SD cards

kopite1979

kopite1979

Messages
47
Edit My Images
No
Be got a Nikon D3100 on order and I'm looking to get an SD card or 2. Do I just buy the cheapest available or is there actually quality standards?
 
Given the price of quality (e.g. Sandisk 16GB) on Amazon, etc., these days, it hardly makes sense to buy cheap(er) and risk data problems...
 
I'm completely oblivious to the fact there "may" be problems with cheaper cards, if there is a chance then I'll have a look at the sandisk
Cheers
 
It's not always the name on the card that matters, more the name of the retailer. There's a lot of counterfeit cards out there and some of them are being sold on places like Ebay (no surprise there!), Amazon Marketplace and PlayTrade.

I had one fail when on holiday in Central America a month ago. I returned it to Kingston under their lifetime warranty only to be told it was counterfeit. I had bought it at not too low a price from a seller on PlayTrade who have arranged for me to receive a replacement from themselves free of charge. They had already given the reseller the heave-ho.

Also consider buying several relatively small cards rather than one large. If an 8GB goes down just as it's about to fill, you've lost almost 8GB of images. If a 2GB goes down in the same circumstances the damage isn't quite so great, though may well be painful!
 
My vote goes to Sandisk. I have never and will never use a cheap brand. The cost of CF and SD cards isnt that great, so for the sake of a few quid, I'd rather have 2 8gb cards by a brand I trust (and bought from a seller I trust too) then buy cheap and lose images due to cards failing etc.
 
Answering your question: yes, there is a standard for SD cards, especially when it comes to photography and video.

Pretty much every card manufacturer out there has a class system for the cards, usually 4 to 10. I've only seen class 4, 6, 8 and 10. 10 being the best and better suited for photographers due to writing speeds. An example being I used to have a Sandisk Class 4 card in mine and whenever i made video on my Canon 500D, it would take considerably longer, compared to what it does with my new Transcend Class 10 16GB card.

If you look on Amazon, you can get a 16GB Class 10 card for under £15. If you want a Sandisk pro-grade card.. you'll be looking at about £20+. These come with recovery features and other helpful tools for a photographer!
 
farrance said:
If you look on Amazon, you can get a 16GB Class 10 card for under £15.
Click to expand...
The one card listed at under £15 on the front page of a search for '16GB Class 10' turns out to cost £13.95 and is supplied by a third party as opposed to Amazon themselves. Reading the reviews (click on the '1 star' link), there are a lot of problems reported, most of which would appear to point to questions about just how genuine the cards are.

Having being bitten twice now, once by an Ebay seller quite a few years ago, and more recently by a seller on PlayTrade, I will only be buying from well known and reputable sellers in the future.
 
Not sure what Amazon you're looking at, but simply by putting in 'SD Card Class 10' takes you to this.

Hope that helps, that card is also the most popular class 10 card sold on Amazon, doesn't make it the best though. It is the card I have however, and I think it's brilliant.
 
I appear to have been misunderstood.

My concern was not with choosing a manufacturer (though there are good and bad and my preference is for Kingston with their warranty), but with selecting a retailer. The card being to referred to on Amazon is not supplied by Amazon, but by another reseller on there. Now I don't know anything about them, but my experience, and advice from elsewhere, is to be wary of anyone who is not 'well known' and with a 'good reputation' and who is selling cards at low prices. If the card was being sold at the prices displayed by Amazon themselves I would have no concerns.
 
I would still say go with Sandisk and order from 7dayshop. Reliable company and a reliable seller
 
Have had Transcend and Kingston fail so I just stick with Sandisk now as well... "Sold by Amazon.com" for me :)
 
Any of the known brands should be reliable, the problem is more the prevalence of counterfeit copies of the better known brands. In my opinion, it's better to buy at a slightly higher price from an established retailer and avoid eBay, Amazon Marketplace and the like.

I have bought and used Sandisk, integral, TDK, Kingston and Transcend and had only one failure (a Sandisk which I can't remember where I got it from, it could have come with a camera and so it could have been a fake).

As people have said, buy from MyMemory, Play, Amazon direct, 7DayShop, Tesco etc and be safe in the knowledge it's the genuine article.
 
Are you planning on doing much video, I don't and I've never needed a card bigger then 4GB.
 
download free software to test if your card is a fake

google H2testw v1.4
 
digital said:
I appear to have been misunderstood.

My concern was not with choosing a manufacturer (though there are good and bad and my preference is for Kingston with their warranty), but with selecting a retailer. The card being to referred to on Amazon is not supplied by Amazon, but by another reseller on there. Now I don't know anything about them, but my experience, and advice from elsewhere, is to be wary of anyone who is not 'well known' and with a 'good reputation' and who is selling cards at low prices. If the card was being sold at the prices displayed by Amazon themselves I would have no concerns.
Click to expand...

Amazon uses a lot of different retailers but I've often had goods from them and found they are excellent if anything goes wrong.

Obviously if you buy from a retailer through Amazon then it is slightly different but at least Amazon are honest and upfront about it and they do seem to put most comments up - good or bad - so all you have to do is have a good look through and make your own mind up.

In this instance though, there do seem to be trouble with this particular beand so if it was me I'd definitely give it a miss - especially where photos are concerned.

.
 
KC Leblanc said:
Are you planning on doing much video, I don't and I've never needed a card bigger then 4GB.
Click to expand...

Mainly stills, maybe a few mountain view videos or mountain bike vids but not alot.

Thanks for your views, I know where to look now
 
kopite1979 said:
Mainly stills, maybe a few mountain view videos or mountain bike vids but not alot.

Thanks for your views, I know where to look now
Click to expand...

AIUI, the card speed is more important if used for video, if you do intend using the cards for video try and get Class 10 cards.
 
Dave1 said:
AIUI, the card speed is more important if used for video, if you do intend using the cards for video try and get Class 10 cards.
Click to expand...

Cheers mate will do
 
I only use Sandisk, check there is a serial number on it . CF cards have them on the edge
SD cards may not have any

Realspeed
 
I got a couple of Class 10, Duracell SDHC cards from www.7dayshop.com and they worked really well with my 550D. The burst buffer went from mid 30's with a Class 4 card to high 50's. I think they were about £13 each when I got them and have used them lots of times since with very good results.
 
100% 7 day shp have been shopping there for 15 years.

NOT Jessops, WEX etc unless you have money to throw away, shops charge way too much.
 
realspeed said:
I only use Sandisk, check there is a serial number on it . CF cards have them on the edge
SD cards may not have any

Realspeed
Click to expand...

I wouldnt put too much reliance on the presence of a serial number, some of the Sandisk fakes do have a serial.

At least it makes it easier to confirm its a fake with Sandisk if it does have a serial...
 
I regularly use Sandisk, Lexar, Transend and Kingston cards. The latter two are quite reliable in my experience, but the main difference is that write speeds for Transend and Kingston are going to be around 10-12mb/s even on the 10x cards, where as the Sandisk Extreme, and Lexar Pro cards can actually get to around 20 mb/s and sometimes more. Though in the real world the write speed will have more to do with your camera than the cards when it comes to SD.
 
FranchiseJuan said:
the main difference is that write speeds for Transend and Kingston are going to be around 10-12mb/s even on the 10x cards, where as the Sandisk Extreme, and Lexar Pro cards can actually get to around 20 mb/s and sometimes more. Though in the real world the write speed will have more to do with your camera than the cards when it comes to SD.
Click to expand...

That makes no sense, the speed class is an industry rating, and even Sandisk quote class 10 as 10MB/s.

The current SDHC specification defines Class 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 as follows:
http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1996/~/difference-between-speed-class-and-speed-ratings-(performance)-for-sd%2Fsdhc-cards
Class Minimum Speed

2 2MB/s

4 4MB/s

6 6MB/s

8 8MB/s

10 10MB/s
Click to expand...

By your analogy, 30 mph in a Ford is slower than 30mph in a Ferrari because the Ferrari is more of a sports car.
 
FranchiseJuan said:
I should have been more clear, when you get a class 10 Transend and Kingston it is usually only able to get up to 10mb/s. However Sandisk and Kingston Class 10 SD cards can usually do around 20 mb/s.
Click to expand...

Ok, what you are referring to is rated speed rather than speed class, rated speeds can be higher than the speed class of the card.

Sandisk explain the difference better than I can-
Rated Speed (e.g. 15MB/s, 30MB/s, etc.) is maximum speed of the card and also what you would expect to approximately see in typical usage of writing or reading files on the card. This measurement is pertinent to still photography, especially for taking pictures with high resolution and/or saving in RAW format where the files created are very large. The faster the card, the faster it can save the file and be ready to take another picture. You can really notice speed differences with high-megapixel DSLR cameras when using multi-shot burst mode.

Still digital images shot on high-megapixel cameras should utilize fast data throughput (a large data pipe), higher speed cards for improved performance. Higher speed cards can also improve how fast you can*transfer*the files to and from the card*and your computer.


Speed Class is a minimum speed based on a worst case scenario test. The Speed Class is important for video mode or camcorders, where the device is actually saving a steady stream of data. The resolution and format of the video determines the amount of steady stream data. This translates to a minimum speed you need to guarantee that the video captured on the cards is recorded at an even, sustained rate with no dropped frames (which*would result in lost data and choppy playback).

Compared to high-megapixel photography, video doesn't need as big a data pipe because the video format is a smaller "fixed stream" that uses only a portion of the data pipe. But you do need a minimum guaranteed speed for the SDHC card that satisfies the requirement of the data stream. Your camera's specifications should state the minimum SDHC Class Rating required.

Using a card without the proper class rating on a more advanced camera, such as a high-definition (HD) camcorder or Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera with HD video record settings is likely to result in an error message indicating that video can only be recorded at a lower definition setting.
Click to expand...
 
gridlock said:
Some SD cards are marked as "Video". Is this just a marketing gimmick, or is there actually a difference?

For example, compare these two. What's the difference apart from £15?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-32GB-30MB-Extreme-Video/dp/tech-data/B004Q3C98S
http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-Extreme-30MB-Flash-memory/dp/B002MRR9A8
Click to expand...

Same card bar the label, if you check the specifications of both they are identical.

Printing that extra word onto the label is pretty expensive ;)
 
Dave1 said:
Same card bar the label, if you check the specifications of both they are identical.

Printing that extra word onto the label is pretty expensive ;)
Click to expand...

Except the "video" one is cheaper :)

I wondered whether it was some difference between peak and sustained write speeds (as with "AV" hard drives)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top