I'm getting ready to spring for a new D7000 to use my great Nikkor glass on but I was wondering if there are preferences among Nikonians about SD memory card types and makes to use for still shots and videos. Any opinions?
Neill
Proud to be a Montreal Nikonian
http://picasaweb.google.com/NeillDGraham

I am currently using Sandisk Extreme Pro SDHC UHS-1 45 MB/s 8GB memory cards, and they seem to work well with the D7000.

Rocky

Thanks, Rocky. I'll price them here.
Neill
Proud to be a Montreal Nikonian
http://picasaweb.google.com/NeillDGraham

I have an assortment of SanDisk Extreme, and Extreme III cards in sizes ranging from 4Gb-16Gb. I also have 2 16Gb PNY Class 10 cards. You can't go wrong with anything from SanDisk!

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

I usually use SanDisk, too. Thanks for the tip.
Neill
Proud to be a Montreal Nikonian
http://picasaweb.google.com/NeillDGraham

I use 8gb Sandisk Extreme Pro USH-I and Lexar Professional 133x cards in pairs. Haven't had any problems with either.

Here's a site that rates speed performane to price.

http://sportsphotoguy.com/nikon-d7000-raw-burst-test/

Respectfully,
Frank

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Thanks for the link, Frank. They really give a good analysis and it answered my questions thoroughly.
Neill
Proud to be a Montreal Nikonian
http://picasaweb.google.com/NeillDGraham

I'm currently using SanDisc 32 GB Extreme UDMA 30Gb/sec cards and they're working well. I never have to worry about running out of space even when I'm shooting RAW + JPEG Fine. You'll really enjoy the tremendous capability of the D7000.

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

I'm using the SanDisk Extreme Pro 45MBS 16GB and they work prefect.

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

I've got 8gb Sandisk Extreme Pro 45mb/sec and the 8gb Extreme Class 10 30mb/sec. I paid for higher quality/lesser amount...

I just got (2) 16 GB Extreme Class 10's and opted away from the Extreme Pro because the basic quality level is there at a great price, and I never shoot video, and I never use high-speed multi-exposure.

I terms of transfer to my PC, I haven't noticed a speed difference.

I would stay with Sandisk/Lexar -- high end cards (though not necessarily the highest speed cards, unless you really need them).

www.billkeane.zenfolio.com

Thanks for your encouraging comment about the SanDisk Extreme Pro 45MBS 16GB. Appreciate your input.
Neill
Proud to be a Montreal Nikonian
http://picasaweb.google.com/NeillDGraham

Thanks for the encouraging endorsement of the 32Gig card. Seems big enough and fast enough at 30Gb/sec!
Neill
Proud to be a Montreal Nikonian
http://picasaweb.google.com/NeillDGraham

Yes, never had a problem with cards from Sandisk - but there are cheaper brands too.
I don't shoot fast sequences, so write-speed is of no concern to me - I use mostly Ultra II + Extreme III for D300s/D700. Video works flawless with Ultra's, so that is fine too.
For my relatively new D7000 (bought in September), I added some Transcend 16GB and 8GB class 10 cards - no problem so far.
Other user-comments on the web on Transcend cards seem to be favourable too ...
Bernhard

Thanks for the interesting comments on the Transcend cards and the confirmation of the UltraII's reliability shooting video. That's what I was wondering.
Neill
Proud to be a Montreal Nikonian
http://picasaweb.google.com/NeillDGraham

I have 2 Transcend SDHC 32GB cards loaded in my D7000 and have had absolutely no problems. I got them from Amazon and am pleased with their performance and price.

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Good point. I've had much better deals buying memory cards online than in my local stores, too.
Neill
Proud to be a Montreal Nikonian
http://picasaweb.google.com/NeillDGraham

If you are shooting sports or video I would suggest Sandisk in the Class 10 family. Remember that the larger the card the larger the loss if for some reason the card fails or is lost. I mainly shoot on 8 gig cards for images and 16 gig cards for video.

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Good advice. Thanks for the tip on using several cards rather than one or two large ones. I've given similar counsel to beginners going on long trips with new digital cameras.
Neill
Proud to be a Montreal Nikonian
http://picasaweb.google.com/NeillDGraham

The cards Nikon have tested for any Nikon DSLR are at https://nikoneurope-en.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/26795/kw/Memory%20card
As the link says others may work - the point is Nikon have given the listed cards the OK.

Photography is a bit like archery. A technically better camera, lens or arrow may not hit the target as often as it could if the photographer or archer does not practice enough.

Len Shepherd

Great link, Len! Thank you. In perusing it, I am impressed with the complete array of Panasonic cards for the D7000! I think I'll check the pricing on them tomorrow.
Neill
Proud to be a Montreal Nikonian
http://picasaweb.google.com/NeillDGraham

Hi, I am using two SanDisk Ultra 32 GB, 20 MB/s, SDHC and work fine.

Jiri

Hi Jiri,
Thank you for your input. Those SanDisk Ultra 32 Gig cards sound like the way to go.

Neill
Proud to be a Montreal Nikonian
http://picasaweb.google.com/NeillDGraham

Hi Neill,

more than 900 pictures per card in NEF 14-bit. Btw. I have 4, I use them for my camcorder as well, if needed.

Regards Jiri

Sandisk has 95 MB/s UHS-I cards now - Extreme Pro SDSDXPA-008G-A75 8 GB Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC).

The pricing is less than the 45 MB/s versions (which appear to be discontinued) -- $32/card! I just ordered 2. This speed seems to be about all that the D7000 can make use of -- I will run some tests to see how quickly the buffer clears compared to the 20MB/s Sandisk Ultra cards that I am currently using. I will probably return the slower cards to Costco once I finish testing - good thing about Costco is their generous return policies!

What a great price for those SanDisk 8gig SDHC cards. 95MB/sec? Wow!
Neill
Proud to be a Montreal Nikonian
http://picasaweb.google.com/NeillDGraham

Be careful buying the cheapest available cards. We've had a number of situations where cheap cards turned out to be counterfeits.

Be particularly careful buying cards from unknown suppliers - ebay sources or even Amazon via third party sales. You want to buy from a reputable source. Watch the packaging. If you want to be really sure, check the serial number with the manufacturer.

Get at least a class 6 card - preferably class 8 or class 10 for video.

Faster cards generally impact download speeds rather than have any significant impact on write speeds. The write speed is pretty well fixed by the camera and size image you are storing. Transfer speeds are remarkably fast with the fastest cards - and makes a big difference if you are shooting a large number of images. Imagine the wedding photographer who has to download 8 cards at 16 GB each. Of course, you need a fast card reader for it to matter.

Now is a great time of year to buy cards at good prices.

Eric Bowles
Nikonians Team
My Gallery
Workshops

Nikonians membership — my most important photographic investment, after the camera

I bought the cards from a well known, and highly rated CAMERA store -- not from ebay. Do a Google search for pricing and you'll see that the price is rather consistent from most vendors. In fact, the ebay pricing is generally higher.

I am confused by your recommendation to buy class 6, 8, or 10 cards, but then you say the faster cards don't do any good in the camera.

For me, the faster cards mean faster clearing of the D7000 buffer and therefore less time before I can shoot another burst.

Likewise, the UHS class cards can utilize the throughput speeds of my USB3 card reader.

The time it takes to fill the buffer is a function of the camera's processor, the camera settings, and the size of the image file, as well as the card itself. Generally write speeds published for memory cards do not consider the specific camera processing - just the design of the card.

In most cases there is modest difference across cards in the speed of the camera in writing images to a card and filling the buffer. You may get a little faster performance, but it is well below the download speed using a USB3 Card reader and a fast computer. You will see some difference - but it is small in comparison to doubling or tripling the card speed.

Nikon specifies class 6 or higher for video. With video you are writing to the card and the intent is to never fill a buffer and stop shooting. Each frame is smaller than a still image so you can get 24+ frame per second write speeds.

For still images, a faster card such as a class 10 will help some so a faster card is better - but you will still fill the buffer at 45x, 60x, 90x, or 200x. The Sandisk Extreme SDHC cards advertise "up to 30mb/sec write speeds.

While that sounds good, the camera is producing 4-6 images per second at 20mb each - 80-120mb per second. The buffer is 200mb so even in the best of circumstances a 2.5 second burst generates 15 images or approximately 300mb. In less than three seconds the Sandisk SDHC will write 90mb to the card, leaving you with a full buffer that takes 7-8 seconds to clear.

Using the detail above, if you double the write speed of the card to 60mb/sec, you still fill the buffer in 3.2 seconds. So the faster card buys you less than a second before the buffer fills.

Eric Bowles
Nikonians Team
My Gallery
Workshops

Nikonians membership — my most important photographic investment, after the camera

>Using the detail above, if you double the write speed of the
>card to 60mb/sec, you still fill the buffer in 3.2 seconds.
>So the faster card buys you less than a second before the
>buffer fills.

So the real improvement in this area would mean a hardware change (like a D400)... The SD Cards past a certain level will only offer a modicum of improvement, not a quantum leap?

www.billkeane.zenfolio.com

Well the good news is memory is getting cheaper, so as cameras increase in megapixels the image file size will increase but the cost and technology of the buffer increases accordingly. Double the amount of memory in the camera and you double the buffer size.

The D7000 seems to have a buffer similar in size to the D300/D300s, but the files are larger so the buffer holds fewer images.

My guess is there are some practical limitations of the technology - both buffer size and write speed of memory cards. Until there is a next generation we only see incremental improvements.

Eric Bowles
Nikonians Team
My Gallery
Workshops

Nikonians membership — my most important photographic investment, after the camera

Good tips, Eric. Thanks for your counsel. The prices are very good right now. I just bought two Transcend 32Gig Class 10 SDHC cards for $38 each... I'll start with these and move up to a SanDisk soon.
Neill
Proud to be a Montreal Nikonian
http://picasaweb.google.com/NeillDGraham