Write speed on 30D. Need quick help.

Ghoste · Aug 2, 2006

Hey guys. I'm trying to figure somethin' out and can't seem to find it. One of my clients wants to get the Extreme III from SanDisk, but I've been told that becuase the 30D only writes at 80x it's more worth it to go with the Ultra II. Is this true? Kinda getting mixed stories. I could use quick help. Any input would be great, I'm going out of town and trying to get his camera set-up finished before I leave. Man, the one thing I dont know about the Canon lineup and it's urgent, grr. Thanks fellas.

Unimaxium · Aug 2, 2006

I don't think you're going to get much if any more write speed with the extreme than with the ultra. The camera can only write images so fast. I've heard you only really get the speed advantage while downloading images to your computer.

I have an ExtremeIII in my 30D, but only bought it because I found a fairly decent price on it ($70 or so from Calumet). Otherwise I would have just gone for the Ultra II. I don't think the speed difference is that drastic anyway. Perhaps you could get better burst speeds with it in the 1DsMkIIN shooting 8MP RAWs at 8frames/sec, but I doubt it will make much difference in the 30D. I could be wrong (I've never actually used an Ultra II), but I think the Ultra will be fine if price is much of an issue.

Unimaxium · Aug 2, 2006

Update: there are some measurements over at dpreview taken with different cards. The link is here (scroll down a little bit to "Continuous Drive Mode")

The comparison was between a 1GB Extreme III and a 4GB Ultra II, so they're not exact, but I don't think the difference between sizes has much of an effect (judging by the numbers on the 20D's review). So it looks like the deal is that you get 4 more frames in JPEG burst mode and 1 more frame in RAW burst mode, and after that it takes about 5 seconds longer until the next full-speed burst occurs (in JPEG mode). Not a huge difference if you ask me, but it's up to you to decide.

Big Mike · Aug 2, 2006

The 30D has a really great buffer....you can shoot at 5fps for a while with that thing...any decent card will do the job.

One thing I did notice with faster & slower cards is the review time. When I'm shooting and I want to check the shots...the slower cards were slower to bring up the shot to the LCD. (this is not counting the auto review).

As for Sandisk cards...I have an Extreme, an Ultra II and a regular Sandisk. While shooting, I don't notice a difference with my 20D (except for the aforementioned review times). However, I don't often (or ever) fill the buffer.