Memory Cards? (1 Viewer)

Hi Gang,

Looks like I'm pretty much decided on the new Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20. But here's the deal -- I have NO knowledge of memory cards! This camera uses SD and MMC cards. Which is better? What's a reasonable price? Are there certain brands to avoid/ look for? I know that there are differences in speed between cards, but how does one compare speeds?

Any info is much appreciated!

You want the high speed cards that write 9-10MB per second. Lexar has a brand out that has like 60x on it. Any Panasonic SD card that is 256 or above will be high speed, but they are expensive...however, Outpost.com has a sale on the 256 model right now. $49.99 for the unit with a rebate that makes it $19.99 after all is said and done.

Sandisk cards are to be avoided from what I have read.

I think I just asked Travis the same question in another thread without realizing he'd already answered here. Anyone else have any good or bad experiences with particular brands of SD cards?

I am interested in this topic as well, namely, how many high quality pictures from a 3.2MP camera (Canon SD-110) can a 256MB card hold?

--
H

My mom and dad have a sandisk SD card that they used on their last vacation. Near the end of the trip, the card went south. They sent it to me and I tried using PC Inspector Smart recovery to get the pictures back. All were lost and the card won't format or work anymore. So, I would avoid using the Sandisk products in the future...

Ouch. Another tick against San Disk. What is the deal with them?

Travis,

Can you point me to any online reviews or discussion of the Kingmax brand? How did you decide on it? They sound like a good deal, but I've never heard of them before.

PNY 256 MB SD card -> Slow as molasses, IDed as made by Toshiba. So far no issues with reliability
Kingmax Platinum 256 MB SD card -> Blazing fast, should be at least on par with everything else. See other thread for other comments.

Both used in Panasonic FZ10 camera.

Speed test was done using camera in burst mode. PNY card took ~15+ seconds to write a full burst (FZ10 burst mode is limited to around 5 pictures, I forget the exact amount). Kingmax card took about 3 seconds for same burst.

Ridata or Ritek high speed CF cards r also gaining some support. They have been said to be as fast or even faster than Lexar and Sandisk and cost a lot less than these premiun cards. I was looking to get one but they seem to be in high demand that its kinda hard to get a hold of them.

The problem though Eric is that my camera and Aaron's will only accept SD cards. So the comparison really isn't going to be too fair since they are different formats for different cameras.

My Kingmax card is still at Fedex in LA and is supposed to be here tomorrow by 4:30pm. I hope they can pull it off!

I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the 512 MB Kingmax card, since I need something ASAP. I figure that the few things I've heard about it have been positive, and if it does turn out to be a dud, then $56 won't break the bank. It had better work for at least the length of the HTF meet though!!!

Well, that wouldn't be an issue either, because Lucy would kill me and I would be dead.

You do make a good point though. I guess I'll just have to wait and see. While there isn't a lot of info on the Kingmax cards, the feedback I've seen has been 100% positive. Had there been no info at all, I wouldn't have taken the chance.

When a flash card goes "bad," does it die completely after a while, fail fairly quickly, or simply lose data now and then?

BTW, is a 1GB Sandisk CF card for $82 a good price? Buy.com appears to be having a sale on them, and also on 2GB CF Sandisk cards for $137. Both qualify for free shipping, and both are Type I CF cards.

2GB for less than $140 bones? I would be sooooo all over that if my camera supported that media!

I think CF are generally cheaper than SD. Are they slower?

About the same I think...I know they have a high speed 9-10MB version though from some vendors.

No answer? Come on, I am sure many of you have 256MB cards (I don't even own a camera), how many pics does the camera say you have left when you introduce an empty 256MB card?! Or any card for that matter, I just need to know the average size of a FINE picture with a 3.2 meg camera. I have no idea what one ends up with after JPEG compression and such.

How many pix can you take with your device?

--
H