you need "ludicrous speed" media of a certain capacity, or just really fast media at twice that capacity or more. And while getting "faster than you need" is a fine idea, you can take it to an extreme. I'd get the most economical, fastest card I could, and move up later when I needed faster-because by then faster will indeed be cheaper.

I'll rephrase then: "If it's not cheap, don't buy it!"

Class 4 or faster should definitely be fast enough for DSLR use.

ghporter · Apr 9, 2008, 05:46 PM

Originally Posted by IceEnclosure

I'll rephrase then: "If it's not cheap, don't buy it!"

Class 4 or faster should definitely be fast enough for DSLR use.

I completely concur with that!

I recall a "oh no I don't have a big enough card" episode before going on a trip once, and I managed to pick up a 2GB mini-SD card with the SD card adapter for what was then a really great price without even shopping. For the camera I got it for (a Polaroid point-n-shoot digital), I didn't even consider how fast it was. Today, I'd be a bit more careful just so I could make sure I could move the card from one camera to another without worrying about performance.

'Course right now I'm drooling over a Canon EOS 40D, which takes Compact Flash media, so this is sort of moot for my plans...

richwig83 · Apr 9, 2008, 06:36 PM

Originally Posted by ghporter

'Course right now I'm drooling over a Canon EOS 40D, which takes Compact Flash media, so this is sort of moot for my plans...

Ohh youll love the 40D, just bought one 2 days ago, shooting in RAW the quality is fantastic!!!!

And the live view is just one of the features that once you use you will wonder how you did without it!!!

What are you shooting with now?

ghporter · Apr 9, 2008, 08:05 PM

My current camera is a nice, but modest Kodak CX6490. It's point and shoot, and kinda slow, especially today. But I got out of 35mm photography a rather long time ago because I was just too busy, and now I see the EOS 40D as something that's pretty much the equivalent of my old Canon A1, and time is starting to be less of a problem... Sure, it's a pretty big move up from a $400 point and shoot camera to a $1200 (without lens) 10MP DSLR, but I feel that this would be getting back to where I was 10 years ago.