# Does high speed SD cards affect quality?



## thinkricky (Dec 28, 2011)

Is it worth buying the SD performance cards?


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## Vtec44 (Dec 28, 2011)

I don't see how write speed can affect quality (as in resolution and sharpness) of a still image.  For movie, it helps so that you don't have a skipped frames, which as a result smooth video.


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## DorkSterr (Dec 28, 2011)

Having higher read/wright speed won't effect quality. It only effects how fast your camera shoots at continuous high speed and how fast your camera loads your pictures for your view pleasures.


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## 2WheelPhoto (Dec 28, 2011)

No bit-robbing occurs on the slower cards.


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## rexbobcat (Dec 28, 2011)

It only affects the buffer of your camera. If you take 10 photos in quick succession, a slow card will take longer to write the data and therefore will delay your shooting.

Also; DSLR video requires cards that are at least Class 6. I learned that the hard way.


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## thinkricky (Dec 28, 2011)

Word


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## TenaciousTins (Dec 28, 2011)

Yes, at LEAST class 6 for videos! Does not affect quality. I have to use a class 10 for videos. Looking to pick up some new, faster-than-class-6 cards for better write speed now.


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## KmH (Dec 28, 2011)

rexbobcat said:


> It only affects the buffer of your camera. If you take 10 photos in quick succession, a slow card will take longer to write the data and therefore will delay your shooting.
> 
> Also; DSLR video requires cards that are at least Class 6. I learned that the hard way.


Actually, the limiting factor is usually the camera's buffer write speed itself, not the card speed. Your user's manual will tell you what minimum grade cards your camera needs, which is based on the cameras buffer write speed.

The card speed advertised is usually the card read or upload to the computer speed, not the speed data can be written to the card.



> Flash memory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> NAND flash memory cards are much faster at reading than writing so it is the maximum read speed that is commonly advertised.
> As a chip wears out, its erase/program operations slow down considerably,requiring more retries and bad block remapping. Transferring multiple small files, each smaller than the chip-specific block size, could lead to a much lower rate. Access latency also influences performance, but less so than with their hard drive counterpart.
> The speed is sometimes quoted in MB/s (megabytes per second), or as a multiple of that of a legacy single speed CD-ROM, such as 60×, 100× or 150×. Here 1× is equivalent to 150 kB/s. For example, a 100× memory card gives 150 kB/s × 100 = 15,000 kB/s = 14.65 MB/s.
> Performance also depends on the quality of memory controllers. Even when the only change to manufacturing is die-shrink, the absence of an appropriate controller can result in degraded speeds.


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## CorollaGT (Jan 1, 2012)

Faster continuous shots and video. Upgraded mine to a class 10 because my old class 4 was making my video jittery.


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## Flyer (Jan 1, 2012)

I have some plan ole cards that I can burst to about 8 shots then it slows WAY down, about a shot every seconf to second and a half.  With my fast cards (45MB/sec) I can bust about 11 shots and then it slows to about 2 frames a second.  I've got a 30 and a 45MB/second card.  I can't tell any difference between them.

This is with a D5000.


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