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02-27-2022, 03:21 PM   #1
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Which of my 3 SD cards is the fastest?

The answer is probably obvious (I actually thought I had 3 types of cards), but I couldn't figure out how to delete my post (so perhaps someone can answer that question too):


Quick question. (& Oops, 2 of them are SDHC I, so) which of my 2 SD cards is the fastest?

Both are SanDisk brand:

Ultra (SDHC I) or SDHC ?


Last edited by Michael Piziak; 02-27-2022 at 03:35 PM.
02-27-2022, 03:47 PM - 2 Likes   #2
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Check Here:

Comprehensive SD Card Guide for Photographers - Articles and Tips | PentaxForums.com

And if you bring up your post to edit it (EDIT MESSAGE), a delete option will appear in the lower right with the SAVE/GO ADVANCED/DELETE/CANCEL buttons. You have to verify a DELETE before it happens.
02-27-2022, 03:53 PM   #3
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QuoteOriginally posted by Bob 256 Quote
Check Here:

Comprehensive SD Card Guide for Photographers - Articles and Tips | PentaxForums.com

And if you bring up your post to edit it (EDIT MESSAGE), a delete option will appear in the lower right with the SAVE/GO ADVANCED/DELETE/CANCEL buttons. You have to verify a DELETE before it happens.
Thanks so much!

My camera is the K-S2, and I will read the guide. However, if you know right off the top of your head, I see my camera can also take an SDXC I card - is that card faster than the Ultra?
02-27-2022, 05:55 PM - 1 Like   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by Michael Piziak Quote
Thanks so much!

My camera is the K-S2, and I will read the guide. However, if you know right off the top of your head, I see my camera can also take an SDXC I card - is that card faster than the Ultra?
I'd have to take a look myself to answer that, but if your concern is how fast they are in the camera, both are probably limited by how fast the camera can write to them which wouldn't make one any better over the other.

02-27-2022, 09:25 PM - 1 Like   #5
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As Bob 256 says, probably they are both equally fast in your camera. One of them might be faster copying the photos to your computer, if you use a card reader. Looking at the cards should indicate the maximum speed (like 90MB/s or something like that), if one is higher, that one is probably faster.

Last edited by leekil; 03-10-2022 at 08:12 PM.
02-28-2022, 01:59 AM - 1 Like   #6
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As you often can not determine write speed of a SD card by its specs, I use the following linked tool to determine the write speed. It originally was released to test USB-Stick for full capacity, when fake 8 GB sticks were often sold. You need to clear your SD-Card and the tool will then write data onto the whole card an afterwards read the card for errors. At the end it will give you capacity, write and read speed. Only drawback: it is in german. Sorry.
H2testw | heise Download

With this tool I found, as shown in a table in the article linked by Bob, that the Black "Ultra" Sandisk cards are really slow in write speed. Most of my consumer cards of this time where faster in write speed. My reasonable priced Samsung Evo cards outperformed them by far in write and read speed.

If you do not shoot bursts on a regular basis, I think read speed is more important. As you have probably found out, the files of the K-S2 are not so small and if you have to read 16 GB from a SD card with UHS 4 rating you will swap to a faster one. Little side note, as I am shooting jpeg mainly the software to copy the files is even more important. ACDsee for example does index the files while downloading. Result is over 2 hours download for 1000 jpegs from the K-70 and still not through. NikonTransfer: about 30 minutes for all the files.

Last edited by Papa_Joe; 02-28-2022 at 02:09 AM.
03-03-2022, 05:31 PM - 2 Likes   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by Papa_Joe Quote
Only drawback: it is in german. Sorry.
H2testw | heise Download
The download page is indeed in German but when run, the program itself has a radio button to switch to English (it works with Windows 10 too). An english readme file is also included in the zip.

The results do make you wonder how cards can behave so differently -
Kingston - write: 25 MB/s, read: 85 MB/s
PNY - write: just under 40 MB/s, read: just over 40 MB/s !

03-03-2022, 09:39 PM - 1 Like   #8
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the sd card guide covers most of whats important
and since flash memory has advanced alot in the past few years, now days you can get a 128gb consumer grade samsung sd card off amazon for under 20 dollars that will do 90MB/s write and 130MB/s Read.
i use samsung pro sd cards, it runs a little faster at 100MB/s write and 160MB/s read, that way i know the sd card is not the bottleneck. only cost a little more at $26 not that i take bursts much.

if you want to test the cards yourself you also need to have a good card reader that can actually achieve those speeds, most no brand or older usb2 reader are total trash in terms of speed.

one thing i did not see in the article is that capacity does affect speed, for example with the same brand and model sd card, the 128gb card will be faster than the 64gb card in sequential write and read. because these flash memory runs in parallel, the larger the capacity the more cells it has, the more cell it has the more parallel channel its got, and the faster it transfers data.

Last edited by HoLun; 03-03-2022 at 09:49 PM.
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