SanDisk Extreme SDHC Cards

Alex

I conducted a little test on my SD card "collection". I just got a 30MB/s rated Sandisk SDHC extreme 32GB to get ready for the hack and wanted to test it against other cards I have.

The SD cards:
Sandisk Extreme 32GB SDHC class 10
Lexar 128GB SDXC class 10
Transcend 64GB SDXC class 10
Transcend 16GB SDHC class 6

Test setup:
1) cheap USB 2.0 card reader 2) Kingston ExpressCard SD card adapter -> MacBook Pro 2011 -> Blackmagic DiskSpeedTest
All cards where formatted using the GH2.

Results:

Sandisk Extreme 32GB SDHC class 10
USB Write 14,9 MB ExpressCard adapter 14,4 MB
USB Read 20,6 MB ExpressCard adapter 18,8 MB

Lexar 128GB SDXC class 10
USB Write 15,8 MB ExpressCard adapter 15,3 MB
USB Read 20,4 MB ExpressCard adapter 18,5 MB

Transcend 64GB SDXC class 10
USB Write 18 MB ExpressCard adapter 17 MB
USB Read 20 MB ExpressCard adapter 18 MB

Transcend 16GB SDHC class 6
USB Write 9.2 MB ExpressCard adapter 9,2 MB
USB Read 16,5 MB ExpressCard adapter 15,4 MB

vanawesome

Just to chime in, I've been using 8GB Sandisk Extreme Pro 45/MB sec cards with driftwoods 176mb GOP1 hack and I haven't had any issues at all.

Purchased from best buy, so they're legit.

I also have a class 10 PNY professional that dies after 3 seconds with the same hack.

NickBen

FYI: After speaking extensively with SanDisk tech support , I'd advise Hack users to try the SanDisk "95MB/s" rated UHS-1 Extreme Pro cards or the 30MB/s SDHC extreme cards, and skip the UHS-1 "45MB/s" cards.

I believe any issue with "45MB/s" UHS-1 media and the GH2 (and imac for that matter) is the camera doesn't read the card at UHS speed natively since UHS-1 cards have twice as many pins as SD and SDXC cards in order to achieve those maximum rates.

So, a "45MB/s" UHS-1 card may transfer data at Significantly slower rates in reality on a SD /SDXC
device, and they only guarantee a minimum Class 10 rating.

This is why now, for the SAME PRICE, Sandisk and other manufacturers are now releasing "95MBps" UHS-1 cards.

One thing is for certain, they will not tell me what the maximum transfer rate that's guaranteed using a UHS-1 card on an SDXC device, only the minimum of Class 10.

Hope this helps anybody interested in Sandisk media...

Alex

I did some test shooting today using Sir Driftwoods 176 GOP1. The Sandisk Extreme class 10 SDHC 32GB had no issues. The Lexar SDHC class 10 128GB fails not instantly but as soon as the going gets tough (high motion, fine detail). 128GB would have been great for a hacked GH2 :-(

chrimsbroome

@Alex, Year been looking into memory cards for that Patch and there doesn't seem to be a lot that will handle the speed. Trouble is most manufacturers seem to mention the read speed on the card rather than the write speed. Has anyone tested this card on Dirftwoods 176 GO1: SanDisk Extreme® Pro™ SDXC™ UHS-I 64GB

One place that sells it is cheap as chips, hummm o really lol: http://www.cheapchips.com.au/memory/sandisk-sdxc-extreme-pro-uhs-1-64gb-95mbsec-600x-new.html

NickBen

TRANSCEND 64GB SDXC

While using the Driftwood 176 Gop1 patch after 2 days of testing my 64GB Transcend SDXC card, I had 2 times the card couldn't handle the patch, but worked on second attempt.

Amazingly, it ate up my own torture test without missing a beat, yet failed on what I thought to be an easy shot at the time, but second attempt worked fine.

drogo

@NickBen How much shooting did you do with the Transcend 64GB card before the failures occurred? How many tests did you do? Would you say that card is more than %80 reliable with the Driftwood 176mbps patch?

NickBen

@drogo Yes, so far GOP1 has been more than 90% reliable so far for me on the Transcend SDXC on 4 days testing. Funny enough, scenes I think would give it hell don't, and worst failure during shooting simple nature scenes of fall leaves rustling on the ground in wind and beaver house on rippling water in ETC mode. Would record 2 seconds then stop. Most of the time I can hit record again and it would work, but not those two instances for some reason. BTW, I always shoot with manual prime lens on mechanical adapter with Shutter priority enabled in the menu, and Cinema (-2,-2,0-2). Maybe I need to power down, remove battery, or establish format procedure aside from camera format of some sort.

I will try latest patch setting tomorrow and rest of weekend to see if it works well.

cosimo_bullo

Try the less exciting sounding but possibly more reliable:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-Extreme-30MB-Flash-memory/dp/B002MRR9A8/ref=sr_1_12?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1319178012&sr=1-12

drogo

@NickBen Thanks for the info on your testing the Transcend card. I'll be getting a new card for the Driftwood 176mbit patch, and I'm considering the Transcend. Have you tried shooting until the card is full? I'm curious to know if the speed is consistent. Let me know how your tests go over the next few days as I'm very curious.

cosimo_bullo

@NickBen - please consider the SanDisk. We've had bad luck with the Transcend and 176.

chrimsbroome

@NICKBEN- Sandisk told me the more you format the card the speed will decrease so I sudjest a sandisk card. I have done some format tests with some less brandand card and found that if you format (FAT32) and set the allocation unite size lesser each time it sets the card is able to handle bigger files but at slows speed. If you set it to higher allocation unite size its faster but the memory then can only handle smaller chunck file sizes. It makes some difference on less expensive class 10 cards. It helps stop the "recording stopped due to the limitaton writing speed of the card"- possibly because the memory card cannot keep of with the large chunks of bandwidth.

What is a limitation for me now is the limit of video clips I can record in different modes, e.g. 4 mins for 24p and 8 mins for 50i. Also because of the bit rate is higher it reduces the over all time limit too 30 mins 50i and 20 mins 24p. As we do more tests with cards we should be able to get round this.

tonalt

@chrimsbroome the more you write & "delete" data from SD card, the more there is fragmentation. Solution: Do "deep-format" with good software like this one: http://www.spyontech.com/software/freeware/sd-formatter-3-0-the-best-way-to-format-sdsdhcsdxc-memory-cards.htm . If your card doesn't support "Erase"-option, do it with "OverWrite" -option.

Fragmentation happens because when you "delete" file from SD card, it's not actually deleted. It is just marked as "hidden". With special software it's possible yo unhide the files, so be careful when selling your old cards. Quick format doesn't really delete your files either.

chrimsbroome

@tonalt- correnct

johnnym

sorry if i missed this, but did anyone test these fast Delkin cards?
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/764372-REG/Delkin_Devices_DDSDELITE633_32GB_32GB_Elite_Class_10.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/764373-REG/Delkin_Devices_DDSDELITE633_16GB_16GB_Elite_Class_10.html

Vitaliy_Kiselev

@johnnym

Please read topic title.

johnnym

Sorry Vitaliy.
Would it be interesting enough to start a new thread?

Vitaliy_Kiselev

This one is more general
http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/286/good-cheap-sdhc-for-hacked-cameras

But you can make new one if you like.

NickBen

I have SanDisk UHS-1 95MB/s on order, but if you all think there's no benefit with the Hack, I'll cancel them and pick up Sandisk 30MB/s instead. Any ideas?

@cosimo_bullo Do you think it's better to get the 30MB/s Extreme Sandisk or the Sandisk 95MB/s UHS-1?

cosimo_bullo

The 30MB/s is working really well for a lot of us, so I'd stick with that, yes.

chrimsbroome

@NickBen, it would be nice to see if it helps with the Driftwood 176 Patch but its your money at the end of the day :-)

Rambo

I have both the sandisk extreme 30MB/s and the HD video i version and they perform identical.

alcomposer

@Rambo
>I have both the sandisk extreme 30MB/s and the HD video i version and they perform identical.

Have you tested this? (Ie: they both crash at the same time with the same chart?)
(Actually @Rambo- thanks for letting me know that they are both similar, even without numbers this is at least some sort of proof)

Just a general note: This SD card discussion is completely all over the place. The ONLY conclusive way to test speed for the GH2- is in the GH2- USB isn't fast enough- and USB3 readers have UHS-1 (and lots of other bells and whistles that may cause false positives).

Maybe we could use a death chart count down? (1-5 - with 5 being crazy complex deathchart- and 1 being simple??)

Any ideas? (or is taking photos better (how many photos can be taken in a sequence?)

I currently have a 45MB/s 8 gig Sandisk Extreme Pro that I am 'not' happy with. Will be getting a 30gig Sandisk Extreme HD Video (only one I can get fast-Cheapchips).

Will do a test when I have the new card.

chrimsbroome

@alcomposer- yes in a way we have pushed the GH2 bit rate way up there. The spanning issue is something that gets on my back since it would be nice just to have a feature were you could turn it off. In some way I don't think a faster memory card will solve it. I don't know why Panasonic made the GH2 to support SDXC and it write to the memory card in FAT32 format. Then again it comes down to the camera TAX issue and they didn't want us to push the bit rate past its manufacturer rate. O well we done it now and why would we want to go back :-)

alcomposer

@chrimsbroome

Personally I support a HDMI recording solution for this cam. (Not just 4:2:2 but also recording time is a no issue- also for ease of format recording - Prores422 etc).

That said - I have fallen in love (against my will) with the ease and elegance of in camera recording. Also it feels more like I am 'sticking it to the man'- a true hack- not an add on.

I think that I will use both on projects - in camera for backup... (and in camera for small shoots when I can't be bothered running around with a Atomos Ninja!)

Considering that the update should come out any day now- (from Panny) nobody really knows what they have in store for us... AVCHD2? Possibly even UHS-1?

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

Tags in Topic

Top Posters