SD card write times - DX 8000G

[Beeblebum]

I've just upgraded to a Sea & Sea DX 8000G and when shooting Raw files there is a huge delay while the file writes to the SD card. I am using reasonable quality cards, i.e. Fuji and Lexar but also I have noted that there are cards available which are marketed as having very fast write times - at a premium price. Given the wide price difference in price between standard and hi-performance cards it may be interesting to quantify the performance of the different qualities.

May I ask if anyone who owns a DX 8000G could time the write times of their recommended cards while shooting Raw (NC 3264 x 2448) at 64 ASA?

For example, there seems to be little discernable difference between the 'standard' quality Fuji and Lexar which both take in the order of 18 seconds to write.

[Jay]

The bottleneck may be in your camera and not on the card read / write rate. Do you know what the buffer size / speed on the camera is? As an example, on my Canon 350D D-SLR, I can shoot 3 frames a second for 11 frames or so in RAW format before the buffer fills up and temporarily stalls the shooting.

18 seconds seems excessive for one RAW file to write out to even a standard SD card.

[Beeblebum]

Actually, the write time is about 12 secs (for non-compressed tiffs not raw). The additional few secs is about the flash recyling. My mistake ... Obviously best resolution compressed jpegs write much quicker.

Sea & Sea (Ricoh) don't publish the buffer size / speed but I think it would be an interesting project to quantify the performance of premium price 'hi-speed' cards.

[big_si]

Not sure about your camera specifically but the difference in write times on SWMBO'd camera between a regular SD card and a Sandisk Extreme III card was AMAZING!!! SOOOOOOOOOO much faster!

I think there is even a Extreme IV out now so I assume it's even faster?!?!

[G man]

There was a chap in BCD on Friday with a 8000G he mentioned his took 20 secs to write a raw file to memory card.

Alan James Photography sold him his and they are only over the bridge from you.
It seems that Alan uses the same camera so I guess he'd be in the best position to offer you the correct advice.

Cheers G.

[Jay]

Another thing to be aware of is there are loads of counterfeit cards kicking about (some managed to find there way into reputable shops and online distributers) and definitely do NOT do what they say on the tin.

Even at the outside, the max file size for RAW is going to be about 4-6MB and 12 secs write time is VERY slow.

Taking a look at Jessops website, the Ultra II 512MB SD card has a write rate of 9MB/sec.

[Jay]

Originally Posted by big_si

I think there is even a Extreme IV out now so I assume it's even faster?!?!

Yes it is - except, there are no cameras currently that will write that fast (including high end D-SLR). One argument is that you will be future proofing your card for a time when cameras catch up. My argument is, bollox! When that happens, the cards will be a fraction of what they cost now

[StuartC]

interesting - I had the same concern when I bought the DX5000G from Alan James a couple of years back.

20 secs to write uncompressed TIFF files to SD, file size of approx 10Mb.

the 5000G has a small buffer and uses USB1.0 for external interface.

I was looking for solutions to work with the ipod camera connector and was keen to try the new SD cards with a built-in USB connector when hinged open.

I didn't want to spend LOTS on one of the Extreme III sandisk cards only to find it was no faster, so I persuaded a helpful Dixon's retail assistant (there's an oxmoron!) to let me try it in the shop....

needless to say it was no quicker - 18secs average regardless of cheapo SD or Sandisk Extreme III.

The Ricoh Caplio GX8 (same as the DX800G except for the branding stickers and colour) details the internal memory as 26Mb and boasts 1.7fps when shooting continuously, but this is not at the uncompressed TIFF mode.

I was hoping my new purchase might write faster, but sounds like your Sea&Sea doesn't so no point buying faster SD cards