A720 write speed?

[HowDidIGetIntoThis?]

Is it worthwhile to spend the extra money for a faster memory card for an A720? Lots of manufacturers make vague claims about their cards being "x" times faster, or "extreme speed", but I've recently come across the Sandisk line that shows the Extreme II as having a minimum sustained 9 megabyte/sec write speed, and the Extreme III at 20 mb/sec. For the time being I'm willing to presume that their measurements are done on an honest and meaningful basis confused

Is there a point at which there is some other limitation in the camera hardware/software such that the increased capability simply can't be exploited?

thx
HDIGIT

 

[alcina]

I have found that the card doesn't make a great deal of difference in camera - I have ultras and some cheapo cards, all are the same as far as I can tell.

When I download to my computer the faster cards are faster - is it enough for me to care or even notice on a normal day? Nope.

 

[HowDidIGetIntoThis?]

I have found that the card doesn't make a great deal of difference in camera - I have ultras and some cheapo cards, all are the same as far as I can tell.

When I download to my computer the faster cards are faster - is it enough for me to care or even notice on a normal day? Nope.

Have you recorded many video clips? I'm wondering if a slower card will cause the buffer to fill, at which point the recording would have to stop. With a fast enough card, the only limitation to the video clip would be the card capacity(?)

 

[alcina]

Again, doesn't seem to matter. YMMV

 

[jeraldjcook]

In my experience from shooting with my A620 at 640x480 at 30fps, just about any card will do. The extra speed only helps with downloading it from the card. 9 mb/s is plenty fast, even for video.

 

[bliew]

I find when shooting on burst mode, there is a difference, but only to a point. Using the standard Sandisk cards for example, after about 3-5 shots, there's a noticeable difference (on A620 and S3IS, assuming similar for A720IS). Going to the UltraII, there's no slowdown whatsoever, appears to keep shooting indefinitely until the card is full. Going to the ExtremeIII seems to be no additional benefit when shooting, but will positively affect the transfer speed when downloading to your computer.

So for me, the UltraII is the sweet spot...

 

[alcina]

Good, concrete information, thanks!

 

[Backscatter]

I have not noticed any difference in performance between cards ( a motley mix of brand name and generic, from 512MB to 4GB) on my Canon A620, with respect to brand or write speeds. But, I haven't ever really used it for continuous mode shooting.

However, with my Nikon D80, the Sandisk Extreme III made a HUGE difference when shooting in continuous mode. I can shoot full resolution JPEGs as long as I hold the shutter, where on other cards I would have to wait after three or four frames for the images to write to the card. Even in Raw, I can do 10-15 in a row without any problem.

I would have to assume that the camera's processor comes into play at some point.

I use a "150x" A-Data 4 GB card in the A620 and have never had to wait on it for video use. However, I've also never had an issue with any of my other unrated (speed) cards. I have a Sandisk 4 GB SDHC card that will not work in the A620, whereas it works fine in the Nikon.

I have found it very difficult to compare speed claims between cards, different manufacturers seem to use different ways to describe the relative speed of their cards.