SL write speed with 3.0 fw

[Steve McGarrett]

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Searching the forum for old topics, I see there wasn't a big difference in write speed / buffer clearing from 95 MB/s card upwards (like Sandisk Extreme Pro 95 M/s type...)

 

Is something changed with the 3.0 firmware? It boasts about being 50% faster in clearing buffer... is it worth now to buy 1000x or 2000x cards, then?

 

Thank you guys

[Irakly Shanidze]

these cards are worth buying only for uncompressed 4K video recorded externally. Everything else can be successfully handled by 95MB/s cards.

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[scott kirkpatrick]

I was reading Kirk Tuck today on just how necessary he finds the faster cards, for video.  And they are getting scarce at the moment, since Lexar seems to have left the market, causing the price to jump.

[Steve McGarrett]

I have no need for videos, only stills. No change then with fw 3.0?

[scott kirkpatrick]

I remember that claim.  I've used 80 MB/s Sandisk Extreme cards in the SL since I got it, and Lexar 1000s more recently as I do some video.  For still shooting, I don't see any change.

[Irakly Shanidze]

I was reading Kirk Tuck today on just how necessary he finds the faster cards, for video.  And they are getting scarce at the moment, since Lexar seems to have left the market, causing the price to jump.

 

Lexar is doing just fine. It was acquired by Longsys and keeps making everything the way it did before. The thing about Lexar, only 2000x cards are actually good for 4K uncompressed video. 1000x has a write speed of 80MB/s, which is safe only for Apple ProRes Proxy. Anything more data intensive may result in dropped frames.

[BernardC]

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I have no need for videos, only stills. No change then with fw 3.0?

 

FW 3.0 provides 35% faster writes for stills. This means that the buffer clears faster, and that you can review shots sooner. You may or may not notice the difference, depending on your shooting style. it's barely noticeable if you shoot one frame at a time, but it's significant if you shoot bursts.

 

Either way, there is no reason compelling not to update to FW3.0. It's a solid release with lots of useful features.

[Steve McGarrett]

FW 3.0 provides 35% faster writes for stills. This means that the buffer clears faster, and that you can review shots sooner. You may or may not notice the difference, depending on your shooting style. it's barely noticeable if you shoot one frame at a time, but it's significant if you shoot bursts.

 

Either way, there is no reason compelling not to update to FW3.0. It's a solid release with lots of useful features.

 

Thanks, but I wanted to know if there's a reason to buy faster than 95M/s SD cards... never thought not updating to 3.0.

[ramarren]

Different cards with the same spec read and write slightly differently. For instance, between the Lexar Pro 1000 and SanDisk Extreme Pro, although the Lexar are a bit faster with stills, there's really little difference otherwise. I think the Sandisk handle video streams better, despite being a hair slower on spec.

 

Overall, however, once you're at this level of performance, you're within one digit to partial percentage point differences of how fast the SL can perform ...