What is the fastest memory card for your camera...

[rpcrowe]

The website http://www.cameramemoryspeed.com/ may provide the answer and can also provide a plethora of interesting and worthwhile information regarding memory cards and their relationship with many digital cameras.

Here is the website introduction:

"We test SD cards and CF cards in cameras to evaluate performance. Fast cards allow your camera to take more pictures in less time as well as transfer images to your computer faster. Buying a fast card does not guarantee high speed, your camera may be a limiting factor. We test a variety of memory cards in each camera to find the best cards. We also test several card readers with different memory cards to find which readers work best for each memory card."

Unfortunately, my Canon 6D2 is not one of the cameras that has been reviewed. However, I did learn that the two fastest CF cards for my 7D2 (as per the 2014 test date) were the Lexar Professional 1066x 32GB and the SanDisk Extreme Pro 160MB/s 32GB.

The site provides information such as: "The 7D Mark II maintains a high frame rate longer when using faster cards. In continuous shooting with a fast CF card, the camera captured 28 30MB RAW files at high frame rate before slowing to approximately 3.5 fps for the remainder; while the slowest card reached only 20 shots before the frame rate slowed to a dismal 0.36 frames per second."

What this site does document is that CF cards are generally available in faster speeds than SD cards. I really don't like SD cards (for multiple reasons) and wish that my 6D2 used CF cards (or even better - dual SD and CF cards like my 7D2).

I think that this site might be worthwhile to peruse and to bookmark for further use...

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Frankly Richard, I think these guys are missing the boat. They should be testing older cameras and not just the new ones as they come out. Help get performance out of an old camera so I don't have to buy a new one. Now that would be useful.

[Manfred M]

The way I shoot, memory write speed generally has NO impact while shooting. I rarely shoot burst mode, so I rarely fill my camera's buffer, so slow speed cards work quite well for me at the capture end.

At the read end, yes, a faster card would be nice, but I rarely have so much data on a shoot that take more than a minute or two to download, so read speed is not generally an important fact for me either.

I suspect the way I work is probably quite typical for most amateurs.

[Tronhard]

I am not a videographer, but I am saving in both RAW and JPG formats, so I have always chosen a class 10 SD card as my standard. My CF cards are a bit more eclectic since they date way back to the start of this century, but my fastest card is around 1066x.

Not all camera bodies will accept the latest and fastest cards, so you need to look at the recommendations of your manual to see what is can handle.

[Shadowman]

What I found interesting is that some of the cards exceeded their advertised read/write speeds so if you bought the card for those specifics reasons then you are probably happy with the cards performance or didn't notice the difference in the first place. The ratings given for a specific card might be enough to keep you from trying to find a faster card or splurging on the top rating card listed. Thanks for the link, I'm not all that concerned with the card reader speed but would be happy to know that I'm getting peak write capabilities.

[NorthernFocus]

For 90+ percent of shooters card speed is an academic exercise. Kind of like owning a car capable of 150mph and driving it back and forth to work every day in rush hour traffic. Feels cool but doesn't get the job done any better than a beater. I shoot in burst mode far more than most folks and very rarely fill the buffer. Like almost never. And I'm generally using mediocre cards.

[rpcrowe]

I never noticed the difference between faster and slower cards when shooting with my 30D and 40D cameras. However, when shooting with my 7D and 7D2, I definitely do notice the difference. However, I don't notice the difference between my "faster" CF cards: such as Lexar 300X, 400X, and so on...

I have not pushed the limits of my SanDisk Extreme Pro SD card that I use in my 6D2. Of course, I don't shoot as much fast action with the 6D2 as I do with the 7D2...

The only time that I am concerned with card reader speed is when I am traveling and want to download my cards after a long day shooting usually followed by a nice supper (when my wife is with me) that eats up time. I am usually tired and want to download my cards as quickly as I can so I can go to bed and re energize for the next days shooting. In that respect, when I travel I will bring 4 battery slots worth of chargers (one two battery charger and two single battery chargers). So I can recharge my batteries efficiently.

[NorthernFocus]

I never noticed the difference between faster and slower cards when shooting with my 30D and 40D cameras. However, when shooting with my 7D and 7D2, I definitely do notice the difference...

Out of curiosity how is the difference manifested? Buffer capacity? Time to clear the buffer(i.e.write to the card)?

Now when it comes to read speed, it's pretty easy to quantify. Particularly since Win10 graphically shows the copy speed during the transfer process.

[rpcrowe]

The 7D2 has quite a decent capacity buffer. The main difference appears when I am clearing the buffer. The red "busy" light stays on a far longer time.