SD/SDHC card tests for Pentax cameras

[ManuH]

I'm ready to start formal tests on a K20D, K-m and possibly a K10D with the following cards: Sandisk Extreme III 30Mb/s, Panasonic Class 6, Toshiba Class 4, etc.

I was wondering if that has been already done. I plan to create some sort of database like this: Rob Galbraith DPI: Nikon D90

I would need to create a simple and standard procedure so that people could add their own results with their cards. It could become a sticky on the forum.

Here how I would test:
1) RAW mode (DNG to avoid compression and variance in file size). Set the camera to manual focus, manual exposure with 1/250s shutter and no more than ISO 400 or 800 (to avoid slowdowns with NR).
2) Shoot in continuous mode for 30 seconds.
3) Look how much time after 30 seconds the buffer is clearing.
4) Count the number of shots done.
5) Sum the size of the shots and divide by the number of seconds it took to clear the buffer. It would give the speed in MB/s.

Any ideas?

[Edvinas]

I have just made my SD/SDHC card test following way:

1. Original Pentax battery fully charged, camera on tripod, SR off, manual mode, manual focus, ISO 100, continuous shooting, RAW DNG, instant preview off.
2. Fully erase card with official SD card formatter from SD Card Association (http://www.sdcard.org/consumers/formatter/sdfv2000.exe)
3. Format card in camera.
4. Shoot continuously until camera slows down, start time measuring when SD card lamp on camera goes on and stop measuring when it goes off.
5. Repeat step 4 three times.
6. calculate card speed: total file sizes/total time of three tests

I believe that Rob is doing test in very similar fashion.

So far my results are following (fastest to slowest card):

1. Lexar Professional 4GB Class 6 SDHC: 17.57 MiB/s
2. Lexar Professional 2GB 133x SD: 16.40 MiB/s
3. Sandisk Extreme III 30MB/s edition Class 6 SDHC: 15.74 MiB/s
4. Apacer 4GB Class 6 SDHC: 9.03 MiB/s
5. Lexar Platinum 1GB 40x SD: 8.30 MiB/s