SD cards and RAW

[mike21]

With my present bog standard cheap SD card the red light is on for about ten seconds if I shoot in RAW +jpg. I do not use burst mode but photographing birds in flight can mean an exposure every couple of seconds. Presumably write speed is the problem; which is a suitable quality to go for, the cards seem to be described in so many ways by different manufacturers.

[mike21 · Accepted solution]

The card I am currently using is a Kingston HC - SD4/8GB. It has been formatted in the camera several times. I have not bought a new card yet, my problem is the long time it appears to take to write to the card when using RAW+JPG, based on the time the light is on. THe PNY I was considering has the words 100MB/Sec on the label, presumably the maximum read speed with USB 3.0  With a camera max write speed of 44MB/s writing a raw +jpg should be almost instantaneous with the PNY's write speed - presumably my present card write capability is very much below the 700D's maximum of 44 MB/sec. I am not bothered about read speed.

f 

[kvbarkley]

What camera?

[cicopo]

Yes, the camera model needs to be known too because they are a another variable. This site should help.

http://www.cameramemoryspeed.com/

[mike21]

Thank you. My camera is a Canon 700D (T5) - 18 Mpixel. The nearest in the chart is the Rebel T6 - 24 Mpixel. With a lower file size it would seem that a lower speed card would be as fast to write to my camera as the expensive ones recommended for the T6. I have found a PNY Elite Performance SDHC Flash Memory Card 32GB Class 10 UHS-1 U3 at £15 post free which would seem to be a good compromise - am I correct?

[kvbarkley]

Have you re-formatted the card in the camera lately?

Does JPEG by itself take a long time?

Does RAW by itself take a long time?

[Peter]

---

@mike21 wrote:

Thank you. My camera is a Canon 700D (T5) - 18 Mpixel. The nearest in the chart is the Rebel T6 - 24 Mpixel. With a lower file size it would seem that a lower speed card would be as fast to write to my camera as the expensive ones recommended for the T6. I have found a PNY Elite Performance SDHC Flash Memory Card 32GB Class 10 UHS-1 U3 at £15 post free which would seem to be a good compromise - am I correct?

---

700D has a maximum write speed of 44 MB/s. Your card, if it is the one with 95 MB/s* has a write speed of around 56 MB/s.

Anyway, have you low level format your card in camera?

[mike21 · Accepted solution]

The card I am currently using is a Kingston HC - SD4/8GB. It has been formatted in the camera several times. I have not bought a new card yet, my problem is the long time it appears to take to write to the card when using RAW+JPG, based on the time the light is on. THe PNY I was considering has the words 100MB/Sec on the label, presumably the maximum read speed with USB 3.0  With a camera max write speed of 44MB/s writing a raw +jpg should be almost instantaneous with the PNY's write speed - presumably my present card write capability is very much below the 700D's maximum of 44 MB/sec. I am not bothered about read speed.

f 

[Waddizzle · Accepted solution]

---

@mike21 wrote:

The card I am currently using is a Kingston HC - SD4/8GB. It has been formatted in the camera several times. I have not bought a new card yet, my problem is the long time it appears to take to write to the card when using RAW+JPG, based on the time the light is on. THe PNY I was considering has the words 100MB/Sec on the label, presumably the maximum read speed with USB 3.0  With a camera max write speed of 44MB/s writing a raw +jpg should be almost instantaneous with the PNY's write speed - presumably my present card write capability is very much below the 700D's maximum of 44 MB/sec. I am not bothered about read speed.

f 

---

Use Lexar or Sandisk.  

Use full size SD cards, never micro-SD cards with adapters.

Be aware that a card that far exceeds what your camera needs can be just as bad as a card that falls short of the specifications.

[mike21]

Thanks all. I now know enough to be able to find the appropriate new card.