D300s memory cards

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NikonSimon

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Hi there,

D300s arriving tomorrow, and after reading up about the dual memory card slots I'm looking for good quality, but decent priced, memory cards. SD and CF.

I was thinking this for SD, and this for CF. I'm not going to need 8Gb ones, and if I needed more space I could set the camera to use one as overflow (was thinking of having one RAW and one JPEG initally, but the option of overflow is handy)

Thoughts?

p.s. I know some extensive searching and reading of these boards will bring some ideas to the fore, but I was after a bit of a quick win really :thumbs:
 
Don't know what the raw file size is on the D300s but on the D300 I only get about 70 RAW images on a 2gb card :shrug:
 
Tractor Boy said:
Don't know what the raw file size is on the D300s but on the D300 I only get about 70 RAW images on a 2gb card :shrug:
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Are you shooting lossless compressed RAW? 70 does not sound like much. I think I get 430 on an 8Gb on a D700 which has the same number of pixels.
 
I have the newer stock Extreme III cards Here these ones are 30MB per second I'm not sure what the older stock cards that you have linked to run at.

The 30MB per second are good for general use but can not keep up with shooting at speed. I also have this card here and this is money well spent as it really stands up to the job. 770 RAW files per 16GB card on 12 bit.

For SD I use this samsung card here but it is not the class 6 it claims as it bugs out only 1min 56 secs in to HD video recording without fail. But cheap and well built for 16GB of general storage!
 
18-270 said:
I have the newer stock Extreme III cards Here these ones are 30MB per second I'm not sure what the older stock cards that you have linked to run at.

The 30MB per second are good for general use but can not keep up with shooting at speed. I also have this card here and this is money well spent as it really stands up to the job. 770 RAW files per 16GB card on 12 bit.

For SD I use this samsung card here but it is not the class 6 it claims as it bugs out only 1min 56 secs in to HD video recording without fail. But cheap and well built for 16GB of general storage!
Click to expand...

I just can't justify spending a large amount of money really, not when I've spent out on a D300s, and a Hitech filter system. I'm looking to budget as much as possible!
 
cowasaki said:
Are you shooting lossless compressed RAW? 70 does not sound like much. I think I get 430 on an 8Gb on a D700 which has the same number of pixels.
Click to expand...

Me thinks I need to look in to this :thinking:

I must admit to not fiddling too much with the settings since getting the camera other than those I need to - what would you recommend as the best setting.
 
NikonSimon said:
I just can't justify spending a large amount of money really, not when I've spent out on a D300s, and a Hitech filter system. I'm looking to budget as much as possible!
Click to expand...


Of course to get you started these cards will be fine. But be aware that you will fall short of the cameras performance. I have a 4GB Exiii if you want me to test the video on it?


Tractor Boy said:
Me thinks I need to look in to this :thinking:

I must admit to not fiddling too much with the settings since getting the camera other than those I need to - what would you recommend as the best setting.
Click to expand...

70 RAW sounds about right for a 2GB card with a bit of age and lost sectors. Even on brand new 2GB card you'll hit 90 at very best on the D300s
 
Anyway, going back to my original question..

Can someone enlighten me as to the difference between Sandisk Extreme cards, and Sandisk Ultra cards? Should I be looking at one or the other, and the work from there (size, II or III or IV, write speed etc). Picstop based in Jersey appear to have some good deals
 
If it's any help, my D300s arrived this morning and because I forgot to order another card with it used the one out of my D90.

It's an 8GB Sandisk and the D300s reads 382. The same card in the D90 read 485 when it was empty.
 
NikonSimon said:
Anyway, going back to my original question..

Can someone enlighten me as to the difference between Sandisk Extreme cards, and Sandisk Ultra cards? Should I be looking at one or the other, and the work from there (size, II or III or IV, write speed etc). Picstop based in Jersey appear to have some good deals
Click to expand...

A comprehensive answer was given to your original question and also an explanation of the speed difference. :cuckoo:

Just wondering what you meant by back to your original question :shrug:
 
18-270 said:
A comprehensive answer was given to your original question and also an explanation of the speed difference. :cuckoo:

Just wondering what you meant by back to your original question :shrug:
Click to expand...

Sorry, it wasn't directed at you at all, and I hadn't spotted your second post.

I'm just struggling to undestand the difference between the 'Ultra' series, and the 'Extreme' series?
 
NikonSimon said:
I'm just struggling to undestand the difference between the 'Ultra' series, and the 'Extreme' series?
Click to expand...

No worries

Sandisk have now simplified the range to:

CF:

Ultra at 30mb per sec
Extreme at 60mb per sec UDMA
Extreme Pro at 90mb per sec UDMA6 (Buffer by pass that is supported by the 300s)

SD:
Ultra 15mb per sec
Extreme 30mb per sec.

The older stock of Ultra II, III and IV are now obsolete and vary in speed from 15 to 40mb per sec
 
NikonSimon said:
Anyway, going back to my original question..

Can someone enlighten me as to the difference between Sandisk Extreme cards, and Sandisk Ultra cards? Should I be looking at one or the other, and the work from there (size, II or III or IV, write speed etc). Picstop based in Jersey appear to have some good deals
Click to expand...

Sorry Simon - I think it is mainly to do with write speeds.

Just found this thread from a while back that may shed some light....
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=207301&highlight=d300
 
Cheers guys. Very helpful.

I have a Jacobs very close by my work (wildly expensive I know) so I think I'll pop in and get a 1gb card, just so I am able to play with the camera tomorrow night. Ordering online will mean a longer wait than I can bear!
 
Cards aren't something you should 'budget' on IMO - that's what the images are stored on...anything goes wrong - you're stuffed. Why spend loads of money on a state-of-the-art camera and buy cheap memory.
It's like buying a Hasselblad and putting cheap Chinese film in it, or buying a Ferrari and only putting 87 ron fuel in it...

Buy a Sandisk Extreme IV or newer, preferably the new Extreme (60x) or Extreme Pro (90x) (or the Lexar equivalent, obviously).
Extreme 16Gb are about £70, Extreme Pro 16Gb is about £130.
8Gb cards are less expensive now the bigger cards have been out for a while, but not much less that the 16Gb cards curiously enough...

Buy the best available...and eat Pot-Noodles for a month...

I'm right - don't find out the hard way.
 
NikonSimon said:
Cheers guys. Very helpful.

I have a Jacobs very close by my work (wildly expensive I know) so I think I'll pop in and get a 1gb card, just so I am able to play with the camera tomorrow night. Ordering online will mean a longer wait than I can bear!
Click to expand...

You might find that you won't get a 1GB card from any high street retailers these days as they are obsolete. :'(

You may think me nosey but what do you want to use the D300s for? I ask because without investing in the cards to run it you will find it frustrating to use. If you did not really need the speed of the body you could have saved yourself a good few pennies and gone for a D90?
 
When I got the D300s, I decided I wanted to write both RAW + Jpeg, just for convenience and security. I decided on CF for RAW files and SD for Jpeg, so I got and 8Gb CF and a 4Gb SD, as D300s Jpegs are less than half the size of RAW files, so they should fill at a similar rate.

I also chose the new Sandisk Extreme series for speed. And Sandisk are a quality brand. :) I've had memory cards from inferior brand in the past which used to corrupt the odd file in a continuous series. I've never had that problem with Sandisk. :)
 
thanks for everyone's responses!

I'm looking at Play.com, and their prices seem best. What I don't understand is how an 8GB Extreme (60mb/s) CF card is the same price (£44.99 here) as the older Extreme III 8Gb CF, here. Is that CF card worth snapping up at that price?
 
NikonSimon said:
thanks for everyone's responses!

I'm looking at Play.com, and their prices seem best. What I don't understand is how an 8GB Extreme (60mb/s) CF card is the same price (£44.99 here) as the older Extreme III 8Gb CF, here. Is that CF card worth snapping up at that price?
Click to expand...

Things can become more expensive as supply dwindles. The D300 being more expensive than the D300s is an example. Don't worry, and just get the Extreme version.

There is not much difference between CF prices, but you can get a £ or two off by checking here.
 
NikonSimon said:
thanks for everyone's responses!

I'm looking at Play.com, and their prices seem best. What I don't understand is how an 8GB Extreme (60mb/s) CF card is the same price (£44.99 here) as the older Extreme III 8Gb CF, here. Is that CF card worth snapping up at that price?
Click to expand...

I've noticed the same thing on Amazon - I think it's because retailers haven't caught on to the fact that those older cards have been superceded by new ones yet...
Last year it cost £XXX so it must still cost £XXX even though a newer, faster card only costs £YYY...

Buy from a reputable dealer as there are fakes out there.
 
Good for you. Didn't hurt too much did it...? lol

£43...bargain...

I paid about £80 each for my 8Gb cards a couple of years ago...the Extreme IV 45Mb/s ones...now it's only £75 for a 16Gb 60Mb/s card...lol
 
Arkady said:
Good for you. Didn't hurt too much did it...? lol

£43...bargain...

I paid about £80 each for my 8Gb cards a couple of years ago...the Extreme IV 45Mb/s ones...now it's only £75 for a 16Gb 60Mb/s card...lol
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Crazy innit?

I also ended up popping to my local thief.. sorry, Jacobs, and purchasing a bog standard 2gb SD card for a tenner, just so I can pop it in tonight and fire off some shots. As soon as my card(s) arrive I'll bin it. Or use it in something else.
 
NikonSimon said:
Crazy innit?

I also ended up popping to my local thief.. sorry, Jacobs, and purchasing a bog standard 2gb SD card for a tenner, just so I can pop it in tonight and fire off some shots. As soon as my card(s) arrive I'll bin it. Or use it in something else.
Click to expand...

Use that to do the firmware upgrades - it's what I do with my old 512mb cards...
Anything you can do to minimise corrupting data, the better...
 
redhed17 said:
When I got the D300s, I decided I wanted to write both RAW + Jpeg, just for convenience and security. I decided on CF for RAW files and SD for Jpeg, so I got and 8Gb CF and a 4Gb SD, as D300s Jpegs are less than half the size of RAW files, so they should fill at a similar rate.

I also chose the new Sandisk Extreme series for speed. And Sandisk are a quality brand. :) I've had memory cards from inferior brand in the past which used to corrupt the odd file in a continuous series. I've never had that problem with Sandisk. :)
Click to expand...

I want to do the same thing (delivery this week). also ordered the 60mb/s CF and 30MB/s SD. Now, what I want to know is, does the slower SD card reduce the fps when shooting both or is there more of a problem with the buffer due to 2 images being in there and shooting at max will fill that too fast?
 
ka$h said:
I want to do the same thing (delivery this week). also ordered the 60mb/s CF and 30MB/s SD. Now, what I want to know is, does the slower SD card reduce the fps when shooting both or is there more of a problem with the buffer due to 2 images being in there and shooting at max will fill that too fast?
Click to expand...

when you half press the shutter to focus you'll also notice a reserve buffer number appear. It will state r11 if you shoot 12bit raw. When you fire this number will drop. this is the cameras buffer filling up. The speed of the card will set how quickly the buffer will empty a really fast card like UDMA6 will by pass the buffer and fire straight to card.

Excuse grammar I'm typing on my phone!
 
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