Flash Cards?????

[Todd Caswell]

What do you guys use for flash cards? Iv'e got a ultra II, and a Promaster ( that I bought because I forgot the Ultra in the computer). Both are 2G, that I had bought for my Rebel, since getting the 50D I would like to get one with a larger file size 8G is there a big difference between the ultra's and the Extreem's and the promaster's. Not real familiar with how the writing speed stuff works, advice needed.

[Dbl]

A couple of thoughts. I use Sandisk only. Never had a failure and because of that I feel comfortable with them. There are other brands that are good as well. Since I don't use them I won't speak of them.

The speed of your card matters in two areas, the write buffer of your camera and the ability to download to your computer faster. The buffer on your camera is the picture that is held in the cameras memory before it writes to the memory card. It is very rare to actually exceed your camera buffer unless you fire off a large amount of either large JPEG or RAW files. For most people you never approach that so memory card speed is not all that important from the camera standpoint. The 50D, 7D, and Mark IV have larger buffers and write faster so since you have a newer camera it may pay to use a faster card.

For me the write speed of the memory card comes into play because of faster download times. I fill 4 GB cards with large JPEG and may have to download 500 to 900 shots. Now the faster cards along with a fast card reader (firewire is best) will shave a fair amount of time off your time to download photos.

I usually only use 4GB cards because I would sooner not put all of my eggs in one basket so to speak. I have resorted to 8GB and a few 16's because the 7D shoots HD video and I need the larger size to hold it all. For the average shooter a SanDisk II or III in a 4GB size would work just fine with barely a notice in buffer or download times. I think at a last count I had 16 cards ranging from 2GB II's with a number of 4GB IV Ultra's and a few larger in III's. I also have 4 SD's in size from 2 - 8GB in Ultra IV's and II's.