Memory card question

[Sports_Bay_Edits]

Hi I'm an amature sports photographer shooting with a D300s that has both SD and CF slots. I always shoot in RAW+JPEG when I shoot in low light. Does the camera it self have antyhing to do with speed limitations no matter how many MB/S I'm shooting? I'm currently using Extreme III (CF) or Lexar 95MB/S (SD). If the camera has something to do with the transfer speed to the memory card then would I be wasting my money buying a 160 MB/S or even a 510 MB/S CF card? Basically how do I get a faster transfer speed?

Here is what I found running both cards.
Extreme III and the Lexar SD are basically the same.
* I get 15 continus shots before it stops
* It takes 30 sec. for the images are fuly transferd to the card.

 

[480sparky]

Unfortunately, card speed ratings are based on the card offloading data, not ingesting it. And the camera manufacturers aren't too keen on letting anyone know how fast their cameras are. So it's a crap shoot as to how 'fast' you need your cards to be.

Your 15 continuous shots depends on a lot of factors. One is whether you have things like Active-D lighting and Lens Correction turned on. Both chew up a lot of speed.

It also has a lot to do what filetype you're shooting... JPEG or NEF. And bit depth on NEFs changes a lot.

 

[Alexr25]

Memory card specifications generally list the maximum read speed and you have to dig around to find out the actual maximum write speed. For example the Lexar Professional 1000x SDHC Card UHS-II 16GB card has a read speed of 150MB/sec but its write speed is a mere 40MB/sec. With the SanDisc Extreme Pro cards the read and write speeds match up more closely and the 280MB/sec cards have 250MB/sec write speeds. However this is somewhat academic since the D300s has a maximum write speed of 35MB/sec so getting faster memory card is not going to help you.

 

[runnah]

Unfortunately, card speed ratings are based on the card offloading data, not ingesting it. And the camera manufacturers aren't too keen on letting anyone know how fast their cameras are. So it's a crap shoot as to how 'fast' you need your cards to be.

Your 15 continuous shots depends on a lot of factors. One is whether you have things like Active-D lighting and Lens Correction turned on. Both chew up a lot of speed.

It also has a lot to do what filetype you're shooting... JPEG or NEF. And bit depth on NEFs changes a lot.

Yeah its like how car makers report their 0-60 times, they don't tell you that the cars were on slicks, facing down hill, had a little person driving it and had a jato rocket strapped to the roof.

To get the absolute fastest speeds out of your camera you need to turn off every single "helper" (noise reduction, active D, picture style etc...) and shoot in medium jpeg quality.

 

[BananaRepublic]

Often the write speeds of cards can be found on the back of the packet but they are also often bundled together with other figures to baffle the reader much like food labelling.

Write speed as far as I know is how fast a card can ingest the data produced by the camera, this figure can be restricted by the camera capabilities to facilitate the transfer.

Read Speed is how fast data can be churned out of the card to a computer. This figure is what tends to be higher and is therefore what is marketed to you.

 

[Sports_Bay_Edits]

Memory card specifications generally list the maximum read speed and you have to dig around to find out the actual maximum write speed. For example the Lexar Professional 1000x SDHC Card UHS-II 16GB card has a read speed of 150MB/sec but its write speed is a mere 40MB/sec. With the SanDisc Extreme Pro cards the read and write speeds match up more closely and the 280MB/sec cards have 250MB/sec write speeds. However this is somewhat academic since the D300s has a maximum write speed of 35MB/sec so getting faster memory card is not going to help you.

Ahhh! makes total sence...thanks for the replie. I guess it's time to get a new body.

 

[Dave442]

I would suggest checking what write speed and buffer clearing times you get with just RAW to one card. That information can be compared to other test data with other cards, just to see that the card is not slowing you down. And it is easier to compare that data with the specs for other cameras. The 30 seconds seems like a long time to clear the buffer (RAW is supposed to clear in 9 seconds).