This just came in today's DDQ email from Tim Grey and his fabulous service. I hope I'm not infringing by passing this information along. In the event I might be, I'm sending subscribe info at the bottom of this post. Lea I need another CF card for my Canon 10D. Thinking about 1-2 Gigs. What do the X numbers and the WA mean? How fast can the 10 D write? I don't want to pay for a high speed card if I don't have a high speed camera. ========== The "X" numbers are, in theory, an indication of the speed of the card. In reality, they don't tend to be the most accurate way to determine performance, especially because the actual speed will vary from camera to camera. 1X is equal to 150KB/second. So, 12X would be about 1.8MB/second, 32X would be about 4.8MB/second, and 40X would be about 6MB/second. Unfortunately, cards labeled as such don't typically achieve these speeds because the camera creates a bottleneck. In the 10D, for example, speeds will max out at about 1.4MB/second even with the fastest cards. That is just under 12X speeds, which means that any card faster than 12X would likely be a waste. However, because of overhead, the 12X card doesn't deliver true 12X either, so there is a slight advantage to buying the fastest cards. However, it is slight. Unless you think you'll upgrade to a faster camera before the CompactFlash card outlives its usefulness, I wouldn't waste extra money on the very fastest cards. WA stands for Write Acceleration, and it is a technology developed and implemented by Lexar on many of their cards. However, it requires support from the camera, and Canon doesn't support WA. Therefore, you won't get any advantage from a WA card in the 10D. Personally, I'd look for a bargain in the 32X speed range rather than paying for the latest 40X or 52X cards. Become a DDQ Contributor - Support the DDQ E-mail Service If you find the information provided in the Digital Darkroom Questions (DDQ) e-mail service to be of value, you can make a contribution to help support the effort that is put into the service. The service is provided by Tim Grey with no compensation except the contributions of supporters. Details on making a contribution are at the following web page: www.timgrey.com/ddq/ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jeff Spirer" <jeff@xxxxxxxxxx> To: "List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students" <photoforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2004 5:31 PM Subject: Re: DSLR Write Speed > At 02:56 PM 5/18/2004, Bob wrote: > >Has anyone compared the write speed of a DSLR, in this case the Canon 10D, > >when writing to Compact Flash, any and or all versions, and a micro drive? > > Yes. I have tried regular compact flash (Sandisk, Lexar and no-name), 1 GB > IBM microdrive, and Sandisk Ultra II, a high speed card. With shooting, I > have not once noticed a difference, even with continuous shooting, which I > never do for normal shooting. I have noticed a difference in download > speeds when downloading a whole card into the computer, but even then it's > not significant. > > Canon says that there is no difference with high speed cards. You can save > quite a bit of money by avoiding the hype and sticking with cheaper > cards. Some people report fragility issues with the microdrive, that might > be more of a concern. I don't use the microdrive when I shoot in > situations where the camera is likely to get knocked about. > > > Jeff Spirer > Photos: http://www.spirer.com > One People: http://www.onepeople.com/ > Surfaces and Marks: http://www.withoutgrass.com > > >
