Does SD Card Speed Matter for Digital Cameras

[rimmi2002]

I have a Canon SD1000, 7.1 Megapixel camera. I am going to take regular every day pics and record 1-3 min videos every one in a while. I just want to buy the cheapest SD card that I can buy. Does the speed of the card really make a difference for what I want out of my camera? Can I just buy the base Sandisk card, without all the Ultra or Ultra II stuff and will that do the job. Any input will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[troytime]

might not make a big difference on that camera, not sure

but it will certainly make a big difference when copying those pics and videos to your PC
I'd spend an extra 20 bucks to save myself 5 minutes everytime i copy everything off my 2gb card

 

[soydios]

Memory cards are so cheap these days. Just buy a SanDisk UltraII 2GB SD card and be done with it. It's $30 with free shipping from Amazon.com, a third the price of when I bought one a year ago for my D50.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Memory card speed will matter in the sense that the contents of a slower, large capacity memory card will take forever to download to your computer.

 

[kerf8545]

you can get a 4gb card from newegg pretty cheap....the 2gb are in the 20.00 range there as well.

 

[morkman100]

I don't think it really matters for photos, but I know that the video recording doesn't work on my Panasonic FX8 (VGA 30fps) when you have a slow card in it (it's been awhile, but I recall it stopping with an error message once you start recording). Threw in a 150x card and it works fine.

 

[gsellis]

I sure don't know about now, but a couple of years ago, some cameras would ready faster for the next frame or after a series of frames with faster memory.

 

[corkyg]

With fast-capable cameras (DLSRs for example) the media speed is a factor in rapid sequence shots such as in sports or fast action. Most P&S cameras have so much shutter delay that media speed is not really much of a factor.

Offloading the media from a reader/writer to the HDD is more dependent and limited by the USB or Firewire link than the media speed.

I remember when I decided to buy a DSLR - back several years ago -0 I think 1998. I was in Alaska and we were watching a whale (a la Pacific Life) breach and dive. I got ready and as soon as the whale came up, I tripped the shutter. By the time it actually clicked, the whale was gone and I got a good picture of a ripple and some splash. I decided never again.

 

[geckojohn]

How do you like your SD1000 camera?