5050 memory cards

[ScubaJoel]

Take a look at the DPREVIEW C5050 timings and File Sizes section.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympusc5050z/page10.asp

The XD is not even as fast as CFI OR CFII type cards as discussed, in fact almost 2X slower when it comes to writing larger files.

CFII is NOT a faster format. The CFII supports the IBM microdrives, and larger CF cards (like 4 gig). CF II is a slightly different form factor, and the type has little or nothing to do with performance.

XD is more expensive, and not available in near the capacity vs. CF, so why would anyone opt for this storage?

PnS camera's in general are NOT fast enough to take advantage of even 40X cards, but maybe there are some sites on the web that measure performance using various cards with the 5050.

You are right - the bottleneck is the controller and the static buffer-memory of the 50*0, 7070, 8080, Canons 10D, 1Ds and almost all older cameras.

As told CF II stands for a different form factor - but 80 X and 100 X cards usualy build on CF specification 2.*, means they have a faster controller which is able to handle 16MB/sec (theoretically bus-transfer) instead of 8 MB/sec on CF spec. 1.0 - but before reaching those theorectically speeds, a lot of work have to be done by the controller.

Through dynamic buffer and CF 2.* capability those cameras which are able to write > 20 X ( > 3MB/sec) on CF spec. 2.* cards are the E-300, Canons 20D, Nikon D70 and newer Canon Marks. And may be some others, not mentioned here.

With a 50*0 don't expect more than 8 X = 1,2 MB/sec max.

5060wz - 1Gb San Disk Ultra II spec. 1
0,91 MB/sec = 6 X

5060z - 256Kb xD
0,77 MB/sec = 5,1 X

Canon 10D - 1Gb San Disk Ultra II spec. 1
1,08 MB/sec = 7 X

 

[ScubaJoel]

just checked: The 5050 (and all FAT-16 cameras) can read up to 2GB. 5060 and later can read higher capacities. Also the hardware bottleneck occurs about 17x -any card faster is wasted (in the camera anyway, it will be faster in a card reader).

-Steve

Sorry Steve -
IMVHO the 5050 is not able to write 2.55MB/sec = 17X.
Where does this info come from?

A newer, faster card is not wasted unless someone bought it because of thinking he will get a faster writespeed.
But it makes a big difference if you need 2,5 minutes to download 1Gb to your computer via cardreader (7,7MB/sec), 5 minutes and more because using an older card with standard CF spec. 1.0 or 32 minutes when connected the camera direct to computer via USB.

 

[ReyeR]

A C5050 RAW file is about 7MB. My Transcend 30x 512 card writes it in about 4 sec. Which is about 1.7 MB/s or approximately 12x.

 

[RonFrank]

A C5050 RAW file is about 7MB. My Transcend 30x 512 card writes it in about 4 sec. Which is about 1.7 MB/s or approximately 12x.

The D70 can do 4039KB per second (or 4MB per second). It is fast, but not as fast as others, so that provides a bit of comparison.

That is also the speed when processing four consecutive frames. Unfortunately the 5050 I believe locks up when the buffer fills, and can not continue until it is empty. This is unlike ALL DSLR's and many PnS that can write to the buffer as it is available in blocks of the minumum size allocation. Apparently the block size of the 5050 must be the entire buffer -or- something else is going on that I don't understand.

 

[BioG]

Sorry Steve -
IMVHO the 5050 is not able to write 2.55MB/sec = 17X.
Where does this info come from?

I got the 17x from http://myolympus.org/5050/index.html#FAQ
Q: What memory card is the fastest for my camera?
A: Generally a fast (faster than 17x) and large (256 Mbyte or larger) card of a good brand (like Lexar, Sandisk Ultra, Transcend, and Ridata) is recommended. At about 17x, the camera electronics becomes the bottleneck for the C5050.

Also, further up the page, there is a table that says that the write speed for the 5050 maxes out between 12x and 30x (the page guesses around 1.7MB/s)

You are right, a card faster than 17x would make a big difference in a card reader, but no difference while in the camera.

-Steve

 

[ScubaJoel]

I got the 17x from http://myolympus.org/5050/index.html#FAQ

-Steve

Ah okay, I see.
My english is not that good - but I understand he is talking about 17 X always related to the theoretical cardspeed, not the writespeed of the camera. His own best result was 3,8 sec for a RAW, means 12 X on a 256MB card. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

And as ReyeR proofes: I might have too take back my statement about the max 8 X. ;-)

But all this test (also the tests Wrotniak listes on his Site) are made with smaller cards and they stopped testing some month or years ago.
Unless there is no newer / faster controller on the larger cards of the same brand writetimes usualy will go up, because the CF controller have to manage the larger amount of memory and this is hard work.