What speed SD card for 500d

[Tatts]

I'm going overseas early next year for a few weeks and am looking to buy a few spare SD cards.
The manual recommends a class 6 for taking video but doesn't mention a minimum speed for still images. I'm not planning on taking much, if any, video and already have an 8gb class 10 card that i can use if i do.
I'm probably not going to have any need for them once i am home so am looking to not spend too much. Is a Sandisk Ultra class 4 card going to work alright for still images on my 500d or should i get class 6 cards?

[infl3xion]

I think if you aren't going to be taking much/long videos, it probably won't be noticeable at all.

I don't remember exactly, but last time i looked, some manufacturers seemed to have quoted different speeds for the same class :confused:, could be the discrepancy between minimum sustained write speed and maximum.

[reaction]

There's no minimum speed for still images as your camera has a buffer inside.
Sandisk Ultra class 4 cards suck, they are pricey and have a very slow write speed. The 15mb/s on theiir package is the READ speed.

Get a 3rd party class 10 card. It'll be cheaper than any Sandisk, and maybe 80-90% as fast as their 'Extreme 30mb/s edition' (which coincidentally READS at 25mb/s and WRITES 19mb/s)
Cheaper than your Sandisk Ultra for sure, and u can take videos

[Tatts]

Thanks for the tips guys.
What 3rd party class 10 cards would you reccomend reaction?

[I @ M]

Tatts, the term 3rd party definitely doesn't relate to memory cards in this case as there are no cards made by camera manufactureres ( first party ) anyway and if you stick to the well known brands (genuine, not suspect e$ay sourced ones) from a reputable supplier you shouldn't have any problems.
Check out the range at site advertiser Cheap Chips (http://www.cheapchips.com.au/?ref=1157) for very good prices and excellent service.

[Kym]

Why good memory cards vs eBay and some cheapies? http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?24359-Learning-Centre-Equipment-and-Software&p=470751&viewfull=1#post470751

Why skimp on a $50 or $100 for a card when you have $1,000s worth of gear - you want reliability first!

[ricktas]

Read/Write speeds are irrelevant in general. I have some card R/W testing software on my PC. I have tested all my cards, for the fun of it. Yet I also have a firewire 800 reader and a USB one, along with the transfer cable for the camera. Testing using each of these devices results in well...different results for each card. The Read/Write speed of a card is reliant on so many other factors that I feel makes it irrelevant with most current model cards. Sure if you grab a card of a few years ago, like and original Sandisk, it will be slower.

As has been said, your camera has a memory buffer and this affects the speeds once it is full, and this is probably more of an issue than the actual read/write speed of the card.

[Tatts]

Thanks for the help guys. Was definitely going for genuine, not an ebay cheapie. Think i'll stick with Sandisk cards i was originally thinking of, was looking at buying from Cheap Chips but thanks for the suggestion.
So the write speed only really comes into play when transferring the photo's off the card. i'm happy to wait a few minutes longer.

[ricktas]

No the READ speed is what is used when transferring off the card. However many cards list the highest speed (usually the read speed) as their stated speed and the write speed (which is when data is being written to the card) is generally much slower than the read speed.

Nothing like good marketing to say you have 30MB/sec speed card, but in fact the card can only be written to at 15MB/sec, but the quoted speed is for read only.

[infl3xion]

Hmm, for some reason the Sandisk ultra SD cards specifically note that the write speed is slower than the quoted 15MB/s, while the extreme ones claim that read/write speed is 30MB/s.

[Tatts]

You'd think i'd have learnt the difference between READ and WRITE by now :)
Thanks for clearing that up Rick, gotta love good marketing.

[crimespree]

i have found the sandisk ultra cards class 4 cards to be exceptional
the 550d requires a class 6 for long HD recording sessions.
I regularly record max length (4GB) movies with on 3 different sandisk ultra 15mb/sec cards and they never even show the buffer on the screen, let alone the come close to running it out...
I have read online of many people having trouble with different brand class 10 cards so have just stuck with what works, the sandisk...
I can't see you having any trouble with it.

[reaction]

I've used many brands, and the ONLY brand I had issues with is ADATA.
For some reason in Oz there are many sandisk lovers, but in other countries other brands wear the crown.
I don't know why people think only sandisk are reliabe, cuz the 'standard' sandisk (red and blue ones) are the WORST retail SD cards money can buy.

Think back to the age of 3.5" or even 5" floppy disks. People back then thought only "XYZ" brand floppies were worth using, etc. Eg Sony $3 each floppy vs TDK 50c floppy. Hey, you spend $5000 on a PC (back then) why risk a 50c floppy eh? Then there were $5 Verbatim floppies that nobody in Japan has heard of, they'd be considered great here, and nobody would touch them over there. In the end how much did it matter?

Anyone who thinks sandisk don't have a 'brand' price premium is joking themselves. If you want gold label peace of mind, fine. If you want value + reliability there are plenty of other players in the world, and you should look around for reviews.