Memory card speeds

[Lester]

Hi I've got a D90 with at the moment some 8gb Class 6 SDHC cards. I've seen there are now Class 10 cards out. Would I benefit from faster cards with my D90? I do a bit of motorsport, airshows, etc. and I shoot in RAW. I have noticed that after about 3-4 fast shots the camera dies a bit. Is this down to the camera or the cards? I don't plan to upgrade the camera any time soon, so I'm not worried about future proofing at the moment, just trying to improve things.

I've looked at the speeds of the cards, but different manufacturers have different speed ratings and hence I'm a bit confused to work it out for myself.

Thanks in advance.

 

[BandyQuill]

just pulled this from Wiki

"The following are the ratings of some currently available cards:
Class 2: 16 Mbit/s (2 MB/s)
Class 4: 32 Mbit/s (4 MB/s)
Class 6: 48 Mbit/s (6 MB/s)
Class 10: 80 Mbit/s (10 MB/s)"

looks like the buffer should be able to cope with 7 frames before it conks out, but it'll depend on the settings imo

a bit more info from http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/nikon_d90/review.html

"
CompactFlash & SDHC memory card support
All in all, the Nikon D90 responses extremely quickly to all actions. One exception is Live View mode, which has a different way of focusing, which unfortunately comes with a clear delay in focusing. The resolution of 12 Megapixels, the presence of Nikon's NEF format (RAW) and the possibility of shooting in a combination of NEF/JPEG make the files grow to a maximum of 23MB per picture. This is huge and it is therefore wise to go for a storage capacity of at least 4GB, and preferably higher.

Considering 4BG of storage capacity:
4288x2848 pixels - NEF (RAW) - 10.8MB - 133 pictures - 9 pictures buffer
4288x2848 - NEF+JPEG (Fine) - L - 16.9MB - 89 pics - 7 pics buffer
4288x2848 - NEF+JPEG (Fine) - M - 14.4MB - 104 pics - 7 pics buffer
4288x2848 - NEF+JPEG (Fine) - S - 12.4MB - 118 pics - 7 pics buffer
3216x2136 - NEF+JPEG (Fine) - L - 13.9MB - 107 pics - 7 pics buffer
3216x2136 - NEF+JPEG (Fine) - M - 12.6MB - 116 pics - 7 pics buffer
3216x2136 - NEF+JPEG (Fine) - S - 11.6MB - 124 pics - 7 pics buffer
2144x1424 - NEF+JPEG (Fine) - L - 12.3MB - 118 pics - 7 pics buffer
2144x1424 - NEF+JPEG (Fine) - M - 11.7MB - 123 pics - 7 pics buffer
2144x1424 - NEF+JPEG (Fine) - S - 11.2MB - 128 pics - 7 pics buffer
4288x2848 - JPEG (Fine) - L - 6.0MB - 271 pics - 25 pics buffer
4288x2848 - JPEG (Fine) - L - 3.4MB - 480 pics - 100 pics buffer
4288x2848 - JPEG (Fine) - L - 1.6MB - 1000 pics - 100 pics buffer
3216x2136 - JPEG (Fine) - L - 3.0MB - 539 pics - 100 pics buffer
3216x2136 - JPEG (Fine) - L - 1.7MB - 931 pics - 100 pics buffer
3216x2136 - JPEG (Fine) - L - 0.8MB - 2000 pics - 100 pics buffer
2144x1424 - JPEG (Fine) - L - 1.5MB - 1000 pics - 100 pics buffer
2144x1424 - JPEG (Fine) - L - 0.9MB - 1800 pics - 100 pics buffer
2144x1424 - JPEG (Fine) - L - 0.4MB - 3800 pics - 100 pics buffer "

 

[mattmajor]

it depends on your memory card.
I have a 20mbps but it can only write at 14mb/s
its a class 6 - so its roughly right.
if you get a class 10 - probably quite a bit more allowing the buffer on the camera to clear quickly