Memory Card Speeds

[joepa150]

I am looking to buy an additional memory card for my Canon XSI. I was wondering if I should get any 4gb or 8gb on sale or if brands and speed make a huge difference.

For example if I can get a 8gb off brand for $15 that is a Class 4, will it be that much slower than say a Extreme III sandisk?

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/camera_multi_page.asp?cid=6007-9424

I looked at this chart and it seems even if a card is labled Class 6 such as a Kingston, it can be slower than class 4 of another brand.

[Choaf]

are you doing a lot of quick firing or holding on the button? If not then no I dont think the speed of the card matters. I have a 20D and I have what would be considered slow CF cards but does me just fine.

[r.morales]

What would be great is a chart listing cameras and their speed loading card ,
I try to buy the fastest card I can afford , but It was hard buying a sandisk 4 gb III when for same money I could get an 8 gig [ another brand - transend ] I can't even find a recomemded card for my XTI .
I am planing on getting a 7D and just wondering .

[ntc3]

I use two different memory cards for my XSi, a 4gb sandisk extreme III and the other is a sandisk class4, and i dont notice any difference in speed while taking pictures. But I think i would notice a difference in speed if the XSi did 5fps or video. The only place where you would notice a difference in speed is when downloading images to your computer.

[r.morales]

The only time I notice a difference is taking rapid fire shots ,
A group of family pictures - someone always blinks yawns , talks etc . A rapid series and you pick best .
Kids doing stuff , wedding pictures of bride and groom coming down isle with brides maids .
All of these you try to focus on one spot and hope .
I save and put freshly charged batteries into tray when I know this is going to happen .

[Mashimaro]

I've noticed a difference on 2 of my cards.

the faster one i own is the Sandisk Extreme III 8GB. it's great for bursting and it's fast if you use the camera to download your pics to your computer.

the slower card i have is a Kingston 32GB card. i think the card stated something along the lines of 233x speed, but it's noticably slower when i turn on the camera with that card in it. downloading speeds are a bit slower as well but i haven't tested it on burst as i bought that card for the size and price (cheaper than my 8GB Extreme III).