Maximum Memory Card size and speed on A700/900?

Ralf B · Dec 2, 2009

Jim Cockfield said:
I don't suppose you happen to own the A700, too? I'd like to know if they work fine in it (as I've already had A700 users ask me about them).

Jim,

I do own and still use the A700, it was not with me on my last trip. But I will be finally back home in Germany on Saturday, will give it a quick try and report back.

But from then on, the 32 GB Photofast CF card will remain in the A900 and pic downloads will be via USB from camera. No more messing up the shot counter with mixing the CF cards from A900 and A700 like done too many times before :-(

The A700 will see two 8 GB UDMA 300x CF cards from Lexar and Delkin for its future, both cards in service since March 2008 without ANY probs on both cams.
--
Ralf

http://ralfralph.smugmug.com/
10.000 slides still to scan........

Jim Cockfield · Dec 2, 2009

Ralf B said:
I do own and still use the A700, it was not with me on my last trip. But I will be finally back home in Germany on Saturday, will give it a quick try and report back.

Thanks. I'd like to know if it works OK in one (and I suspect it will, as the A900 appears to be a bit more "finnicky" on 32GB cards compared to the A700 from user reports I've seen).

Ralf B said:
But from then on, the 32 GB Photofast CF card will remain in the A900 and pic downloads will be via USB from camera. No more messing up the shot counter with mixing the CF cards from A900 and A700 like done too many times before :-(

I can understand that. I have no idea how many shots I've taken with my A700, I've messed up the shot counters so many times with it (including after at least one firmware update if memory serves). I do tend to reformat my cards prior to every reuse using the camera's menu choice for format. But, I've still managed to get my shot counter "out of whack". lol

--
JimC
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http://www.pbase.com/jcockfield

Ralf B · Dec 5, 2009

Back home so did a quick and dirty test:

In A700: In Hi drive mode, the camera shot 18 RAW frames before slowing down as buffer was full with both the Photofast 32 GB and the Lexar UDMA 8GB. So there seems no benefit other than size (32GB) and potentially faster downloads with a fast card reader, and the confirmation from my side that the Photofast works with the A700 as well.

In A900: In Hi drive mode, the camera shot 15 RAW frames before slowing down as buffer was full with the Photofast 32 GB and 13 RAW shots with the Lexar UDMA 8GB. So a little performance bump for those who need 15 RAW frames in three seconds... I did also note a significantly faster buffer clearance with the Photofast in the A900, but did not time it. Roughly twice as fast I'd say from gut feeling.

The A550 owners who are into 7FPS mode may give these Photofast CF cards a look....... and please do not ask me to test it in the KM5D, I won't mess up my frame counters even more.... ;-)

--
Ralf

http://ralfralph.smugmug.com/
10.000 slides still to scan........

Jim Cockfield · Dec 5, 2009

Thanks Ralf.

You didn't happen to time buffer full frame rates to see if there was any difference with the new Photofast, or time how long it took to flush a full buffer (watching the activity light on the camera).

IOW, even if the number of photos before a full buffer was the same, I'm wondering if the newer card may still be flushing a bit faster, allowing faster buffer full frame rates when shooting raw and/or faster recovery times between bursts.
--
JimC
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http://www.pbase.com/jcockfield

Ralf B · Dec 5, 2009

I noted that buffer clearance is faster on the A900 by being able to delete shots sooner. The Lexar actually caused a "wait - busy writing to memory" or so message, don't recall the precise words, sorry.

I did not time "frames per second with buffer full" as I have yet to run into a photographic situation where I would need an improvement on that parameter of performance.

The Photofast 533xPlus works fine with both A700 and A900 at a significantly lower price point than the fastest SanDisks ("Extreme whatever" with > 80 MB/sec). The SanDisks rated at 60 MB/sec seem to run lower in prices than the Photofasts in the meantime. So now there ae choices in abundance. I am happy with mine.

Cheers,
--
Ralf

http://ralfralph.smugmug.com/
10.000 slides still to scan........

Jim Cockfield · Dec 5, 2009

Thanks Ralf!

--
JimC
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http://www.pbase.com/jcockfield

WaltKnapp · Dec 5, 2009

Ralf Bliesener said:
In A700: In Hi drive mode, the camera shot 18 RAW frames before slowing down as buffer was full with both the Photofast 32 GB and the Lexar UDMA 8GB. So there seems no benefit other than size (32GB) and potentially faster downloads with a fast card reader, and the confirmation from my side that the Photofast works with the A700 as well.

I just got in a Sandisk Extreme 60 16gig (the 90's are way too costly). In Hi drive mode shooting RAW I stopped shooting after 200 continuous shots, no slowdown. Don't see a need to put even more wear on the camera, but it was going like it would fill the card. Sounded like the same speed it does continuous jpegs or close around that.

Does not matter to me as I don't machine gun, but thought you might be interested.

I've yet to offload the card with my firewire 800 reader, but I'm really not expecting lots of improvement as the 300x could nearly push full speed on the firewire.

Walt

Ralf B · Dec 5, 2009

WaltKnapp said:
I just got in a Sandisk Extreme 60 16gig (the 90's are way too costly). In Hi drive mode shooting RAW I stopped shooting after 200 continuous shots, no slowdown.

Thank you, Walt, for confirming that the new San Disk 60 MB/s work in the A700. Also, kudos to your A700, as it must be somewhat supercharged. Your A700 is 10 times faster than the sample dpreview tested:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydslra700/page12.asp

While the fastest card in that test from late 2007 was a SanDisk Extreme IV specced at 40 MB/s, they (and I) fail to have 200 RAW frames in one 5 FPS burst like you got, they (and I) even fail to have 200 cRAW frames in one burst. I tried cRAW bursts with the Photofast and the Lexar after reading your amazing test results. I did not count, but they both slowed down at one point way before 200 frames....

Are you sure you mean 200 - and not 20?

To add more relevance, the A900 was tested at dpreview late 2008 with a UDMA 5 card, a San Disk Ducati, which is specced at 45 MB/S, 11% faster than their own Extreme IV:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydslra900/page13.asp

Their RAW burst went to 14 frames, which is in line with my rough and unscientific findings form today:

My Photofast 533xPlus fastest with 15, followed by the Ducati at DPreview with 14 and then my Lexar with 13 frames, although the Lexar should be as fast as the Ducati as they are both UDMA. Blame that and the fact that I only got 18 frames in the A700 today and not at least 20 on my non-existing test lab.

So, they all work anyway and users of current Alphas have superb choices, like here:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?ci=1097&N=4294538836+4294955789+4294194739&Ns=p_PRICE_2%7C1

The Delkin looks hot, specced at 63 MB/s for less than 200 $. Sweet.
--
Ralf

http://ralfralph.smugmug.com/
10.000 slides still to scan........

WaltKnapp · Dec 6, 2009

Ralf Bliesener said:
Are you sure you mean 200 - and not 20?

200, off the frame counter, actually a little over that. I'll say I was surprised as the 300x UDMAs I have do slow down, if not stop. Note I did not time the frame rate, but it shot at the same rate from first to last frame. And I checked it really was storing the files.

As I noted I don't machine gun, so it's of no importance to me. Those who are interested can follow up. May be some quirk of the settings or something. I just switched my regular settings to raw and drive to continuous high and changed nothing else. It was photographing the blinds in my computer room.

I only got the new card as my set was one card short with the second a700. Decided I'd try one as the 60MB/sec are not too awful for price. It's also my first 16gig, all the rest are 8gig. 1462 high quality jpegs for the new card.

Walt

FEM2008 · Dec 6, 2009

Ralph,

200 Raw sounds way too high, but I hope it works. cRaw is slower than Raw due to extra processing time for compression.
--
FEM2008

ledgars · Dec 6, 2009

Ralf B said:
In A900: In Hi drive mode, the camera shot 15 RAW frames before slowing down as buffer was full with the Photofast 32 GB and 13 RAW shots with the Lexar UDMA 8GB. So a little performance bump for those who need 15 RAW frames in three seconds... I did also note a significantly faster buffer clearance with the Photofast in the A900, but did not time it. Roughly twice as fast I'd say from gut feeling.

Im my test on A900 I could shot 14 RAWs before slow down. In comparison with Lexar UDMA 8GB, I could do 15 RAWs. It's not a huge difference for me, because I shoting no more than 3-5 images in series. I feel, that read speed of G-monster is much faster (you could evaluate and zoom captured images faster) and that is much more important to me along with 32GB size and price 150USD - the same as for 8GB Lexar.

Phixel · Dec 6, 2009

Leon van Bommel said:
Leon van Bommel said:

Maybe my Sandisk SD card was faulty or perhaps my camera could not handle the high GB in the card. Maybe the same applies to CF.

Click to expand...

1. Sandisk is being counterfeited a lot. The cards are relatively expensive, and in high demand. So it's an attractive brand to "manufacture". Buying from sources that are very cheap is tempting, but not the wisest thing to do. Unfortunately, for end users it's very difficult to impossible to see what's a cheap gray import, and what's counterfeit.

Yes conterfeits are everywhere and Sandisk offer rebates to discourage the purchase of fakes, but that doesn't solve the problem, unfortunately.

BTW, I have used Sandisk Extreme III CFs in my a700 to take thousands of photos, without any problems whatsoever.
-Phil

madecov · May 22, 2010

Any long term updates on these G monster cards
--

In god we trust, all others are suspects

Ralf B · May 22, 2010

madecov said:
Any long term updates on these G monster cards
--

In god we trust, all others are suspects

except that all fast CF card memory prices seem to have imploded ;-).
--
Ralf
http://RalfRalph.smugmug.com/

billcanada · Jun 1, 2017

I am going to get a second hand a900 - just wondering what kind of cards it will take? will it take 32gb UDMA7 card? what about 64gb?

If anyone know this, please reply! Thank you so much!

Ralf B · Jun 2, 2017

As the OP from back then I can tell you that the 32GB card I discussed then still works flawlessly today in my a900. In the meantime 64BG have been reported to work as well - even further up in this thread. And prices have come down a lot... .

32GB hold 852 uncompressed a900 RAWs. The vast majority of a900 shooters use RAW as the Sony jpeg engine from back then does not do the sensor full justice. The one thing that is great IMHO is the built-in DRO hardware, and DRO level 3 can do quite some magic in very tough light. Exposed to the right, the a900 RAWs have quite some highlight latitude, but a DRO JPEG in neutral creative style has some WOW to it, too.

Highly recommended: The Gary Friedman eBook on the a900 , assuming a Sony A Mount is new to you this would be 30 $ well spent.

Let us know how your used a900 works for you (maybe in a new thread ;-) )
Cheers,
Ralf

tqlla · Jun 2, 2017

I have a Monster 800x UDMA7 64GB CF card in my A850.

I would assume that it would work in an A900 as well, but I cannot say with 100% certainty

billcanada · Jun 5, 2017

Thank you! I will try to do that..I am just starting to get familiar with the camera. I have A77ii and sony a6000 so it is not difficult to navigate on Sony a900. I just need to get use to no EVF and display on screen. Other than that I love the camera so far. It gives me the film camera with digital back feel, except that I dont have any Full frame lens to use to highest potential of it. I need to find a 2nd hand FF wide angle lens. Any suggestions on which will be better choice? FF wide angle prime lens or zoom prime lens without breaking bank would be great!

here is one photo I took today with Minolta 100-200mm lens

Watching Her Beau

lehill · Jun 5, 2017

billcanada said:
<snip>

I need to find a 2nd hand FF wide angle lens. Any suggestions on which will be better choice? FF wide angle prime lens or zoom prime lens without breaking bank would be great!

If you haven't done so, search the Dyxum.com lens database for just about any A-mount lens ever made. Includes user reviews and sample images.

There are prime lenses (fixed focal length) and zoom lenses (variable focal length) but you can't find a zoom prime lens. ;-)

--
Lance H

billcanada · Jun 5, 2017

lehill said:
billcanada said:

<snip>

I need to find a 2nd hand FF wide angle lens. Any suggestions on which will be better choice? FF wide angle prime lens or zoom prime lens without breaking bank would be great!

Click to expand...

If you haven't done so, search the Dyxum.com lens database for just about any A-mount lens ever made. Includes user reviews and sample images.

There are prime lenses (fixed focal length) and zoom lenses (variable focal length) but you can't find a zoom prime lens. ;-)

Maximum Memory Card size and speed on A700/900?

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