Why the high speed?

nillaismydog

I'm new to the whole digital photography thing and haven't bought my cf card yet. I've looked at the reviews and charts and stuff about what's faster... but does it really make a difference? Why do you need a fast card? if it's slow will I have to wait to take my 2nd pic then 3rd etc? If someone could clue me in that'd be great!

Nikolai

It's relatively easy

nillaismydog wrote:

I'm new to the whole digital photography thing and haven't bought my cf card yet. I've looked at the reviews and charts and stuff about what's faster... but does it really make a difference? Why do you need a fast card? if it's slow will I have to wait to take my 2nd pic then 3rd etc? If someone could clue me in that'd be great!

Essentially you're looking at the "eliminating the weakest link" ongoing game. Originally digital cameras were slow, there were no high-speed shooting, files were small, no RAW, etc. At those times even slow flash cards were way faster than needed.
Now with high range DSLRs being able to produce several 8mp RAWs per second write speed is essential. Put it a low card - and instead of 4fps you can get 3, or even one, or worse.

So, you see, all the components in the workflow should be adequate.
Fast lens allows for fastr refocusing and faster shutter speeds, which allows for more fps, which needs faster card, which fills card quicker, which needs higher volume, which needs faster way to deliver pictures to computer, which needs more HDD space and more ram to handle 6..10 8mp RAWs into one high quality HDR..:-)

HTH

Shay Stephens

Slow cards mean slow image review, reduced burst rate, and longer downloading times. It's like putting a speed governor on a race car. A slow card will hobble the performance of a fast camera. Put a fast card in there, and it will feel like a whole new camera.

nillaismydog wrote:

I'm new to the whole digital photography thing and haven't bought my cf card yet. I've looked at the reviews and charts and stuff about what's faster... but does it really make a difference? Why do you need a fast card? if it's slow will I have to wait to take my 2nd pic then 3rd etc? If someone could clue me in that'd be great!

Steve Cavigliano

Check this site out. Just go to the dropdown in the upper right and select the camera you will be using. A chart with just about all of the available CF/MD devices and their timings will appear

Steve

colourbox

It does depend on your camera, though. A point-and-shoot saving 3-megapixel JPEGs isn't going to benefit from a fast card...save your money. But a digital SLR pumping out 8-megapixel RAWs out its fast data bus will benefit.

nillaismydog

colourbox wrote:

It does depend on your camera, though. A point-and-shoot saving 3-megapixel JPEGs isn't going to benefit from a fast card...save your money. But a digital SLR pumping out 8-megapixel RAWs out its fast data bus will benefit.

I just bought a Digital Rebel XT (just switched from film). I still don't really understand... if I have a slower card will my camera kinda stall? I could care less about how long it takes for me to view pictures or for them to download to my computer... it's just the shooting I'm concerned about.

Shay Stephens

Then buy fast cards, besides, your cards will probably stick around longer than your camera

nillaismydog wrote:

I just bought a Digital Rebel XT (just switched from film). I still don't really understand... if I have a slower card will my camera kinda stall? I could care less about how long it takes for me to view pictures or for them to download to my computer... it's just the shooting I'm concerned about.

dragon300zx

Shay Stephens wrote:

Then buy fast cards, besides, your cards will probably stick around longer than your camera

This is very true I still have my first 128mb card I bought 3 years ago. Buy fast cards. The cheaper ones will be slow and you will notice it. Hell I have fast cards by last years standards and they are slow (lexar 40X and sandisk ultra II).

wxwax

nillaismydog wrote:

I just bought a Digital Rebel XT (just switched from film). I still don't really understand... if I have a slower card will my camera kinda stall? I could care less about how long it takes for me to view pictures or for them to download to my computer... it's just the shooting I'm concerned about.

It will take the camera longer to write the image to the CF card, which means you'll have to wait longer before you can review your shots in-camera.

If you shoot in burst mode, your camera's buffer will fill up more quickly, and empty more slowly. This will limit how many shots you can shoot in burst mode, and will mean a greater delay before you can shoot another burst.

When you download the contents of your card to your hard drive, it will take longer for the images to transfer.

gus

dragon300zx wrote:

This is very true I still have my first 128mb card I bought 3 years ago.

Yep same for me...my 128 Dick Smith special (radio shack type) has been to hell & back. Funny though...i just cant quite get my head around the fact that it always held about 120 images & now i only get 12...ive lost some along the way

Gus

Steve Cavigliano

Humungus wrote:

Yep same for me...my 128 Dick Smith special (radio shack type) has been to hell & back. Funny though...i just cant quite get my head around the fact that it always held about 120 images & now i only get 12...ive lost some along the way

Gus

:lol :lol :lol

Yeah, but they are 12 really good images

Steve