# Class 10 vs Class 6 SD Cards



## yustr (Sep 27, 2004)

I notice that my camera seems to take a long time writing to the memory after I snap the pic. I checked and my main memory card is a 8GB class 6 SD card. (Rest assured, I also carry a pocket full of older 2GB cards when I go out.) 

I was wondering if investing in a Class 10 card would make a noticeable difference in write times? :4-dontkno


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## Mack (Nov 8, 2004)

I read some reviews a few months back and I got the idea that the main difference is in transfare rate to your pc. I don't think you will notice any faster camera write times. I guess the question is why would you need faster write times? It won't make a difference to camera performance.


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## yustr (Sep 27, 2004)

Mack said:


> I guess the question is why would you need faster write times? It won't make a difference to camera performance.


Does it not contribute to how fast the camera can clear its internal buffer?


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## zuluclayman (Dec 16, 2005)

What camera are you using? 

Mostly class 6 should be OK for stills unless:
* you are using a camera up over the 18-21MP range where each image can be up to 20-25MB at highest resolution. 
* you are shooting in RAW or RAW+JPEG format - this will also slow down the transfer to card due to large file size and some processing in-camera
* you are using noise reduction or any other in-camera processing functions - these take a lot of processing and can drastically slow down the transfer of data to the card.

Some camera's cache where they write to before xferring to the flash memory can fill up pretty quickly and need to be emptied before it can be used again - this may also be the case.

Donald may have a more definitive answer for you from first hand experience - my DSLR is an Olympus so uses xD cards, I use an SD card at times for my canon HD video camcorder - class 6 works fine for that.


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## yustr (Sep 27, 2004)

I have a Pentax K10D @ 10.2MP and I shoot in RAW, so that's not the issue.

I wonder if shooting in Adobe DNG versus Pentax's PEF format matters? Doubtful but I'll test it.

:4-dontkno :4-dontkno :4-dontkno


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## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

It does contribute to the speed of storage from the camera's buffer to the card.

I have a udma x300 card & it is noticeably quicker than the x133 cards I have.

For normal photography, it doesn't matter one jot, but if using 'burst' mode or video at max definition (HD) then it could make a difference...

The benefit of a 'fast card' is that using a card reader, it is quicker on transfer to the computer too


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