wlaidlaw Posted September 12, 2009 Share #41 Posted September 12, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) I do need to buy some more cards on the assumption that my M9 arrives about the middle of next week. The price difference is huge between Ultra II and Extreme III cards. In France for 16 GB: II = €40; III = €107. I have always used Extreme III in the past and my feeling is still to go with them on the basis that a future firmware upgrade will use the 30mb/s ability of these.However if there is a hardware conflict that somehow means the slower II card is actually faster, that would be a big waste of money. I hope someone over the week end will have time to do some real life testing on 16 GB cards. The time for the red light to stop flashing after a 7 shot uncompressed DNG only burst, is I think the easiest way. I did this some time ago on my M8 and was amazed how much faster the 8GB 30 mb/s Extreme III card was than my quite old non-SDHC 2GB Extreme III cards. About 40% less time. Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted September 12, 2009 Posted September 12, 2009 Hi wlaidlaw, Take a look here Sandisk SD card speeds in M9. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
noah_addis Posted September 12, 2009 Share #42 Posted September 12, 2009 I do need to buy some more cards on the assumption that my M9 arrives about the middle of next week. The price difference is huge between Ultra II and Extreme III cards. In France for 16 GB: II = €40; III = €107. I have always used Extreme III in the past and my feeling is still to go with them on the basis that a future firmware upgrade will use the 30mb/s ability of these.However if there is a hardware conflict that somehow means the slower II card is actually faster, that would be a big waste of money. I hope someone over the week end will have time to do some real life testing on 16 GB cards. The time for the red light to stop flashing after a 7 shot uncompressed DNG only burst, is I think the easiest way. I did this some time ago on my M8 and was amazed how much faster the 8GB 30 mb/s Extreme III card was than my quite old non-SDHC 2GB Extreme III cards. About 40% less time. Wilson I'm in the same boat. I currently have 12 Extreme III 4GB cards (the 30mb/s edition) which got a + rating. I used one during my brief test of the M9 and it seemed slow to me. I'd like a few more cards, as I'll shoot uncompressed those files are big. I'd love to buy the cheaper cards for obvious reasons, but I'd hate to do it then be stuck with slower cards if a firmware update makes the faster cards better. I was ready to order some but I guess I'll wait and see for at least a few days. M9 shipments look to be slow in the US anyway... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted September 12, 2009 Share #43 Posted September 12, 2009 I'm in the same boat. I currently have 12 Extreme III 4GB cards (the 30mb/s edition) which got a + rating. I used one during my brief test of the M9 and it seemed slow to me. I'd like a few more cards, as I'll shoot uncompressed those files are big. I'd love to buy the cheaper cards for obvious reasons, but I'd hate to do it then be stuck with slower cards if a firmware update makes the faster cards better. I was ready to order some but I guess I'll wait and see for at least a few days. M9 shipments look to be slow in the US anyway... Noah, I think I will buy 2 x 16GB Ultra II for the time being. If Extreme III's become faster later, that is the lowest cost option, as I am sure the Ultra II's will still be relatively fast. The other option is a much higher cost risk - buying 2 x 16GB Extreme III. I will wait until Monday before ordering, hoping that there will some hard data before then. Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_tribble Posted September 12, 2009 Share #44 Posted September 12, 2009 Sorry I missed out on this thread and started another ! Looks like the mix of Ultras and Extremes I've put together in my confusion might be the best way to have gone! Ah well.... But still - reflect on what a useful space the forum continues to be ... OK, the speculation was a bit tedious in the end, but now we're able to share real information in real time and make informed decisions... THANKS! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest roey Posted September 17, 2009 Share #45 Posted September 17, 2009 Remind me Monday and I can ask if they want to make a statement beyond what is in the FAQ. Sean, did you get a chance to check with Leica on this issue? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted September 17, 2009 Share #46 Posted September 17, 2009 My 2 16GB Ultra II's have arrived from Amazon France, sadly my M9 hasn't. Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted September 17, 2009 Share #47 Posted September 17, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) I agree. My brief test of the M9 showed that the time to "unpixelate" an enlarged review of the image (e.g., to check focus check) was incredibly long with the M9. Basically, if you tried to zoom in, you just saw pixels for quite a long time (I didn't time but it was much longer than the M8 -- using the same exact card). This was even after a single shot. It may well be, but this very long unpixellating time is something it has in common with the DMR ( and very annoying I find it too) Now that is of course older technology, but might it not be an effect of the 16 bit processing in the camera? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
skimmel Posted September 17, 2009 Share #48 Posted September 17, 2009 It may well be, but this very long unpixellating time is something it has in common with the DMR ( and very annoying I find it too) Now that is of course older technology, but might it not be an effect of the 16 bit processing in the camera? Not sure. I watched the interview with Stephan Daniel on Luminance Landscape last night and Stephan was clearly aware and not happy about the zoom speed, but stated that he felt firmware would improve it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deedub Posted September 24, 2009 Share #49 Posted September 24, 2009 Muddying the waters a bit more is the fact that the new batch of 4gb Ultra II cards which I just received from B&H are marked "Ultra" (no Roman numeral II) on the card as well as on the packaging. *However,* these are the upgraded cards rated at "up to 15mb/sec" and labeled as product -004G versus the old product -4096. I sent a specific email to SanDisk for clarification, mentioning the odd speed issue with the M9 recommendation for II over III cards. I do have earlier Ultra II 4gb, 9mb/sec cards to compare with the new Ultra 4gb, 15mb/sec cards in a side-by-side test, which I will share, but my M9 hasn't arrived yet. My goodhearted dealer says "7-10 days" every time I talk with him, but he's honest about it, just like "When are we gonna get there, Daddy?" "Half an hour, son." Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted September 24, 2009 Share #50 Posted September 24, 2009 Muddying the waters a bit more is the fact that the new batch of 4gb Ultra II cards which I just received from B&H are marked "Ultra" (no Roman numeral II) on the card as well as on the packaging. *However,* these are the upgraded cards rated at "up to 15mb/sec" and labeled as product -004G versus the old product -4096.I sent a specific email to SanDisk for clarification, mentioning the odd speed issue with the M9 recommendation for II over III cards. I do have earlier Ultra II 4gb, 9mb/sec cards to compare with the new Ultra 4gb, 15mb/sec cards in a side-by-side test, which I will share, but my M9 hasn't arrived yet. My goodhearted dealer says "7-10 days" every time I talk with him, but he's honest about it, just like "When are we gonna get there, Daddy?" "Half an hour, son." The 16GB ones i got through Amazon France last week are also labelled 15 mb/s. I am now in the position like you, getting fed up with my M9 always being next week (along with free beer), considering it was ordered with deposit at beginning of August. Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevelap Posted September 24, 2009 Share #51 Posted September 24, 2009 Muddying the waters a bit more is the fact that the new batch of 4gb Ultra II cards which I just received from B&H are marked "Ultra" (no Roman numeral II) on the card as well as on the packaging................... It's the same for Extreme III's (8gb/30mb), no 'III' just 'Extreme'. Sandisk must have refreshed their naming convention. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deedub Posted September 25, 2009 Share #52 Posted September 25, 2009 This directly from at Sandisk today via Ryan K., at SanDisk Technical Support: <<There is no difference between Ultra II & Ultra cards technically. Both the cards use the same technology, it is just the new labeling. >> Sandisk have also posted a chart, which indeed shows there is different speed, although they *seem* to claim the same architecture; perhaps this is a good thing for M9ers: SanDisk memory cards read/write speed change When I have the camera in hand to test the "old" Ultra II vs. the new Ultra 15mb/sec, I'll try to get rigorous and post some useful data. I hope before we see den Weihnachtsmann! Good luck to all... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overgaard Posted September 25, 2009 Share #53 Posted September 25, 2009 Just did an actual test between Sandisk Extreme III and Sandisk Ultra today and have posted the results on my M9 page: leica.overgaard.dk - Thorsten Overgaard's Leica Pages - Leica M9 Digital Rangefinder Camera The conclusion is 1 second difference per shot between the two cards. But do have a look. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott kirkpatrick Posted September 26, 2009 Share #54 Posted September 26, 2009 Several generations of SanDisk Ultra and Extreme SDHC cards are still in the market, as well as in our camera bags. I have mostly Xiii's in 2, 4, and 8 GB sizes and one old Uii 1GB, plus one brand new Uii 8 GB. The Xiii's were bought at intervals of one year, at constant price, so the size indicates their age. None of them are the latest, with the speed indicated on the chip cover. The newest Uii says 15 MB on the cover. My oldest chips have a red SanDisk logo at the bottom, then newer ones have a silver logo. You can see examples of all three chip styles still for sale on Amazon's web pages. The Ultra IIs all seem to sell for about $3/GB in realistic sizes, with one new style 8G U II going for $19.08 as the exception. Unfortunately, SDHC cards can't be shipped across customs boundaries (US, EC, don't know about US to Canada). But my local airport's duty free prices are not too much higher. The very latest Extreme III's sell on Amazon 8GB class 10 (30 MB) for $60 ($7.5/GB), so to me the interesting question is comparing this year's Ultra II with last generation Extreme III. For the next Extreme III, a six month wait is a good idea. I checked upload speeds to my laptop using a Sandisk Micromate reader with an 8GB Ultra II (newest 15 MB) and an Extreme III from early 2009, moving a 3.2 GB archive file up and down. The upload times were only about 10% different, with the Ultra II slower. I did the Sean Reid test for how fast my M8.2 can write to each (shoot a clock with a sweep second hand in C mode with all exposure controls on manual at ISO 160). When I compared the new, empty Ultra II card with a nearly full Xtreme III card, the Ultra II did a little better -- more shots before the buffer filled and shooting slowed down, same interval between shots (roughly 2 sec per shot as long as I wanted to continue), same time for the buffer to clear afterwards. So my conclusion is that the newest Ultra IIs are a good buy, for now. Incidentally, some of the timings you report in your website sound different from the results reported in Reid Reviews (much slower shot to shot times once the buffer is full). And your comment that there has been only one report of an M9 hangup during rapid shooting, and that was a stress test using pre-production firmware is incorrect. If you mean Sean Reid, he did the tests he reports after first posting his review on September 10, so he would have been using 1.002. Others on the LUF have also encountered this problem, and it is a known problem going back to the M8.2 I would assume that it is getting attention now. scott Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
35mmSummicron Posted September 26, 2009 Share #55 Posted September 26, 2009 Others on the LUF have also encountered this problem, and it is a known problem going back to the M8.2 I would assume that it is getting attention now. Actually the problem dates back to the original M8 (read--a 3 year old problem). I've tried to be vocal about this to elicit a response/firmware update to resolve the issue. .a Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mzcloud Posted October 6, 2009 Share #56 Posted October 6, 2009 I recently bought an extreme 16G but it doesn't say extreme III and packaging said extreme. Are they the same with just an older packaging??? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted October 6, 2009 Share #57 Posted October 6, 2009 I recently bought an extreme 16G but it doesn't say extreme III and packaging said extreme. Are they the same with just an older packaging??? A fake? Was it bought from a reputable source or ePrey? My son bought a "Kingston" 32 GB USB pen drive from eBay just before he went to Central America. It was actually a 1 GB relabelled and the seller has vanished. Luckily, Paypal after a lot of prodding, coughed up. Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevelap Posted October 6, 2009 Share #58 Posted October 6, 2009 See the Sandisk website http://www.sandisk.co.uk/Products/Catalog%281003%29-Imaging_Cards.aspx. The very latest SDHC cards are just named 'Extreme' and are available in 4/8/16/32MB sizes. They are now 'Class 10', as opposed to the earlier Extreme III's which are Class 6. The SD Association's own website mentions nothing above class 6 by the way, other than the future SDXC standard. Perhaps the manufacturers are getting ahead of the game a little. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mzcloud Posted October 6, 2009 Share #59 Posted October 6, 2009 See the Sandisk website SanDisk | Products | Imaging Cards. The very latest SDHC cards are just named 'Extreme' and are available in 4/8/16/32MB sizes. They are now 'Class 10', as opposed to the earlier Extreme III's which are Class 6. The SD Association's own website mentions nothing above class 6 by the way, other than the future SDXC standard. Perhaps the manufacturers are getting ahead of the game a little. It was purchased from Best Buy (very reputable retailer). I checked UK website and thats how it looks like, guess its the new version without the III.. even better Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevez4 Posted November 8, 2009 Share #60 Posted November 8, 2009 The $350 Extreme 3, 30 mg, 10 card stinks in the M9. And Sandisk shouild be ashamed for not warning consumers. I thought that M9 was defective due to its problems. I am sticking with Ultra II that Leica recommends. It works flawlessly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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