SDHC match for M8

[tho3hite]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I've been using 2GB SanDisk Extreme III cards in my M8 for a couple of years. I'd like to upgrade to an 8GB or maybe even a 16GB card.

 

I don't think the M8 is the fastest write to card camera around. How fast does the card need to be to be a reasonable match for the camera? I don't see the point in buying a SanDisk 30MB/s card if the camera won't use that capacity. Since the slower cards like the 20MB/s series are much cheaper it doesn't make sence to buy speed that can't be used.

 

The speed of unloading isn't a big concern for me.

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[blimey]

i dont believe the speed of the card matters as the bottleneck is within the m8. you can get away with a class 4 or class 6 card. i use lexar 8gb class 4 card and always set to DNG. there are many threads that i read stating, DNG is faster on the M8 than JPEG format.

[vanhulsenbeek]

AFIK with a 8Gb card you allready hit the 999+ picture count. I have been very happy with Ultra II 4Gb SDHC cards, that are cheap and reliable. Better have a few than put all your eggs in one basket.

[tho3hite]

i dont believe the speed of the card matters as the bottleneck is within the m8.

 

That's my thought too. I very seldom shoot in continuous mode--maybe I should say never. I tend to shoot about as fast I used to when I had to wind the film between shots; that's about 1/second. Although I have on occasions filled the buffer and missed a shot while the camera was writing.

 

My M8 shows 187 images on a 2GB card though I think it may record a couple more sometimes depending on how well the images compress. I guess an 8GB card would come in at around 800 images.

 

I have shot more than that in a day. Not often but a few times in the 1200 - 1600 photo range for a singe days shooting. Those were very long days and not too common for me.

 

The argument not to put all eggs in one basket doesn't feel significant to me. Life always involves a balancing of risks. I think the risk of a big card going bad while in the camera is much less likely than the risk that I will accidentally damage a card while trying to swap media in the middle of a frantic moment while shooting.

 

I wan't a card big enough to carry a full day's images in a maximum use situation or a couple days images until I can unload and backup in a quiet moment when I'm less likely to drop the card into horse stall or someplace even worse. Having 4 cards in my pocket also means that I may accidentally grab a used card and reformat it by mistake.

 

I don't know about you but my biggest source of preventable failures is me!

[menos I M6]

With todays fastest SDHC cards, not the write times of the M8/9 matter much, as they are rather slowish.

 

The benefit entirely sits in the download times to your computer with a fast card reader.

 

I like things zippy, so only the fastest cards will be bought.

At the moment, I use SanDisk Extreme 16GB cards and like them. They work perfectly in my M8.2, GRDII and GRDIII without a hick.

 

I cannot comment on compatibility with the M9 though, as this camera shows some card issues to some users as I understand.

There is a small time difference in formatting a 4GB vs a 16GB card in camera with the M8.2 if that matters to you.

[tbarker13]

I recently picked up a couple of the faster 4gb SDHC cards (sandisk ultra) rated at 30 mb/s.

I wanted to know how they'd perform compared to 4gb SDHC cards (also sandisk ultra) rated at 15 mb/s.

With each card, I shot on continuous mode until the buffer filled. Then I waited to see how long it took for the buffer to clear. I timed it with a stopwatch.

There was no difference in performance. The cheaper 15 mb/s cards were just as fast on the M8.2.

[!Nomad64]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

You won't see any difference when taking the pictures. You'll see them as you'll transfer the pictures to your PC. Faster cards usually are also faster to read.

 

Cheers

Bruno

[Islandmike]

 

The argument not to put all eggs in one basket doesn't feel significant to me. Life always involves a balancing of risks. I think the risk of a big card going bad while in the camera is much less likely than the risk that I will accidentally damage a card while trying to swap media in the middle of a frantic moment while shooting.

 

Regardless of which camera I'm using, I restrict myself to small capacity cards for professional use, 2 or 4 gb.

 

This is because I had a card go bad (in the camera) on me at a friend's wedding a few years ago and lost all of the images from the time of the couple leaving the church. Even forensic evidence gathering software could not get the images back.

 

Not a complete disaster, but enough to persuade me that spreading a day's shoot over 6 or more cards is a good insurance. Frequent changing is a pain, but less than trying to recover images.

 

This year, for added safety, I will also be swapping camera bodies at fairly frequent intervals during each wedding.

[cidereye]

Using the latest SanDisk Ultra 8GB in my M8 with no problems at all, as per what Tim said in his test findings I also don't notice any difference with the actual speed of these compared to the Extreme so that will do nicely for me.

 

I had recently tried a slightly cheaper 8GB Toshiba branded card on several cameras and despite it supposedly being the same class rating as the SanDisk it was awful and very slow.