psyiko
Newbie
I've never owned a good digital camera that used an SD card where I actually cared how fast it wrote and how many RAW images it could hold.
I have a Panasonic GF1 and I was wondering if any users out there could give me some advice on what kind of card to get. I am taking it on a two week trip to India without a laptop so I need a high capacity card so I can keep my images on them without having to download them. What sort of size do you think will be good for that? 32GB is still very expensive so I was thinking of a 16GB or 2x 8GB cards. Also, does the write speed really matter? Will a Class 2 really take a half second to write the image each time?
Thanks!
I have a Panasonic GF1 and I was wondering if any users out there could give me some advice on what kind of card to get. I am taking it on a two week trip to India without a laptop so I need a high capacity card so I can keep my images on them without having to download them. What sort of size do you think will be good for that? 32GB is still very expensive so I was thinking of a 16GB or 2x 8GB cards. Also, does the write speed really matter? Will a Class 2 really take a half second to write the image each time?
Thanks!
MartinP
Veteran
It could be worth taking multiple smaller cards, rather than one single huge card. That way if there is a card problem you can (maybe) still go on shooting with a different one and try to recover the damaged card when you are home - instead of having no alternative to reformatting the damaged card, and definitively wiping everything you did up to that point....
ampguy
Veteran
Class 2s are quite slow
Class 2s are quite slow
I'd go with Class 4 or Class 6, especially if doing any video.
Not sure if the GF1 will benefit from faster cards, but I'd be very surprised if there wasn't a significant increase in performance when using a class 4 or 6 vs a 2.
Class 2s are quite slow
I'd go with Class 4 or Class 6, especially if doing any video.
Not sure if the GF1 will benefit from faster cards, but I'd be very surprised if there wasn't a significant increase in performance when using a class 4 or 6 vs a 2.
dexdog
Veteran
I second the suggestion to use a number of smaller cards as opposed to one larger card. I had a 4GB card fail on me during a tour of Botswana; luckily I did not lose many images, and had a bunch of other cards that I could turn to.
Also, compare the write speed to your camera to the write speed of the card, and choose the closest match
Also, compare the write speed to your camera to the write speed of the card, and choose the closest match
swoop
Well-known
The class system is just a suggestion/minimum speed. Most cards perform faster than the class speed rates them. And for all digital cameras the card speeds are kind of a moot point. It's only when you're downloading them to your computer does it really become a factor.
I do notice a difference between sandisk extreme (class 6) and sandisk ultra (class 4) when transferring. But it's not going to kill you to wait an extra 2 minutes.
In general I go for the reputable brands. Sandisk and Kingston. And I buy in relatively small sizes. 4GB cards for both my Leica M9 and Nikon D2x.
I do notice a difference between sandisk extreme (class 6) and sandisk ultra (class 4) when transferring. But it's not going to kill you to wait an extra 2 minutes.
In general I go for the reputable brands. Sandisk and Kingston. And I buy in relatively small sizes. 4GB cards for both my Leica M9 and Nikon D2x.
biomed
Veteran
I have used class 4 cards in my GF1 without any problems. Panasonic reccommends a class 6 card for video recording.
count_zero
Established
I use a 8GB class 10 for video and bracketing. Otherwise, a 32GB class 4 works fine. The class 10 does seem to save faster when bracketing. The Olympus E500 has been tested to write a 10MB/s sustained, so there is a benefit when going with class 10 (the class rating is how fast it will write).
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psyiko
Newbie
Thanks! I've decided to get 4x 4GB cards. Video is definitely not a huge concern for me so I think Class 4 should be okay. Thanks for all the great info.