which class memory card

[Edt]

Am not up on my 'classes' I see class 4 and 6 are common. Whats best for a Panasonic HDC-SD100 or higher bit rate of the new Canon HF11?
cheers
Ed

[A n d r e w]

Class 6 is presently the fastest available but Class 4 is adequate for the entire current crop of AVCHD camcorders. Class 6 will bring no added benefits.

However, there often appears to be a greater range of Class 6 cards out there, depending on whose site you're browsing.

Andrew.

[willc111]

Originally Posted by Courtaj

Class 6 will bring no added benefits

That's not entirely true. Class 6 cards can be read from or written to (usually) faster than class 4, so you should get less delays when accessing them (e.g. scrolling though thumnails etc), and are usually quicker to transfer the files from the card to a PC.

It might not make a huge difference, but it might for example allow you to transfer a full 16GB card to a PC in ~25mins for a class 6 compared to say ~40min for a class 4 (just as a relative example; some cards may read faster than this).

It's worth mentioning though that the class is related to the minimum write speed of the card, so doesn't necessarily tell you for sure what the actual read/write speed is going to be. You could for example have a class 4 that has a min write speed of 4MB/s but a read of 10MB/s, and a class 6 that has a min write of 6MB/s and a read of 8MB/s. In that example the class 4 card would be the better choice.

[A n d r e w]

Class 6 cards . . . are usually quicker to transfer the files from the card to a PC.

You're right - it did occur to me as soon as I posted my last that I'd only thought about it strictly from a recording perspective.

In terms of thumbnails, however, there'll only be a (noticeable) difference if the access speed, rather than the read speed, is significantly different.

[Edt]

Not quite the crystal clear answer was hoping for !!
So am I correct a good fast Class 4 card would be fine for the faster HF11 which goes up to 24Mbps ?

[A n d r e w]

In terms of recording HD video to an SDHC card in a HF100, Class 4 is adequate. Theoretically Class 6 should permit quicker transfer of already-recorded clips to a computer.

Andrew.