SD Card Concerns

[Svendle]

I have an XSi that I got a couple months ago. Now I desperately need some new SD cards, and after some bad experiences with cheap brands I know I want to go with quality and get SanDisk. I understand the issues with write speed/continuous shooting and I'm wondering if it is worth it to get an Extreme III card or will their Ultra II cards serve my needs. Since I'm not shooting 8fps on a high end body is the faster card a waste of money? Hopefully someone with some experience here can help me out.

[OsmosisStudios]

Sounds like you'll be fine with the Ultra II cards.

[sk66]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

Sounds like you'll be fine with the Ultra II cards.

+1............

[TFord.LTTP]

Well first any Extreme III SD cards are a waste of money, they're only rated for 20mbps as opposed to the newer just Extreme branded cards that are 30 for SD. Second you don't need that unless you're shooting 1080 video on the T2i or a Vixia. Don't think there's any SLRs on the market that use SD that really shoots over 4fps and most of the cameras that use SD have terrible buffers that can't even keep up with Ultra II cards.

I have a T1i right now and use 8GB Ultra II cards and shooting raw I get the same burst length that reviews have quoted on the Extreme cards. Don't think there's any SLR that justifies it right now other than for HD video with SD. When you start dealing with a 7D or above, the stuff using CF cards, I absolutely think the Extremes are worth it since with the better processing and architecture you get buffer performance to justify it.

[WooD]

One of my cameras use SD cards. I've got a dozen or so, and I'm pretty sure all but one are just regular old SanDisk cards. I've got one Extreme card, but I cant tell any difference in it from the others.

All my CF cards are Extreme III's, but Staples had a killer sell on them, and I bought every one they had.

[Mad Hatter]

I use SanDisk SD cards, but I am confused as to the designations. I know that HC stands for "high capacitiy", but I would like to understand the designation "Ultra". Also, a few words on the Class of the the card would be appreciated. Thanks!

[John Hendry]

The issue is that some higher capacity cards (and USB memory sticks especially) have slower write speeds than their smaller family members, so check out the read/write speeds as you may be surprised to see that a smaller card may actually give better results.

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by Mad Hatter

I use SanDisk SD cards, but I am confused as to the designations. I know that HC stands for "high capacitiy", but I would like to understand the designation "Ultra". Also, a few words on the Class of the the card would be appreciated. Thanks!

SanDisk designates their cards with various names. "ULTRA" is merely the term for their higher-end class 4 cards. There are EXTREME cards which are faster speed.

Originally Posted by John Hendry

The issue is that some higher capacity cards (and USB memory sticks especially) have slower write speeds than their smaller family members, so check out the read/write speeds as you may be surprised to see that a smaller card may actually give better results.

Nonsense. Memory cards have a posted read/write speed: if they're listed as Class 10, they're the same speed regardless of their size.

[Mad Hatter]

Thanks for the clarification. Just wondering; do you have a favority brand of memory card?

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by Mad Hatter

Thanks for the clarification. Just wondering; do you have a favority brand of memory card?

All my cards are SanDisk (Ultra or Extreme), though I use CF not SD.