which SDHC cards should i buy?

[mikeymic]

anyone have any suggestions?

i usually buy all my gear from b&h. Since 1990 they have been my trusted resource. i've tried others, but always been dissapointed.

with that said I don't really see a reason to buy a card from b&h...there must be better deals out there.

[mikeymic]

here's my thought:
1 32gb card to record long format stuff
4 16gb cards to record the rest

One reason i never bought a p2 system was that i couldn't understand how to archive them...p2 is too expensive for archival. tape wouldn't hold the uncompressed. firestores are too expensive again although pound for pound cheaper. hard drives are too big. Blu-Ray is too vulnerable to problems that dvds have like scratching, etc.

this is an affordable solution for my clients. So you buy a $40 card that holds 2 hours at the highest resolution and they are small as hell. I'm pretty excited about this solution.

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[mikeymic]

as it stands now, here's what i have in my cart:

Kingston 32GB Class 4 SDHC Card (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=cart_accessories&A=details&Q=&sku=592772&is=REG) more info (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=cart_accessories&A=details&Q=&sku=592772&is=REG)
MFR #SD4/32GB • B&H #KISDHC432GB


Our Price:
$108.50

So that's a class 4 and Kingston's a name i know for memory. Is this a good buy?

[mikeymic]

Here's the other ones that i have in my cart:

Delkin Devices 16GB PRO Secure Digital (SDHC) Card (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=cart_accessories&A=details&Q=&sku=546633&is=REG) more info (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=cart_accessories&A=details&Q=&sku=546633&is=REG)
MFR #DDSDPRO2-16GB • B&H #DESDHC16GB


Our Price:
$36.95


Sub Total:
$110.85

[ESTEBEVERDE]

Perhaps and just perhaps this would be a much better buy:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010Z28XG/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=

[mikeymic]

how can that be? sounds too good to be true.

[Strobe Media]

i have 2x 8gb Transcend cards, I have not had a problem with it yet, in fact i just bought a 16gb card off an ebay store for $31 shipped.

[ESTEBEVERDE]

how can that be? sounds too good to be true.

It's not to good to be true.

Just solid fundamental economics.


There are actually only a handful of manufacturing facilities (FABS) in the World who make memory and even fewer who fabricate flash.

But, now that demand is so high and the cost of R&D/Tooling has been largely capitalized prices are beginning to come down to commodity levels.

Transcend has just positioned themselves so very well.


I would most definitely encourage you to stick with the 16 GB and then as prices drop acquire 32 GB and even 64 GB cards.


As always, be sure you do a format in your camera as soon as you insert the card for the first time to make sure it is optimized for use in your equipment.

[David Saraceno]

Buy class 6.

[Zacatac]

I have three 16gb Transcend SDHC cards Class 6, got them three for $100..

well well wellll worth the money

[ESTEBEVERDE]

Buy class 6.


Yep!

Transcend 16 GB SDHC Class 6 Flash Memory Card with Compact Card Reader
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010Z28XG/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=)

[mikeymic]

thanks everybody.

[ESTEBEVERDE]

Welcome

[Dafilman21]

I would definetely do that deal Cameta is a reputable store, two years ago I bought a D200 from them.

[Bucknfl]

I buy 8 gig cards from $13.00 to $18.00 and give them to the client at the end of the shoot. SD cards are cheap enough you don't have to reuse.

[nantnee]

Looks like your enjoying your HMC opposed to the other post. Can you explain what you did to get past the 4gb ordeal?

Im considering this camera and after reading your first post I was hesistant. Whats changed?

But, i would also suggest a Class 6 card.

[Hidef1080]

Looks like your enjoying your HMC opposed to the other post. Can you explain what you did to get past the 4gb ordeal?

Im considering this camera and after reading your first post I was hesistant. Whats changed?

But, i would also suggest a Class 6 card.

This as an "old" post.
This came well before the big "blow-up"...

[David Saraceno]

Yep!

Transcend 16 GB SDHC Class 6 Flash Memory Card with Compact Card Reader
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010Z28XG/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=)

Cheaper and free shipping:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820208377

[nantnee]

This as an "old" post.
This came well before the big "blow-up"...


that makes sense now.

[cameraman]

Sandisk Ultra II 16G

[Jordan Berry]

Those cards look great.. until you read the reviews.

Approximately 10% of the people that have written reviews have said the card just randomly dies and can't even be re-formatted. I want to do wedding videos with 2x HMC 150s. I can't imagine trusting footage THAT important on cards that are known to randomly fail. Are all cards like this?

I realize there is a bit of operator error that can be calculated in here but with these numbers..you can't ignore it.

It almost all the cards are like that.. at least all the ones that actually have more then 9 reviews.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134617

That kingston card is the only one that looks solid and is affordable.

Only time will tell for sure.

EDIT: Amazon has the Kingston card. Out of 1,181 reviews 96 of them were rating 1 or 2. That's 8% chance of failure. Now it's probably going to be less since some people complained of other issues.

I REALLY want the HMC 150. I'm just not sure if I can take that kind of risk. I currently shoot with the A1 and I have had drop outs.. but i've never lost 90 minutes worth of footage.

I'm interested in what you guys have to say on this.

[Retrospective]

^if you're really concern about the integrity of SDHC cards, why not buy the Panasonic ones? Sure, they're more expensive though.

[Mark Von Lanken]

Hi Jordan,

I bought some of these cards but haven't tried them out yet. They are one of the few cards I could find with a speed rating, 150x. Sure, they are more than the others, but I'm thinking speed may be a bigger issue when recording 30-60 minutes continuously for wedding ceremonies.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227399

[DaFireMedic]

I bought 4 Transcend 16g class 6 cards and 1 Patriot 32g class 4 card. They all seem to work well, no issues yet.

I'm not too concerned about the speed difference, I just come back when its done transferring. But if you are doing SDE's, that would certainly be an issue.

[Jordan Berry]

What is the transfer time on a 16gb and 32gb drive to your computer?

With an advertised 20MB/s it should only take .. 13 minutes?

[DaFireMedic]

What is the transfer time on a 16gb and 32gb drive to your computer?

With an advertised 20MB/s it should only take .. 13 minutes?


I've never really checked. It does seem a tad faster with the card slot on my computer than it is with my external card reader. I'll check when I get the chance, although I may not be able to till tomorrow.

Maybe someone else has done this already?

[Timothy Harry]

as it stands now, here's what i have in my cart:

Kingston 32GB Class 4 SDHC Card (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=cart_accessories&A=details&Q=&sku=592772&is=REG) more info (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=cart_accessories&A=details&Q=&sku=592772&is=REG)
MFR #SD4/32GB • B&H #KISDHC432GB


Our Price:
$108.50

So that's a class 4 and Kingston's a name i know for memory. Is this a good buy?

On the 32GB card you need to have a class 6 card. Class 4 will not work for long form. To my knowledge the only one I have heard of in the 32GB realm working flawlessly is the Panasonic. On the 16GB front, We have sold quite a few of the kingston class 6 cards without problems. I have sold a few of the transcend class 6 cards as well, but not enough to be confident to recommend it as a perfect solution.

[DaFireMedic]

On the 32GB card you need to have a class 6 card. Class 4 will not work for long form. To my knowledge the only one I have heard of in the 32GB realm working flawlessly is the Panasonic. On the 16GB front, We have sold quite a few of the kingston class 6 cards without problems. I have sold a few of the transcend class 6 cards as well, but not enough to be confident to recommend it as a perfect solution.

I hadn't heard this. I tested the Patriot class 4 card by running off a couple of 2 hour clips at max quality to test it and it seemed to work fine. I guess I'll do some more testing before I use it for something important.

What were some of the problems?

[Jordan Berry]

DaFireMedic,

That would be awesome if you did some more tests. I would especially like to know what your results are. Record in the highest mode for as long as you can on a 16gb card (class 4) would be awesome!

Thank you!

[DaFireMedic]

I don't have a 16g class 4 card, all my 16g cards are class 6. I am currently running a long form test here at work with a 32g class 4 card (its running, pointed at a clock in the back room right now). I plan to run the clip for about 2 1/2 - 3 hours.

BTW: I did run a previous test to see how long the run time would be on a 16g card, it ran for 1 hr 47 min at max quality before it stopped recording.

[Jordan Berry]

Thank you for the update.

I'm curious how long it will take to dump.

[DaFireMedic]

OK, I transferred a 4g file (according to the card, 4,187,538 kb) from the 32 gb class 4 card to my laptop (5400 RPM drive). It took almost exactly 16 min.

I just transferred the same size file from the 16g Class 6 card, and it took almost exactly the same amount of time. It must be limited by my cheap card reader. Maybe I'll buy a better one and see if that's it, cuz it seems to me that the transfer should be faster.

Regarding the 32g Class 4 card's long form ability, I shot a continuous 2 hr and 45 minute shot of my watch on a nightstand and everything appears to be normal. I didn't rewatch the whole thing, but the clips merge seamlessly and I haven't found any glitches in my random checks.

[Jordan Berry]

I believe that would be 4.3Mb/s .. that's really slow

It would take 64 minutes to dump a 16gb card at that rate.

(99 minutes in 64 minutes)

[Timothy Harry]

I hadn't heard this. I tested the Patriot class 4 card by running off a couple of 2 hour clips at max quality to test it and it seemed to work fine. I guess I'll do some more testing before I use it for something important.

What were some of the problems?

Our reports were dropped frames. and some funky pixel math. AVCHD is a GOP codec....which equals disaster in regard to dropouts. this is why we have been recommending the panasonic 32GB card....the only Panasonic SDHC card we recommend...

[DaFireMedic]

Our reports were dropped frames. and some funky pixel math. AVCHD is a GOP codec....which equals disaster in regard to dropouts. this is why we have been recommending the panasonic 32GB card....the only Panasonic SDHC card we recommend...


Gotcha. I'm going to continue to test it, but will probably use my class 6 cards for the wedding I have coming up.

Thanks

[ESTEBEVERDE]

Our reports were dropped frames. and some funky pixel math. AVCHD is a GOP codec....which equals disaster in regard to dropouts. this is why we have been recommending the panasonic 32GB card....the only Panasonic SDHC card we recommend...

Well I think that you might have a vested interest in promoting the Panasonic cards.

Wouldn't you agree with that?

Don't you sell them?

How much is your margin?

Do you receive incentives from Panasonic ?

[ESTEBEVERDE]

OK, I transferred a 4g file (according to the card, 4,187,538 kb) from the 32 gb class 4 card to my laptop (5400 RPM drive). It took almost exactly 16 min.

I just transferred the same size file from the 16g Class 6 card, and it took almost exactly the same amount of time. It must be limited by my cheap card reader. Maybe I'll buy a better one and see if that's it, cuz it seems to me that the transfer should be faster.

Regarding the 32g Class 4 card's long form ability, I shot a continuous 2 hr and 45 minute shot of my watch on a nightstand and everything appears to be normal. I didn't rewatch the whole thing, but the clips merge seamlessly and I haven't found any glitches in my random checks.


Could be your hard drives adding to slow transfers too.

[DaFireMedic]

Could be your hard drives adding to slow transfers too.

I suspected that. I'll try it on my desktop at home as well when I get the chance.

[ESTEBEVERDE]

I suspected that. I'll try it on my desktop at home as well when I get the chance.


Cool.

You want to use USB 2.0 of course.

and the fasted drives possible.

[Timothy Harry]

Well I think that you might have a vested interest in promoting the Panasonic cards.

Wouldn't you agree with that?

Don't you sell them?

How much is your margin?

Do you receive incentives from Panasonic ?

Thanks for the vote of confidence......

I do not have a vested interest in promoting Panasonic anything. They are just one of the hundreds of vendors my company represents. There is the same amount of margin on a panasonic card as there is on a patriot, PNY, SanDisk Transcend, you name it, the margin is almost exactly the same. I also receive no incentive from panasonic on selling their cards.

[Jordan Berry]

Timothy Harry is a first class guy!

If I decide to purchase 2x Panasonic HMC-150s I will be calling him.

He has been a great help to many people on VU. He's dedicated his time and knowledge to helping people out in any way possible. He's even called me and walked me through getting the HMC 150 footage to work on my computer.

If Timothy is helping people just to try and make a buck he is doing a really poor job! He's helped way too many people and gotten way too little in return.

[DaFireMedic]

Cool.

You want to use USB 2.0 of course.

and the fasted drives possible.

Its a 7 month old Quad Core, 7200 RPM internal drives

[ESTEBEVERDE]

Thanks for the vote of confidence......

I do not have a vested interest in promoting Panasonic anything. They are just one of the hundreds of vendors my company represents. There is the same amount of margin on a panasonic card as there is on a patriot, PNY, SanDisk Transcend, you name it, the margin is almost exactly the same. I also receive no incentive from panasonic on selling their cards.

So, what is the wholesale price on the Panasonic cards and the Transcend cards and what is your retail? What is your margin and your incentive.

It's not personal. But just the facts. You are a retailer. Not a charity. You are there to sell goods and services.

Part of your services is in fact product recommendation. Good product recommendation from a reputable and excellent merchant is invaluable.

I am not impugning you only asking for transparency.



Our reports were dropped frames. and some funky pixel math. AVCHD is a GOP codec....which equals disaster in regard to dropouts. this is why we have been recommending the panasonic 32GB card....the only Panasonic SDHC card we recommend...

My question is who reported these drops to you and why do you only recommend the 32GB instead of the lower priced 16GB?

[ESTEBEVERDE]

Timothy Harry is a first class guy!

If I decide to purchase 2x Panasonic HMC-150s I will be calling him.

He has been a great help to many people on VU. He's dedicated his time and knowledge to helping people out in any way possible. He's even called me and walked me through getting the HMC 150 footage to work on my computer.

If Timothy is helping people just to try and make a buck he is doing a really poor job! He's helped way too many people and gotten way too little in return.

Good for you!

Sounds like Timothy has indeed earned your business! :beer:

He seems like a great guy.

[ESTEBEVERDE]

Its a 7 month old Quad Core, 7200 RPM internal drives


Sounds like it is pretty well set.

It should transfer fast enough to give a decent baseline on your card speed.

[Jordan Berry]

Estebeverde,

Could you please tell me what transfer times you're getting?

[DaFireMedic]

Its definitely my card reader. It was the same transfer time to my desktop as well, about 16 min for the 4g file. Too slow, I'm gonna buy a better quality card reader.

[Mark Von Lanken]

Good for you!

Sounds like Timothy has indeed earned your business! :beer:

He seems like a great guy.

Hi ESTEBEVERDE,

I agree with your comment. When I was doing a magazine review of the HMC150, Panasonic sent me the camera with the small battery, but the small battery is inadequte to shoot a wedding with.

It was over the holidays, so I called Tim Harry to see if the company he works for, Videotex Systems, had a large battery with one of their rental cameras, and if so, could I use it for the review. His company did not have an extra battery with their rental fleet, so Tim bought one, out of his own pocket and shipped it to me. He just said to return it when I was done and he would sell it as used.

Try doing that with one of the big box houses. Tim's excellent customer service earned my business and referrals. Tim told me that he matches B&H's price on the HMC150, but they are not allowed to advertise the price on the website. http://www.videotexsystems.com/home.php

[Mark Von Lanken]

I just bought several SDHC cards, all class six. The only one with a published write speed was the OCZ with a speed of 150X. Does anyone know of a company that publishes the speed of their cards?

In addition to the OCZ I bought a A DATA, Kingston, and Transcend. When formatting the cards I noticed that the Transcend cards do not eject very well...almost like they fit in the card slot rather snuggly. Has anyone else notice this with the Transcend cards? I'm referring to the 8gb Class 6 Transcend cards. I bought three of them because they had a free USB card reader included.

[Everts]

Ive got no problems ejecting my 16gb trenscend cards Mark !

[DaFireMedic]

I have 4 of the Transcend 16g cards, and they seem to fit the same as the other brands that I have. No problems here.

In my card reader, the Patriot card seems a bit more "snug" than the others.

[Timothy Harry]

So, what is the wholesale price on the Panasonic cards and the Transcend cards and what is your retail? What is your margin and your incentive.

It's not personal. But just the facts. You are a retailer. Not a charity. You are there to sell goods and services.

Part of your services is in fact product recommendation. Good product recommendation from a reputable and excellent merchant is invaluable.

I am not impugning you only asking for transparency.



yes I am a retailer....but if i was to give you my price on that card I would be violating my agreement with the manufacturer regarding the confidentiality of their price list, and could lose my ability to sell Panasonic product which would dono one any good. I will say its not a high margin on any of the cards. The card's MSRP is $599. Obviously we do not sell it for that price...off the top of my head the price I remember quoting for my last 32GB card was right around 300 bucks....




My question is who reported these drops to you and why do you only recommend the 32GB instead of the lower priced 16GB?

The drops were reported by customers of ours to us as a warning to other customers. The only flawless 32 GB card to work on the camera at the moment (as far as we are aware of) is the panasonic.

I also highly recommend 2 16GB cards over a 32gb card becaus of price. and I would also recommend 2 8GB over a 16GB card if you did not need over a 45 minute runtime. There are several 16GB cards that we have sold. I remember selling a few PNY's, and a san disk or 2. our rental camera has an Edge 16GB card that seems to work fine as well.

It probably did not come across right, but what I was trying to say was if you need a 32 GB card, the only one that we know of that works well with the camera is the Panasonic.

[ESTEBEVERDE]

y...

It probably did not come across right, but what I was trying to say was if you need a 32 GB card, the only one that we know of that works well with the camera is the Panasonic.


At this point I whole heartedly agree that for 32GB cards Panasonic is the way to go. :beer:

[DaFireMedic]

Another Transfer test:

This time I used the HMC150 as the card reader through USB 2.0
__________________________________________________ ________

4g .mts file To Desktop (7200 rpm drives)

Transcend 16g Class 6 - 8:45
Patriot 32g Class 4 - 8:57


Same file to laptop (5400 rpm drive)

Transcend 16g Class 6 - 9:20
Patriot 32g Class 4 - 8:16

I'm not sure why the Class 4 card beat the Class 6 card on the laptop, but I tried the Class 4 card again, with no real change in transfer time. Then I tried one of my other 16g Transcend cards, and there was no significant difference from the other Class 6 card, so the numbers seem to be consistent.

[Jordan Berry]

Thank you for sharing that DaFireMedic. Those times make the HMC 150 much more appealing!

[nantnee]

hey guys.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/560123-REG/Panasonic_RP_SDV32GU1K_32GB_Secure_Digital_SDHC_.h tml

Says the read/write speed is 20mbps. I'm confused, since the 150 does 24mbps, and this says 20mbps, how exactly does that work?

[David Saraceno]

You are confusing megabytes per second (MB/s) versus megabits per second (Mb/s).

http://www.dewassoc.com/performance/memory/MB_vs_Mb.htm

The card handles the former and the HMC150 outputs that latter.

Huge difference.