Continuous shooting

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Pete620

New member
I'm using a D800E remotely controlled using Nikon's Camera Control Pro 2 software to take one photo per second for an extended period of time. After the about 30 to 40 images the buffer fills and the camera slows to an average of one picture every 1.4 seconds. Would a memory card with a faster write speed increase the shooting speed? I'm currently using a 128GB SanDisk Extreme SD card with a 45MB/s write speed. I'm considering upgrading to a CF card with a 150MB/s write speed. Lexar 128GB Professional 1000x CompactFlash Memory Card LCF128CTBNA1000

Thanks for any advice you can provide.
 
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Kodiak

Senior Member
Would a memory card with a faster write speed increase the shooting speed?
NO! …of course not!

Hello Pete,

Your problem is that your card's "write" is slowing down your shoot but no card will
make your shoot faster. A properly chosen card will support the performance of the
camera's buffer.

I'm currently using a 128GB SanDisk Extreme SD card with a 45MB/s write speed.

The Extreme Pro version of this manufacturer is the one I have chosen for all my
cameras with much satisfaction.

Have a good day…
 
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Dave_W

The Dude
Yes, depending upon the card you are currently using, it certainly can speed it up. Your Lexar card is 45 mb/sec and I believe the D800 can write at 58 mb/sec (or something like that) so yes, moving to a 95 mb/sec will speed it up. I generally use a 45 mb/sec card but when I'm expecting to need speed I use a 95 mb/sec and the difference is noticeable.

(Edit - I may be wrong about your lexar card having a write speed of 45 mb/sec. it looks like it's 95 mb/sec after all)
 
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Dave_W

The Dude
Here's a very detailed write up detailing the write speed of the various cards being used on a D800.

Rob Galbraith DPI: Nikon D800/D800E
 
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WayneF

Senior Member
Pete620 said:
I'm using a D800E remotely controlled using Nikon's Camera Control Pro 2 software to take one photo per second for an extended period of time. After the about 30 to 40 images the buffer fills and the camera slows to an average of one picture every 1.4 seconds. Would a memory card with a faster write speed increase the shooting speed? I'm currently using a 128GB SanDisk Extreme SD card with a 45MB/s write speed. I'm considering upgrading to a CF card with a 150MB/s write speed. Lexar 128GB Professional 1000x CompactFlash Memory Card LCF128CTBNA1000

Thanks for any advice you can provide.
Click to expand...

Yes, the Lexar 1000x card will be about twice as fast, if in the D800.

My D800 shooing a burst of five 40 MB Raw files takes 3 seconds with it.
Same using a Class 10 card takes 19 seconds (for the card LED to go out).

5 x 40MB = 200 MB, /3 seconds is about 67MB/sec, very close to Gailbraiths 69 MB/sec report (previous link here),

200 MB / 19 seconds is 10.5 MB/sec, which is the definition of a Class 10 card.

So one 40 MB Raw every second needs 40 MB/sec. Lexar 1000x card will do 69MB/sec in D800.

(other cameras are not as fast as the D800, but also their files are smaller. The speed is also dependent on how fast the camera can write it. The Lexar 1000x probably is 95 MB/s write speed, but the D800 can only go 69, and other cameras might be half of that. The camera is also doing other things, running the shutter and metering, compressing the files, writing the buffer, etc.)


And of course, to access a few hundred 40MB files, you certainly will want a USB 3.0 card reader.
 
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