SD card speeds for cameras

[old grumpy]

Can anyone confirm if the Kingston 1 GB ultimate card is noticeably faster than say the Canon ixus 40 SD card. I am not sure that I would need the faster card for ordinary photography, but the faster card may be relevant to taking action shots. The other thing I am not sure about is whether the Canon card could be used in other cameras or is it dedicated to Canon?

Any advice on this or a good all round SD 1GB card for amateur photography, including sports action shots would be welcome.

 

[bibamus]

Hi, cant give you any details on either the Canon or Kingston cards, but I can recommend Sandisc Ultra 2 1gb cards. I use them in my Nikon D50.
As far as I know, the speed of the card really only governs the speed it is written to. If your camera has a reasonable sized buffer, it can take pictures while writing to disc as the information is stored in the buffer. If you take a lot of shots in quick succession, then it could start slowing the amount you can fire off in one go till the buffer empties.
With my D50, I can fire off about 12 shots in 5 seconds till it starts slowing down. If I release the shutter after 12, it takes another 3 to 5 seconds to finish writing those shots to the card ( these are 6mp pics).
So, it really depends more on the type of camera, the speed of the discs helps, but is not the be all and end all ( I didnt think I would use that expression today!)
What sort of camera have you got and what sort of shots are you considering taking? Regarding the Ixus SD card. I would have thought you could use it in any camera ( or anything else) that uses sd cards without problems.
Allan

 

[old grumpy]

Thanks. The camera is a Konica Minolta Dimage X3. Probably mostly holday / scenery, but will also involve some shots at the Saturday rugby matches.

 

[bibamus]

Thats a really good camera, I just sold mine to help pay for the Nikon. I used the Sandisc card and didnt have any problems with it. I also used a normal Fuji SD card and I didnt really notice any difference. Its only really when you take loads of shots in quick succession that you need a fast card. Set it in sport mode for the matches and you should get some pretty spectacular shots, but you will need good light if you utilise that 10x zoom.
Allan