[davidreilly3207]

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Just Acquired new Transcend Class 10 16gb cards and decided a test was in order.
Setup:

• K20D with DA*50-135mm
• Manual Mode, Manual Focus
• 1/500th at f2.8
• Bench mounted, Artificial light
• Continuous Shooting-HI
• 30 Sec of shooting

Each Test was run 3 times. Cards were formatted in camera before each run.

Results:
Brand | Class | Size | No. of Shots | Time till buffer clear(sec.)
Transcend | 10 | 16gb | 30 | 24
Transcend | 6 | 16gb | 28 | 26
Kingston | 4 | 8gb | 27 | 30
Mushkin | 10 | 32gb | 21 | 35

Conclusion:
The class 10 Transcends showed a mild improvement over the class 6 Transcends which were slightly better than the class 4 Kingstons. The poor performance of the class 10 Mushkins was surprising but may be due to thier size and not slower write times. The new class 10 Transcends were fairly cheap on an Amazon Gold Deal at 12.52 USD each and free shipping (with prime) so I believe they were a good value. I may be up against the limit on the write speed of the K20D but still may try for better performance with the Transcends 150x or SanDisk Extreme series. Also, I am waiting to hear back from Transcend on the compatability of their new class 10 Wi-Fi cards for the K20D and that may be my next purchase.

Any recommendations or discussion on this topic will be appreciated.

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Last edited by davidreilly3207; 11-21-2012 at 05:22 PM. Reason: Correct for <table> not working

[obscura]

as you already said, you probably reached the write limit of the k20, but there are other reasons to have a fast card, such as transfering pictures to a computer
ive got 1 fast class 10 transcend and 2 sandisks extreme 45mb/s and the sandisks are way faster, the big difference is when transfering to the computer, but even in camera you can just feel it.
also i recently found this
Lexar 64GB Professional 400x SDXC UHS-I Memory Card: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories
and im thinking its a good deal, but then again , i dont really need it...

[UnknownVT]

The class 10 Transcends showed a mild improvement over the class 6 Transcends which were slightly better than the class 4 Kingstons. The poor performance of the class 10 Mushkins was surprising but may be due to thier size and not slower write times.

Many thanks for your real world tests and report.

The Mushkin class 10 result does seem surprising since the SD Association speed class ratings is supposed to require a minimum sustained Write of 10MB/s for class 10.

But this might be because the other cards were "over-achievers" for their class.

However it would be very interesting/educational to see if there is any correlation between your results and the accepted benchmarks like:
ATTO Disk Benchmark
CrystalDiskMark
Caution on CrystalDiskMark:

Known problem
4K QD32 test may conflict with Norton's and Avira's security software, so please stop real time scanner when you run CrystalDiskMark.

Or just don't run the 4K QD32 test.

[davidreilly3207]

Many thanks for your real world tests and report.

The Mushkin class 10 result does seem surprising since the SD Association speed class ratings is supposed to require a minimum sustained Write of 10MB/s for class 10.

But this might be because the other cards were "over-achievers" for their class.

However it would be very interesting/educational to see if there is any correlation between your results and the accepted benchmarks like:
ATTO Disk Benchmark
CrystalDiskMark
Caution on CrystalDiskMark:

Or just don't run the 4K QD32 test.

I have taken UnknownVT's suggestion and tested the cards with CrystalDiskMark's utility. Results are in a new thread.
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-dslr-discussion/206396-more-sdhc-t...ml#post2181443

[rawr]

its a good deal, but then again , i dont really need it...

LOL. You must be new here.
Are you sure you are on the right forum?

[cyclone3d]

You really should get a few of the higher end Sandisk cards. They are a whole lot faster than regualar Class 10 cards.

I've only got a couple of the "Ultra" 16GB ones that are specc'd to do 30MB/s read. With a USB3 reader they do just about 25-30MB/s write and around 40-45MB/s read. This is just by going by whaat Windows says it is doing with RAW files from my K-01.

Also, were those test runs shot as jpegs or as RAW files? Either way, with a Sandisk card, the buffer should clear quite a bit faster than that.

Even the Wintec Filemate Professional and Elite cards are going to be way faster than the cards you have now.

You "only" get 60/40 with the Professional cards, while the Elite cards give you 95/50. They are cheaper than the Sandisk cards.

The Sandisk Extreme are rated at 45MB/s write, while the Extreme Pro cards are rated at 95MB/s read, 90MB/s write.

[davidreilly3207]

Have continued testing and started a new thread with the results. https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-dslr-discussion/207071-sdhc-card-t...sb-reader.html