Will a 15Mb/sec CF card limit my FPS?

Looking to buy a few more memory cards as I always seem to be on the brink of running out of room when shooting RAW.

Currently have 2x 4GB Sandisk Extreme III rated at 30MB/sec and 1x 4GB pqi rated at 120MB (!?)/Sec.

I've been looking at 8GB cards an Amazon and they sell the 8GB version of the Ultra II for £17 which is 15MB/sec. The Extreme III rated at 30MB/sec is an extra £20 on top at £35, the newer Extreme rated at 60MB/sec another £10 further at £45.

I can buy 2x Ultra IIs for the price of one Extreme III!

Given that the cheapest card is a quarter of the speed of the fastest 15MB/sec vs 60MB/Sec will this be a difference that can affect the FPS during continuous shooting? I have a 400D so the FPS isn't exactly 1D FPS and more likely the camera's buffer will be the limiting factor.

Ideas/experiences welcome

FPS isn't affected by card speed, only shutter speed and weird software corrections like HTP and noise reduction etc etc.

No problem with 15mb/s on your 400D.

Seems there are two things that improve with faster cards:

1: Buffer clears quicker. Meaning: You can shoot a series of, say 20 pictures at full fps, and you can shoot again after 10 seconds, instead of 90 seconds.
2: Transfer rate from card to PC.

Jonta wrote in post #10393830
Seems there are two things that improve with faster cards:

1: Buffer clears quicker. Meaning: You can shoot a series of, say 20 pictures at full fps, and you can shoot again after 10 seconds, instead of 90 seconds.
2: Transfer rate from card to PC.

Correct. 30mb/s is the max that the 400D can utilise effectively. It's not UDMA enabled.

Cool thanks for the replies, I'll go for 2 of the cheaper 8GB cards in that case to save myself some cash!

We shot some fast action animal series with 7D with Sandisk 16GB 60MB cards. If you use high speed for several seconds at 8fps, you can indeed overrun the buffer and have to stop shooting for a second or so.

Thank goodness for UDMA cards, cameras and readers.

MCAsan wrote in post #10394237
We shot some fast action animal series with 7D with Sandisk 16GB 60MB cards. If you use high speed for several seconds at 8fps, you can indeed overrun the buffer and have to stop shooting for a second or so.

8 fps doesn't quite apply to 400D tho (:

Jonta wrote in post #10394268
8 fps doesn't quite apply to 400D tho (:

Indeed.

g3org3y wrote in post #10394587
Indeed.

Pfff, depends on what you shoot of course. But in the ~2,5 years I've used mine, I've rarely wanted higher fps.

Picstop are doing the newer version of the Ultra (30mb/s) for £21.99 at the moment. Ive got one and just ordered another

http://www.picstop.co.​uk …ii-compact-flash-card-8gb