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What Is the VGA Setting on a Digital Camera? Difference Between Sandisk Extreme III & IV The Best High Speed SD Card for DSLR

by Joanna Polisena 
The best high-speed secure digital card for your digital SLR camera depends on your camera and the type of photography you do. It can make the difference between getting a shot and waiting for the buffer to write to the card. Understand what secure digital technology works best with your camera, and then you can decide which card provides the performance you need at the best cost.


While a higher speed card may enable you to shoot additional images in burst mode, it'll never enable you to shoot more at one time than your camera buffer can hold. This means if the buffer holds 40 images and you fill it, the camera must write at least one image to the card before you can shoot again. A higher speed card means your camera will free up the buffer more quickly, enabling you to shoot again faster, but it may not be much of a benefit if your buffer is small. In addition, your camera processor and controllers affect how quickly data writes to the card.


Patriot and Transcend are generic SD cards, while SanDisk, Lexar and Kingston are among brand-name cards. While some photographers may tell you brand doesn't matter, others will tell you that because card manufactures sometimes work directly with camera manufacturers to create compatible products it matters a lot. Refer to your camera manual for its recommend brand.

Classes and Speed

Considering card class, or the minimum write speed, is just the beginning. For modern cameras, go for at least the class 10, which means it writes at a minimum 10MB per second. An older camera may not support class 10 cards. That doesn't matter when it comes to maximum write speed, which you also need to consider. If you shoot video or large images in burst mode, look for a maximum write speed of at least 30MB per second. However, the maximum write speed also depends on your camera's processing and buffer speeds, which you may find in the manual. While some cards write at more than 45MB per second, it may not be worth the cost if your camera can't process images that fast.


Whether you shoot RAW, JPEG or video or a combination of those formats determines the amount of storage you need. Video and RAW files tend to be large, so aim high if you plan to shoot them. Most cameras come with various options for the JPEG format, enabling you to reduce the resolution to fit more images on a card.





