Memory Card Suggestions

[KarynL]

Hi - I am brand new to SLRs and am looking for advice. I just ordered the D5100 with a 18-200mm lens. Looking for advice on a brand, size, class, etc of card. Thanks in advance.

[jdepould]

Lexar or SanDisk. If you're shooting raw ... probably 8GB, pick up two or three. At $15 a pop, you can't go wrong with these: SanDisk 8 GB Extreme SDHC Class 10 Memory Card SDSDRX3-8192-A21

[ccting]

Originally Posted by KarynL

Hi - I am brand new to SLRs and am looking for advice. I just ordered the D5100 with a 18-200mm lens. Looking for advice on a brand, size, class, etc of card. Thanks in advance.

I bought d5100 too. I believe we are in the same group - learner. Cheap one will do ..i bought unbranded one class 10 16GB only for 15USD. Serve me very well. You need to have nikon image transfer software to transfer your video, and the video HDMI highest resolution with "jacking' effect.. well, i seldom shoot video and tht's fine for me. I can shoot a few hundred photos without any delay.

HDMI full resolution, get 30MB/s at least. My 20MB/s class 10 is not fast enough. I suggest you test like this: Take 20 minutes HDMI full resolution video, transfer to your laptop and watch the movie. See whether it works well or not. Never watch via your camera as it will be always ok.

But for unbranded one, transfer photos using wire and never take the car dout. The conductor coating may spoil easily. You have made a great selection of len - 18-200mm instead of 18-55mm vr kit. 18-200mm is more suitable for low-light than 18-55mm, and have great range of zoom. Ken recommends this len..

8GB is insufficient, go for 16GB, and the price is more or less the same. Don't take out the card too frequent, ..if you do, it is unhealthy for your sdram conductor..unless u have the more expensive ones.

Finally, D5100 makes lighting expensive.

[jdepould]

Originally Posted by ccting

You need to have nikon image transfer software to transfer your video, and the video HDMI highest resolution with "jacking' effect.. well, i seldom shoot video and tht's fine for me. I can shoot a few hundred photos without any delay.

HDMI full resolution, get 30MB/s at least. My 20MB/s class 10 is not fast enough. I suggest you test like this: Take 20 minutes HDMI full resolution video, transfer to your laptop and watch the movie. See whether it works well or not. Never watch via your camera as it will be always ok.

What? "Jacking?" Are you talking about rolling shutter? Line skipping?

Just drag and drop. Nikon Transfer is a terrible piece of software.

Originally Posted by ccting

8GB is insufficient, go for 16GB, and the price is more or less the same. Don't take out the card too frequent, ..if you do, it is unhealthy for your sdram conductor..unless u have the more expensive ones.

What? Taking the card out of the camera is fine. The only way you're going to damage anything is if you try to jam it in backwards, or get water in the card slot. Several 8GB cards gives you better protection against card failure. The price difference between generic and name brand cards isn't enough to justify using them, just get the good stuff.

[Matthias099]

For SD cards get the good stuff. I just have made this experience (even though not with my camera): I bought an unbranded 32GB microSD card and put some videos on to watch from my cell phone. When I tried to open them it would tell me that the file I try to open is of an unsupported format...huh?!

Okay, so I tried a lot of things without success. Finally I bought another card (Sandisk) put the same data on it and - voila - they play with no problem at all. I know it's not the same as a DSLR, but it might even be worse. If you have a glitch like this with your DSLR you might have lost those pictures forever.

So I agree, get the good stuff (Sandisk, Kingston, Samsung etc.) The difference in price is not worth it to risk your photos.

[KarynL]

Thanks everyone....very much appreciated!

[ccting]

Originally Posted by jdepould

What? "Jacking?" Are you talking about rolling shutter? Line skipping?

Just drag and drop. Nikon Transfer is a terrible piece of software.



What? Taking the card out of the camera is fine. The only way you're going to damage anything is if you try to jam it in backwards, or get water in the card slot. Several 8GB cards gives you better protection against card failure. The price difference between generic and name brand cards isn't enough to justify using them, just get the good stuff.

well, you never able to copy video that more than 1GB via the code. You need to have nikon image transfer to do it. Nikon transfer will spoil your video...some frames are missing in between...unless you take out the sdram and insert into your laptop.. that's another story...

the unbranded one is 10 ten cheaper than the branded one in my country. The branded one class 10 8gb costs more than USD100.

[graciousness]

Alright. Let's get this out of the way.

ccting - Stop looking at Ken's website. The man is well known for errors and mistakes with his reviews and knowledge he puts out there. Whilst he's not wrong all the time, there are better websites and people to read and quote from.

Secondly, go ahead and insist on cheap memory cards if that is what you can only afford. However, it is also known that cheap memory cards are unreliable. It will only take for them to fail once with your precious images for you to really regret not having spent more money on well-known, reliable ones.

Photography is not a cheap hobby. There is always something to be said for getting the best that you can with your gears. You have to get good and reliable gears even if it cost you a little bit more to get the maximum out of your work. Otherwise, you run the risk of issues that could cost you more in the long run.

Losing images because you can't be bothered spending a little bit more on reliable memory cards, well, you lose more than the few bucks you spent on the card. You lose a once-in-a-lifetime moments you had captured with your images. Those precious memorable images are priceless which you can't afford to lose.

[cyber3d]

I agree, stay away from those dirt cheap SD cards. I've come across a couple of counterfeit SD cards that were totally unreliable. One claimed to be 32GB and was really 8GB!!! The other would work in the camera but not be read on any other device.

Learned my lesson. I only buy brand name cards - from reliable dealers. Never going to buy memory from Ebay again. And I only buy class 10 - The speed difference becomes an issue when you start filling up those cards.

If you take a picture and find you can't get it off the card ... what's that card worth...?

[Madog]

+1 for good cards, pay now, or pay later. I haven't bought any new cards in a while, and have a question about speed. Are the class 10 cards as much faster than 6 as the 6's are from 2's? Still images, from capture to write.