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Memory cards for d800

I'm trying to confirm the importance of speed of the cards. I don't do any kinds of burst shooting, so the buffer will be big enough for anything I throw at it. But I've read that in live view the screen actually goes blank until the image has been written to the card. Is this true?

My current CF card, which I plan to write raw files to (I'm using the SD for jpegs for backup) is a Sandisk Extreme III, which is probably pretty slow. Any thoughts on how big a drag live view will be with a card like this?

I'd go out and get a 1000X speed card on general principle, but I'm broke from buying the camera.
 

danielmoore

New member
I'm using Transcend 600X cards which rate well in Galbraith's CF database. I don't do video and don't stress the buffer. I'm very happy with the performance. I believe the camera will be limited by the slowest card installed so I use Sandisk Extreme Pro class 10 SD card.
In live view, with image playback off, the screen goes blank for about 4 secs while recording the image and returning to live view. I think at the time I bought these cards they were about half the price of the 1000X cards.
 
Correction ... my card is a SanDisk Ultra 16gb. Looks like it's a hair better than the Extreme III. Rob Galbraith measures 25mb/sec write speeds ... just over a third the speed of the fastest cards.
 

Steen

Senior Subscriber Member
My recommendation would be to just use the cards you've got until they perhaps seem too slow in specific situations.
From the following Nikon webpage you can download the Nikon D800 28p pdf Brochure.
At page 26 there is a Memory Card Capacity table, and an Approved Memory Cards table for SD cards and CF cards respectively.
(I'm aware that you have most likely already seen that brochure and those tables, still it may be useful for others. Oh, and btw those tables are also in the User Manual at p. 434 - 436).

Nikon | Imaging Products | Brochure Download


Personally I use these four types of cards, they are far from the latest and fastest but they are plenty fast for my still photography purpose and no longer all that expensive.
I bought them from amazon.co.uk. at very digestible prices.
Memory prices usually drop rather quickly, so I try to avoid buying the latest and most expensive. Your preferences may of course differ.


 

Magic

New member
I use Lexar 1000x CF-card and 600x SD-card (would have bought the 1000x SD if it had been available) for my D800.
You may think this is slightly too much but take also not so much the buffer speed into consideration than the transfer speed to your computer.

I use SanDisk card reader with FireWire 800 but this one can only handle CF-cards. Hence I made the CF-card my primary card.
 
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glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
One of the biggest advantages of a DSLR for street shooting is speed . I don t shoot in bursts on continuous but I want the camera to be able to click off 6-10 captures without being limited by the buffer . I use the 1000x CF and 600x SD ....the system was fine with the 600X Cf cards ..but its faster with the 1000X . I couldn t be happier with the responsiveness of the D800e with these cards . (as a comparison I can fill the S2 buffer ) .

Downloading a card using USB 3.0 Lexar card reader is a joy .
 

Jan Brittenson

Senior Subscriber Member
I got a bunch of Sandisk Extreme Pro 90MB/s cards during one of B&H's one-day sales and couldn't be happier. I'd estimate it takes a little under a second per file to flush. They're noticeably faster that my Calumet ProSpecs, and a lot faster than a Lexar Pro 400x I have.

When performance is not an issue I prefer to use SD for the convenience though. The Extreme Pro 45MB/s SD's aren't too shabby.
 
Well, my d800 came today, and Steen's advice is right on. The CF card is plenty fast enough for anything I'm doing. The live view screen blanks out for a couple of seconds, but that's fine.

The unforseen annoyance is that my sandisk SD card seems to be defective. The camera won't format it, and it gives an error message. My plan was to send high quality jpegs to this as a backup, or for when I just need something emailable. Until I replace it I won't know if the second card adds much to the delay.
 

Gaetan

New member
I have an Acumen 16gb 600X which works fine in my other cameras. When I put it in the CF slot, it would not format. Also gives me an err reading. Anyone else having problems with Acumen?

Respectfully

Gaetan Dery
Website Template Intro
 

Pingang

New member
Since my 15" MBP with Retina Display and my iMac27" all have SD slots so nowadays I am trying to use fast SD (32G and 64G) cards as possible to get rid of using card reader - unless of course using digital backs. Currently the SD card has reached the same spped of CF card, and SD of the same speed/capacity is in fact cost less than CF cards that I am moving away form CF cards - except when I shoot medium format digital backs.

Pingang


I'm trying to confirm the importance of speed of the cards. I don't do any kinds of burst shooting, so the buffer will be big enough for anything I throw at it. But I've read that in live view the screen actually goes blank until the image has been written to the card. Is this true?

My current CF card, which I plan to write raw files to (I'm using the SD for jpegs for backup) is a Sandisk Extreme III, which is probably pretty slow. Any thoughts on how big a drag live view will be with a card like this?

I'd go out and get a 1000X speed card on general principle, but I'm broke from buying the camera.
 
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