memory card

hi all, joined site a couple of weeks back, if u had read my thread on getting d90 for xmas
been looking at memory cards and aint got a clue what to get? dont mind how much it costs, well no more than £100, so what would be best
im going to want one what will be able to handle fast action shots and store plenty of pics

cheers

Malley,
You want to look at the MB/s rate. That is is how fast your files are going to transfer. Not sure how fast the d90 will transfer at but you can get cards that do 30MB/s but I don't know if your camera will even transfer that fast. You would most likely be happy with something doing 15-20 MB/s. And then how much storage you want 32GB, 16GB, 8GB, etc.. I would suggest getting two cards with something like 4-8GB. But don't know what your exact needs are. Good luck.

Rob

iv got a d90 and have several cards!
i would suggest 2x 4gb cards instead of 1 x 8gb cos if 1 goes wrong and you only have the one then your in the sh&t!!

i have 30mb/s cards and they are quick enough for about 9 continuous shots before it slows down......

I would agree that it's a good idea to have more than 1 card.

I know locally here, I can buy 16 GB Toshiba class 4 cards at Sam's Club for $35. I've never had a problem with the class 4s in my D90, and that's with shooting RAW, JPG, JPG +RAW and I definately fill the buffer at times. I've also shot a little video, didn't use that feature much, but class 4 seemed to do just fine.

They also have 8 gig Toshiba Class 4 cards at Sam's Club for $20; thankfully SDHC cards are a bit more cost effective than CF!

I carry 2 16 GB SD cards and an 8 GB with my D90, just happens to be what I have for it. You may need more or less, depending. I don't think I've ever filled the 16 GB card, but I have filled the 8 more than once!

I used to have a 4GB but found out that after using my D90 to record HD videos it wasn't enough so I would recomend 16GB Ultra or 32 GB Ultra. Ultra because its fast reading card and for HD videos its a must.

memli said:

I used to have a 4GB but found out that after using my D90 to record HD videos it wasn't enough so I would recomend 16GB Ultra or 32 GB Ultra. Ultra because its fast reading card and for HD videos its a must.

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Read this post. And then read this one.

The SanDisk Ultra SDHC cards are not fast reading cards. Here are the technical specs, according to the manufacturer:

• Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC), 15 MB/s Read, 9 MB/s Write

The Ultra series is not fast read/write. The SanDisk Extreme series is what you want for the D90, which takes full advantage of the 30 MB/s speed that the camera is capable of...especially for video.

Anthony Hereld said:

the 30 MB/s speed that the camera is capable of...

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Please forgive the cross-post, but where does that information come from?

I don't doubt you, I'd just like to know where it's published for our cameras.

Did you click the links...specifically, this one?

Joseph Bautsch said:

go to page 215 of your users manual, "Memory Card Capacity". You will find the information you are looking for.

"The following table shows the approximate number of pictures that can be stored on a 4 GB SanDisk Extreme III 30MB/s Edition SDHC card at different image quality and size settings."

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Also, see some official testing results here.

Anthony Hereld said:

Did you click the links...specifically, this one?

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Yeah, I did.

The equivalent page in the D90 manual is page 262, and it says,

The following table shows the approximate number of pictures that can be stored on a 2 GB Panasonic Pro HIGH SPEED card at different image quality and size settings.

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Your reply to jdeg referred to the D5000 and the card for that table was a "30MB/s" card. That's the speed of the card, but doesn't say what the speed of the camera is.

(OBTW, the Panasonic card used for the D90 table is rated at 20MB/s. I wouldn't think the SPEED of the card would affect the capacity, BWTHDIK.

Another goofy issue is the "class rating" of a card doesn't consistently follow the "MB/s" shown for the card. One manufacturer says a card is 30 MB/s and Class 6, while another has a card that is 20 MB/s and Class 10.

And they ask me why I drink.)



Your blog post The Definitive Guide to SD Memory Cards states,

...the highest speed rating your camera can handle. For the Nikon D90, this is 30MB/s.

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My question remains, where did this information come from?

Anthony Hereld said:

Also, see some official testing results here.

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Okay, getting closer - some empirical data.

The highest observed transfer speed was 20.1 MB/s on a card rated at 30 MB/s.

(As side note: To truly illustrate the case where the card limits the speed of transfer, the author should have shown the rated speed of each of the cards used and included testing for cards with rates that actually exceed the camera's capability. Maybe he did, but we don't know that without the card speeds. That doesn't relate to my question, however.)



dpreview.com tested the file "flush" rate with both 30MB/s and 20MB/s cards and estimated over 6 MB/s for RAW images with the cards used. That's quite a difference from the 20.1 MB/s observed in the other tests. Obviously, there's an orange is someone's apple crate.



I hope I'm more clear. I see where you said the D90 transfer rate was 30 MB/s, where someone tested it up to 20.1 MB/s, and where someone else estimated it at over 6 MB/s.

Is there anywhere that Nikon has published the actual maximum camera transfer rates?

PhotoAV8R said:

Is there anywhere that Nikon has published the actual maximum camera transfer rates?

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No. And here's why:

Transfer rates, aka read/write are terms related to the memory card. The camera doesn't think of it that way. The best translation you're looking for is the size of the camera's buffer. Your camera is basically filling up it's buffer for the card to pull files from. Do a Google search for Nikon D90 buffer size and research to your heart's content.

Here is an official Nikon D90 spec sheet to help you get started. Pay particular attention to the section called Memory card capacity. If you're looking for an official Nikon link that says the read/write speed of the D90 is 30MB/s...you're going to be disappointed.

Okay. Where did you get your figure of 30 MB/s as "the highest speed rating [the D90] can handle"?

I have already seen tests where the D90 buffer fills at 100 shots and I'm not asking about the buffer.

What I'm looking for is what is the maximum transfer rate - camera to card?

It's been said that the card may be the limiting factor, but if we don't know what the camera is capable of, we don't know how fast the card should be.

Wow. I don't know how to make it any more plain than this:

The speed at which the camera reads/writes is dependent on the memory card and camera settings/shooting modes. Here is a quote direct from Nikon[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]:

[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Nikon does not perform memory card speed testing as there are no industry accepted testing standards[/FONT]...[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Please contact your memory card manufacturer for information on how they rate their cards in terms of speed and to decide if a faster card will be of benefit to you. Keep in mind that reading data from a card (copying images from a memory card to your computer) is always faster than writing (camera writing images to a memory card) which requires that the memory card file directory be updated.[/FONT]

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I posted this earlier. Highest confirmed speed is 20.1MB/s, according to his data. SanDisk makes 30MB/s cards. Yes, that means the D90 can write @ 30MB/s because of this card, if the manufacturer's rating is accurate. Keep in mind that this rating likely also has the camera on its lowest possible settings. So there is the answer to your question, "what is the maximum transfer rate - camera to card?"

But as I mentioned in my guide, this is not sustained speed.

Hi.....

I use two Sandisk Extreme III 4GB 30MB/s cards and 'never' had any trouble!! I also have an older Sandisk Ultra 8gb 15MB/s and never had any issue with that either, but only use that one if my others happen to fill while I'm out on a shoot (never happened !!!!)

Kind regards
Brian (D90 user )

P.S. Enjoy a wonderful camera !!!!!!!!

Wow. Thanks.

The quote from Nikon was very informative. That would have answered the question a while ago. It sounds like the lawyers won out over the marketing department, which, in this day and age, is probably a smart thing.

SanDisk makes 30MB/s cards. Yes, that means the D90 can write @ 30MB/s because of this card, if the manufacturer's rating is accurate.

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Just because we stick a 30 MB/s card in it, does that make the camera capable of that speed?
I doubt it, BWTHDIK.

The bottom line is we don't know what the actual speed capability of the camera is beyond the 20.1 MB/s observed in testing and then only for those specific conditions. That answers my question.

omegabri said:

Hi.....

I use two Sandisk Extreme III 4GB 30MB/s cards and 'never' had any trouble!!

Kind regards
Brian (D90 user )

P.S. Enjoy a wonderful camera !!!!!!!!

Click to expand...

I started with the same cards, Brian, and have had the same trouble-free results.

I recently began shopping for the 8GB Extreme III card. A number of places listed the "Extreme III", but showed a picture of an "Extreme" or "Extreme HD Video" card. Almost all listed a 30 MB/s or Class 6 speed. Anyway, that got me questioning the issue of what the actual speed capability of the camera was.

I obviously have too much time on my hands and do appreciate the responses here.

And, yes, I am enjoying the D90. Quite a nice step up from the D40.