Sandisk extreme with NEX-7

Has anybody here used the Sandisk Pro and Sandisk Extreme Pro on the NEX-7 please?

I want some 32GB cards and besides the price would like to know the differences in use on the NEX-7.

Thanks

I generally buy 45mb/s cards and save my cash for something more meaningful. Yesterday I purchased 3 more 32GB 45MB/s Sandisk cards for $30 each (Amazon) rather than $63 each for the 32GB Extreme Pro 95MB/s. These cards are for my Alpha A7 coming in soon.

Two for the price of one, sufficiently fast for anything I can imagine throwing at it, works for me.

Most overspend on SDHC cards by choosing the latest, fastest, card when many cameras either don't push the card as fast as they might, or the differences in operational terms are minuscule.

For example, my Nikon D800 takes dual cards - Compact Flash and SDHC type. I put the camera into continuous shooting mode and my old 8GB 45MB/s Sandisk Extreme Pro (that was "extreme" at the time I bought them in 2011) was not much less capable than a much more modern, faster, Lexar Pro 800X 32GB compact flash. In regular use I would never be able to tell which card I was using.

Don't overspend on faster cards unless you really know that you need them for very specific reasons. Buy fast-enough and get more cards or save more.

Thanks, that's useful food for thought.

This subject most occurred recently when I grabbed the camera due to great light effects in the sky and left the new Sandisk extreme Pro on my desk. I ended up in having many 4 or even 8 minute exposures (first time with the camera) and got very cold just waiting for it to write the images to disk. Hence I wondered whether the NEX could have helped me on this occasion by using the faster card. I was using a Maxell class 10 High Speed incidentally.

CameraTest said:

Thanks, that's useful food for thought.

This subject most occurred recently when I grabbed the camera due to great light effects in the sky and left the new Sandisk extreme Pro on my desk. I ended up in having many 4 or even 8 minute exposures (first time with the camera) and got very cold just waiting for it to write the images to disk. Hence I wondered whether the NEX could have helped me on this occasion by using the faster card. I was using a Maxell class 10 High Speed incidentally.

Click to expand...

For long exposures it is not the write time to the card that is taking time, it is the Long Exposure NR taking time after exposure; it generally takes as long time as the exposure itself takes.

Nex cameras do not support UHS-1 so the only benefit from a faster card is faster import to the PC if you are using an USB3 or other very fast card reader.

NEX-7 does not support the newer and faster UHS-I interface so the amaximum it can do is around 25 MB/s (in reality is less than that). Faster cards work in compatibility mode but will never reach the posted speed. There is some fuzzy gray area in the speed range as the "old" SD interface, goes to "Class 10" which is a minimum sustained rate of 10 MB/s, but the bus allow up to 25 MB/s. Many cards go faster than the 10 MB/s (Class 10 ones) but you can not be sure. I had Class 10 cards which tested on a PC hardly go to 10 MB/s , had other which give you 17 MB/s and some newer which get 23 MB/s (more than double of the Class 10 specs, approaching the maximum theoretical of 25 MB/s which is the bus clock)).

If a card like SanDisk specify 35 MB/s you can be sure that you will get close to the maximum supported by the camera. Faster (extreme) cards will not give you any more speed.

The newer standards (UHS-I) increase the bus speed to 50 or 100 MB/s), so the card can move the data faster, if the flash memory insides (which used to be slow) supports it. You can never get a faster speed than the bus speed on SD cards.

Newer cameras which support UHS-I could get up to 100 MB/s with an extreme card. Even faster specs are defined but both cameras and cards are yet to come. They require hardware support so don't expect a firmware update will make the NEX-7 faster in the future, it can't.

tn1krr said:

tn1krr said:

For long exposures it is not the write time to the card that is taking time, it is the Long Exposure NR taking time after exposure; it generally takes as long time as the exposure itself takes.

Click to expand...

Nex cameras do not support UHS-1 so the only benefit from a faster card is faster import to the PC if you are using an USB3 or other very fast card reader.

Click to expand...

A good reason to have an analogue camera back with you

Import to my Mac is quick or quick enough anyway, so I think I'll take the slower cards. Thanks for saving me some money.

tn1krr said:

Nex cameras do not support UHS-1 so the only benefit from a faster card is faster import to the PC if you are using an USB3 or other very fast card reader.

Click to expand...

+1, this is why I spend a little more, but not a lot more, for cards that may be somewhat faster than a camera can fully exploit.

That said while my USB3 reader is definitely faster than my old cheap USB reader, I still go make myself some coffee while importing images and videos although it's not just file transfer I'm waiting for but image previews for raw files and such.

As well, buying a little faster, not a lot faster, than needed I figure somewhat future proofs the purchase.

Indeed

adi9 said:

NEX-7 does not support the newer and faster UHS-I interface so the amaximum it can do is around 25 MB/s (in reality is less than that). Faster cards work in compatibility mode but will never reach the posted speed. There is some fuzzy gray area in the speed range as the "old" SD interface, goes to "Class 10" which is a minimum sustained rate of 10 MB/s, but the bus allow up to 25 MB/s. Many cards go faster than the 10 MB/s (Class 10 ones) but you can not be sure. I had Class 10 cards which tested on a PC hardly go to 10 MB/s , had other which give you 17 MB/s and some newer which get 23 MB/s (more than double of the Class 10 specs, approaching the maximum theoretical of 25 MB/s which is the bus clock)).

If a card like SanDisk specify 35 MB/s you can be sure that you will get close to the maximum supported by the camera. Faster (extreme) cards will not give you any more speed.

Click to expand...

Oh, you're no fun. ;-)

By the way, while mentioning speeds, are you referring to read speed or write speed? On most cards, the read speed is faster, but write speed affects some features in the camera that people are particularly interested in.

I have read that the fastest Sony Memory Sticks can run faster on Nex than the faster SD cards, due to more bits on the bus/connector. When I looked for memory, it seemed to be out of production and remaining ones expensive, and it's hard to tell the latest fastest model from earlier, slower models.

So, amid the confusion, I bought a Sony 95mb/s card from a recent Amazon sale. It didn't seem much more than what I paid for cheap Class 10 cards a while ago, and barely more than 45mb/s cards.

I've been buying faster-than-I-need (but not necessarily top of the line) cards for a long time, and the camera is more responsive in things such as the menu, reviewing photos, not just taking photos. So I definitely recommend not getting minimum-spec memory cards. The Class 10 cards I've been using seem fine and equal to the older Memory Stick that I have. But it seems like only recently has the top of the line memory become what I'd call cheap.

adi9 said:

...Newer cameras which support UHS-I could get up to 100 MB/s with an extreme card. Even faster specs are defined but both cameras and cards are yet to come. They require hardware support so don't expect a firmware update will make the NEX-7 faster in the future, it can't.

Click to expand...

CameraTest said:

Has anybody here used the Sandisk Pro and Sandisk Extreme Pro on the NEX-7 please?

I want some 32GB cards and besides the price would like to know the differences in use on the NEX-7.

Thanks

Click to expand...

FWIW, I've only used the higher end cards in my cameras, and I've never had an issue, they typically put their best stuff in them, I buy in the price/performance/capacity sweet spot.