How to measure the M9 write time with a given memory card?

Rob-F

Rob-F

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What is the best way to objectively measure the write time? I'm trying out a handful of Sandisk and Transcend 16 and 32GB cards. Should we time from the instant of shutter release until the red light stops blinking? Or (this is what I'm doing right now) count the number of times the red light blinks.

And let me tack on a second question:

Is it best to format, or not to format the card? And if it is best to format the card, should that be done in the M9, or some other way? I'm asking this because I've read a post that said that formatting the card in the M9 can cause the M9 to lock up. This person said it seemed best not to format at all.

Does formatting improve the write speed?
 
For example, I get the following:

Sandisk Extreme Pro 32GB 95MB/s, write speed U3 : 16 blinks
Sandisk Ultra 8GB 40MB/s, write speed C10, 19 blinks
Sandisk Ultra 8GB 30MB/s, write speed U1/C10, 26 blinks
Transcend Premium 32GB 90GB/s, write speed U1/C10, 19 blinks
Transcend Premium 16GB 90GB/s, write speed U1/C10, 22 blinks

Looks like the Sandisk Extreme Pro is the fastest in my M9. And it looks like the U3 rating is of some benefit for the M9 (some say that better cards don't help the M9, or that older, slower cards work better. I'm not seeing evidence of that).

Is anyone else playing such games with memory cards? I thought I might try to find the best card for my M9.
 
With an hourglass😌. Just joking of course. But the M9 is not a speed demon.
Cards. Years ago, I had some problems with Sandisk cards, and the camera would sometimes freeze. I assume they were genuine cards, but at the time there was a lot written about counterfeit ones. In any case, I switched to Lexar cards, mostly 8gb now, occasionally 16 go; I’ve never used the 32 go in mine.
I should say I use Sandisk cards in my 2 Sony bodies, and used Transcend in my Ricoh bodies over the years. In both cases without problems.
I almost always format the cards in my camera bodies; never outside them. Aside from the previously mentioned freeze problem many years ago, I’ve never had the Leica lock-up (except when the battery is low and the warning appears on the screen).
Since I always format, I can’t compare write-speed with not formatting. I’m not a tech guy, but I thought not-formatting would be worse for speed over time as the number of deleted files increase, because since mere deleting does not remove the files, the camera would always be looking for space that was previously unused first. But I stand to be corrected by someone who actually is a tech person.
 
Freakscene said:
VisualDSP++ ($3500 USD) or CrossCore Embedded Studio ($995) will open the firmware for the Blackfin processors and you can check write speed.

Marty
Click to expand...

I'm not really familiar with any of that. $3500 or $995? Blackfin processor? No, I'm just trying out a few cards to see what difference it makes.

I saw on the Leica Forum that a member wrote,

"My M9 eventually trashed every card I used, though it took some time. The symptoms were: more freezes, then eventually could not write to card.
But I solved it. I never format. I just "erase all". Since I changed that practice it has never ruined a card.
I shoot it every day for over 3 years, some times 300+ shots in a day. In the first year I was killing cards. Not since."​

This makes me think twice about formatting my cards.

In the process of writing my thoughts and reading responses, I have clarified my thinking. My question is not so much how to measure the write time; it's more about the differences in write time that cards can make with the M9.
 
I used the same 16GB card with my M9 for well over six years, maybe eight, and formatted in camera every time I downloaded the images from the card. The card was a Sandisk Ultra, and it was absolutely fine for all that time.

Now, I use a Sandisk Extreme 32GB, and format in camera. Again, the card has been fine for years.

If you want to format the card to a 'fresh' state, use a free program called SD Memory Card Formatter, available for download from sdcard.org. Formatting using the computer's formatting own functions purportedly can mess with the card, so it's better to format with a program specifically designed for SD cards, like the aforementioned. Every now and again, I do a complete overwriting format with SD Formatter, not in camera. Incidentally, SD Formatter has solved write issues with a few cards with a complete overwriting format.
 
Rob-F said:
I'm not really familiar with any of that. $3500 or $995? Blackfin processor? No, I'm just trying out a few cards to see what difference it makes.

I saw on the Leica Forum that a member wrote,

"My M9 eventually trashed every card I used, though it took some time. The symptoms were: more freezes, then eventually could not write to card.
But I solved it. I never format. I just "erase all". Since I changed that practice it has never ruined a card.
I shoot it every day for over 3 years, some times 300+ shots in a day. In the first year I was killing cards. Not since."​

This makes me think twice about formatting my cards.

In the process of writing my thoughts and reading responses, I have clarified my thinking. My question is not so much how to measure the write time; it's more about the differences in write time that cards can make with the M9.
Click to expand...

Those are programs let you see the exact write speed of the card from the processor in the M9.

The difference probably varies, given that the effect of cards and individual cameras is different.

Marty
 
Today's Experiments

Today's Experiments

For today I tried out a new Sandisk Extreme 90MB/sec 16GB U3/C10 card.
It had the shortest write time of any card I have tried, just 12 blinks of the red LED. The previous record was the Sandisk Extreme Pro 32MB U3 at 16 blinks.

Then I compared the write time before and after formatting a Sandisk 1GB C2 card. No difference--about 35 blinks either way.

If I had anything to take a picture of around here I probably wouldn't be bothering with this. But it's been 100 degrees outside today.
 
One test I did years ago- shoot at High ISO and test the cards for noise level. I found the PNY and Sandisk 4x cards to be good. Higher speed cards introduced some banding noise. I stick with the 4x cards. I tend to shoot more carefully/slowly with the Leica M9 and M Monochrom, never filled up the buffer.
 
raid said:
I learned from Brian's experience with cards, and I also use 4x cards whenever possible.
Click to expand...

Raid, does this mean class 4 cards? I see some are still available from Amazon. I notice that the older cards are not being blown out cheap. They are at least as expensive as the fancier new ones. I suppose this shows there is still a demand, from those of us who may get best results from them.
 
Darthfeeble said:
I've had 4 digital leicas, one M8 and three M9s. I used Sandisk cards in all of them, 8 and then 16 mb cards with never a problem, formatted in the camera, I don't know if there is another way.
Click to expand...

My Kodak DC-50 used 4MByte PCMCIA cards. I still have some 25+ year old PCMCIA cards, 120MByte and a 240MByte DISK PCMCIA. Still work.
 
I take photos of a stopwatch: set camera to record uncompressed DNG + fine JPG to maximize data per image, start timer, shoot a set number of photos (usually four), wait for light to stop blinking, and, as soon as I recognize that it stops, I take another photo. Time shown in last photo minus time of first in series equals time elapsed to write the series.

My opinion: U3 cards are worth it.
 
Restarting an old thread. I see most advice is that the M8/M9 cameras are happiest with 16GB SDHC cards. This is despite the M9 manual stating: "Storage medium SD cards up to 2 GB/SDHC cards up to 32 GB." I currently use SDHC high speed (90 MBS) cards and wonder if switching to the cards Brian recommended above would be an advantage.

Any advice on this??
 
I prefer smaller cards as I transfer the images after most outings and then reformat the card. 16GBytes- overkill for an outing.

With a large capacity card- you lose a lot of images if it goes bad.
When I first got the M9: I compared Banding shooting at High ISO with fast cards vs slower 4x cards. I did the same with the M Monochrom shooting at ISO 10,000. The slower cards produced less banding. My "WAG", a buffer writing out at a steady state is likely to draw voltage on an even basis. A buffer that drains quickly to a card, is empty, card pauses writing: voltage draw is uneven as pixels are readout of the CCD and digitized.
Track that kind of error down once on a custom sensor, tend to remember the experience.
 
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