Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 

Reply
Show Printable Version Search this Thread
05-11-2007, 10:26 AM   #1
Inactive Account




Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 2
Best (Most Reliable) SD Card

Hi,

I was wondering what the best SD card brand is. I bought a cheap one and it died on me. Also, does the speed of the card matter?

05-11-2007, 10:36 AM   #2
Senior Member
MShawn63's Avatar

Join Date: May 2007
Location: Connecticut
Posts: 225
Hi Henry,

I'm sure that your question will get a lot of replies from the more experienced members of the forum. What I have found though is that you tend to get what you pay for. To me Sandisk, Kingston and Lexar are the ones that I trust and use, they are all reliable and you can usually find at least one of the brands having a sale on them.

As for speed, it is very important to have a fast card. The faster the card, the faster the transfer of the image from the camera to the card. I try to get cards that have at least a 10MB per/sec write speed. I've also found for PS cameras that faster cards improve their performance as well.

Hope this helps
05-11-2007, 10:38 AM   #3
Senior Member




Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Dahlonega, GA
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 141
Lexar or SanDisk and, yes, the card speed DOES matter! I'm using SanDisk Extreme III SDHC cards and the write speeds compared to a couple of "off brands" I own are about 10X faster!
Rob W
05-11-2007, 11:27 AM   #4
Inactive Account




Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Boise, Idaho
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 1,413
I have tried a couple other brands lately and had mixed success. I keep coming back to the Sandisk Ultra II cards. I am sure that the Extreme III are faster, but so far I have not needed the extra speed. I almost never use continuous shooting mode. I have six 2 gb Ultra II SD cards and five 1 gb. I also had four 1gb Ultra II CF cards with my *istD. Never had a problem with a single one of them. Right now the Costco about 10 blocks from my house has the 2 gb Ultra II SD cards for $32.99. If they carried the Extreme III for as comparable a deal I would probably own them instead. Either way, Sandisk has been very reliable for me.

05-11-2007, 12:05 PM   #5
Veteran Member




Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,202
I have been using a Kingston Class 6 4GB SDHC card with my K10D. I have had no data errors over several thousand images. I do not usually shot in continuous frames but when I have the K10D has never felt like it stalled while doing so using this card.

I also purchased this Kingston SDHC compatible card reader for consistency. It has worked with the Kingston SDHC card and several other regular standard SD brands. Sandisk, Dane-Elec and Panasonic. I do not have an offbrand SDHC card to try with the Kingston card reader so I do not know yet if it is cross compatible.

The Sandisk cards are very reliable. The Panasonic card I have has had no errors as well. The 2 Dane-Elec cards I have are their really low end cheap card. One Dane-Elec card did have errors right away but Dane-Elec replaced it without question. Since they have had no errors on still images but do not have enough juice to record P&S video.

It would be good to hear which Card readers are working for different SDHC brands. In my experience card readers have been a real crap shoot.

The prices on SDHC have plummeted. There is a Transcend Class 6 8GB for around $85 US now.
05-11-2007, 12:30 PM   #6
Inactive Account




Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 441
QuoteOriginally posted by Henry Scott Quote
I was wondering what the best SD card brand is. I bought a cheap one and it died on me. Also, does the speed of the card matter?
I don't know what the "best" card is, but I use Sandisk, Kingston and Panasonic cards and have never had a single problem. Any brand card can fail, but the cheap ones will have a higher failure rate.

Faster cards will allow faster writes in the camera, but the biggest advantage for me is download speed to the computer. A fast card with a good card reader will allow much faster transfers, and that is convenient when copying 2 or 4 GB of data. Definitely get at least a "high speed" card. I think a card like the Sandisk Ultra II is a reasonable compromise between speed and price. But if price is not an issue, get the fastest name-brand card you can find (and a fast card reader to go with it).
05-11-2007, 04:39 PM   #7
New Member




Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Posts: 15
I also tend not to put total stock anymore in the card's stats, except as a ballpark figure. I've had cards from two different manufacturers that claimed different speeds (a difference of 50X) and I'm convinced the one with the slower designation was marginally faster, probably having to do with the programming of the card. While I don't doubt they both earned their ratings properly in the lab, the real world sometime proves a little different.

05-11-2007, 04:56 PM   #8
Veteran Member




Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 1,934
QuoteOriginally posted by Henry Scott Quote
Hi,

I was wondering what the best SD card brand is. I bought a cheap one and it died on me. Also, does the speed of the card matter?
Do you have a K100 or K10? As for brands, I think all the "known" brands are okay and reliable enough. As for if speed *rating* matters, see my following test:-

RiceHigh's Pentax Blog: K100D SD Card Write Speed Test
05-12-2007, 03:11 AM   #9
Veteran Member
Toshi's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 431
I've always used the SanDisk Ultra II's. It's fast (enough) and cheap. I'd stick with a name brand. Just be aware of the many fake SanDisk cards being sold on eBay.
05-13-2007, 02:26 AM   #10
Ash
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter
Ash's Avatar

Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Toowoomba, Queensland
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 23,920
Agreed Toshi.
Am sick of being duped with ads appearing as if the genuine products are on sale, then buying them and receiving crap. Turned me off eBay somewhat. It's worth getting the real thing from the beginning than stuffing around picking up genuine wannabes hoping for the best. They just don't perform, speed and quality-wise.
05-14-2007, 05:05 PM   #11
New Member
pentaxbeat's Avatar

Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Norway
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 20
Known brands

I stick to Sandisk and Lexar. I havent used digital for a very long time but the people that I work with have used digital since the first cameras hit Europe.

A photographer that I work with had her first Lexar crash a few days ago, it was a five year old 256 lexar non-pro card that she had used in her studio since she bought it. She has always used lexar on Nikons, the pictures could easily be restored with image rescuing software. I'd go to B&H og Jessops and get a Sandisk or Lexar, you simply can not afford to loose that shot.
06-12-2017, 09:08 AM   #12
Pentaxian
timw4mail's Avatar

Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Driving a Mirage
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 1,670
Anything that isn't Centon.
06-12-2017, 09:25 AM   #13
Veteran Member




Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Ohio
Photos: Albums
Posts: 339
QuoteOriginally posted by Henry Scott Quote
Hi,

I was wondering what the best SD card brand is. I bought a cheap one and it died on me. Also, does the speed of the card matter?
I know you'll read lots of Lexar, SanDisk and a few other names.

Another less famous brand I've had very good experience with is "Strontium". One advantage of the less known brand is less chance to get a counterfeit.
06-12-2017, 01:04 PM - 1 Like   #14
Pentaxian
stillshot2's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Photos: Albums
Posts: 1,070
I only use Sandisk, never a problem.
06-19-2017, 04:08 AM   #15
Pentaxian
Theov39's Avatar

Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Sydney
Posts: 594
When it comes to cards, buy from from a reliable store to ensure you are getting what you paid for. Forget ebay no matter how tempting the price.
Reply

Bookmarks
  • Submit Thread to Facebook Facebook
  • Submit Thread to Twitter Twitter
  • Submit Thread to Digg Digg
Tags - Make this thread easier to find by adding keywords to it!
card, sd, tripod
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
What do you think about these triggers? Reliable? crossover37 Pentax Camera and Field Accessories 2 09-26-2010 03:58 PM
Is SDM getting more reliable? bfo Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 90 03-18-2010 01:02 PM
Reliable repair in U.S.? scottax1 Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras 8 11-15-2009 08:08 PM
Most reliable fast SDHC card 8GB+? Daemos Pentax Camera and Field Accessories 13 10-13-2009 05:54 AM
Is this ebay seller reliable? roentarre Photographic Technique 1 02-14-2007 04:34 PM



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 05:32 AM. | See also: NikonForums.com, CanonForums.com part of our network of photo forums!
  • Red (Default)
  • Green
  • Gray
  • Dark
  • Dark Yellow
  • Dark Blue
  • Old Red
  • Old Green
  • Old Gray
  • Dial-Up Style
Hello! It's great to see you back on the forum! Have you considered joining the community?
register
Creating a FREE ACCOUNT takes under a minute, removes ads, and lets you post! [Dismiss]
Top