Speed…why is it important? For many applications in photography, it simply isn’t important. For me personally, it’s very important though. The time it takes the D1H to write can make the difference in capturing action or not, capturing the one great image in a series or saying, %&(&)@ later. That’s why every time a faster card comes out, I get it to see it if will make a difference in my photography.
Unlike the 16x card which I didn’t feel really made that big a difference from the 12x speed I had gotten use to, I think the 24x card is a must for my work. There is a difference between the 24x and the 16x, but there’s an even bigger difference between the 24x and the 12x, which most photographers shoot with. Here’s how the numbers compare for me in my D1H.
Lexar CompactFlash Card Speed Comparisons |
||||||
File Format |
40 frames – 512 24x |
40 frames – 512 16x |
40 frames – 512 12x |
1 frame – 512 24x |
1 frame – 512 16x |
1 frame – 512 12x |
Basic |
23.36 sec |
24.1 sec |
24.8 sec |
.138 sec |
.15 sec |
.18 sec |
Normal |
23.77 sec |
24.0 sec |
24.7 sec |
.147 sec |
.18 sec |
.21 sec |
Fine |
24.49 sec |
25.2 sec |
25.8 sec |
.168 sec |
.19 sec |
.23 sec |
HI YCbCr TIFF |
1.549 min |
2.186 min |
2.216 min |
2.962 sec |
3.17 sec |
3.24 sec |
HI RGB TIFF |
3.312 min |
3.497 min |
3.541 min |
4.958 sec |
5.46 sec |
5.68 sec |
HI Raw* |
53.89 sec |
1.047 min |
1.076 min |
1.936 sec |
2.41 sec |
2.45 sec |
*RAW is only a 27 frame burst, not 40 |
||||||
tested with D1H set to M 1/125, manual focus with newly charged EN-4 for each card, default tone & sharpening |
||||||
Many photographers ask why I use this methodology for testing card speed which is different from most testers. I guess it’s just the way I’ve always done things which is to test under actual conditions. I’m very sure that you could get a much more accurate write time speeds for these cards using a computer to test them, much better than my timing using a stop watch and watching the green light on the back of the D1H. When I’m shooting though, it’s with the camera and not the computer so the computer’s time doesn’t really reflect IMHO what I’m going to experience in the field. That’s why I test in this way.
Just for fun, I decided to run the same tests for the D1X, this is what I found.
Lexar CompactFlash Card Speed Comparisons |
||||||
File Format |
9 frames – 512 24x |
9 frames – 512 16x |
9 frames – 512 12x |
1 frame – 512 24x |
1 frame – 512 16x |
1 frame – 512 12x |
Basic |
9.83 sec |
9.98 sec |
9.90 sec |
.55 sec |
.56 sec |
.52 sec |
Normal |
9.96 sec |
10.4 sec |
10.58 sec |
.59 sec |
.70 sec |
.61 sec |
Fine |
11.14 sec |
11.24 sec |
11.6 sec |
.74 sec |
.95 sec |
.85 sec |
HI YCbCr TIFF |
1.01 min |
1.09 min |
1.09 min |
.66 sec |
.71 sec |
.72 sec |
HI RGB TIFF |
1.43 min |
1.53 min |
1.57 min |
10.95 sec |
12.1 sec |
12.4 sec |
HI Raw* |
24.08 sec |
30.1 sec |
29.5sec |
3.7 sec |
4.7 sec |
4.6 sec |
*RAW is only a 6 frame burst, not 9 |
||||||
tested with D1X set to M 1/125, manual focus, Large file with newly charged EN-4 for each card, default tone & sharpening |
||||||
The times for the D1X bugged me enough that I did the test over for each card. I normally take three timings for each settings, add them together and divide by three to get an average. I did this each time for both series of tests but I then took the two averages for the two series, added them together and divided them by two to obtain the numbers you see above. What bugged me were the 16x and 12x went back and forth on which had the best times for a given setting. Clearly though, the new 24x does the best job of the three cards.
I hope this trivia gives you some idea where you should spend you CF money. Before you email me and ask if I’m going to test the 1GB CF cards, let me answer that for you. I have no plans to at this time. If in the future new cameras demand more space because they have bigger files than present cameras, I might reconsider. But for right now, I simply don’t want to put that many images on one card. Even with Photo Rescue which I use often with the D1X, I just don’t want that many images on one card. (Keep in mind, I don’t shoot large files so I get about 430 captures per 512 card.)