D3 buffer speeds

I just did a quick test and here's my results.

D3 - Firmware = 2.0

All on continuous shooting, held the button down each time until the buffer crapped out and slowed or stopped. All settings via the shooting menu at set to "OFF".

Transcend 8gig card @ 133x = 18 frames with RAW, 51 frames with JPG FINE.

Sandisk EXTREME 8 gig card @ 60mb/s UDMA (400x) = 24 frames with RAW, 130 frames with JPG FINE. I filled the 130 pic limit and thats where it stopped.

The things of note that are important to me.

1. RAW continuous shooting was minimally affected by write speed of the card. This leads me to believe the buffer on the D3 is the real limiting factor when shooting RAW.

2. The shooting in JPG FINE write speed was very impressive with the Sandisk EXTREME. I filled the shooting menu maximum shoot rate with ease. I watched the [r#] through the view finder and it barely moved.

3. Recovery time to then again start shooting was much quicker for both RAW and JPG with the Sandisk card.

These results were not all that surprising, but might be helpful to you.

~Eric