James R
Joined: 27 Oct 2007
Location: All at Sea
Posts: 594
 
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| SDHC memory Cards for Camcorder |
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I am deeply confused over the standards of SDHC memory cards. So I thought I would appeal to the font of knowledge which is Disco3.co.uk.
I am about to buy a Canon FS 100 camcorder. This model uses SDHC flash memory only. No hard drive or internal memeory at all. Rather than get ripped off by the high street vendors I turned to the internet to source these cards.
I have found that there are class 2,4 and 6 cards (Scandisk do normal, Ultra and extreme). Which of these should I consider for use in the above mentioned camera. I believe the difference is in the speed at which data is transfered. Do I need to buy top of the range or will cheap and cheerful be good enough?
The camcorder is unlikely to see heavy use so the volume of data will not be huge. So the file transfer speed from card to computer is not of high importance. What I am worried about is whether the card will keep up with the camera whilst recording - especially at high quality settings. Sharks: Natures way of telling surfers to get a job
07 Silver TDV6 XS Manual + Stainless Tubes + Tints + LR dog Guard
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 Fri Jul 18 2008 6:57pm |
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flinty99
Joined: 17 Mar 2008
Location: Durham
Posts: 139
 
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My knowledge of SDHC cards is limited but from what I understand the 2, 4 6 ratings indicate the write speed of the card.
Class 2: 2 MB/s
Class 4: 4 MB/s
Class 6: 6 MB/s
I would check the manual of your camcorder and see if it has a minimum rating because if you do select a card that is underrated you may find the images cannot be written to the card fast enough as you point out.
I think I am also right in saying that besides the write speed and capacity of the card there is no difference between them and that devices will normally take any of the three types available. Therefore if it was me I would opt for the Class 6.
Like I say, I'm no expert so I stand to be corrected.
Ian
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| Fri Jul 18 2008 8:38pm |
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stapldm
Joined: 11 Sep 2006
Location: In a queue for diesel
Posts: 858
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My knowledge isn't much different from Flinty's, however I do know that miniDV (digital tape) uses a data throughput close to a max of 25Mbps. Note the small b means bits and the big B means Bytes. So time for a big if 
If the recorder you're looking at is close to the same throughput as a miniDV recorder, then 26Mbps is approx 0.208MBps. so if the recorders are the same data rates, then class 2 should be fine. Give a man a fire and he's warm for the day. But set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Terry Pratchett, Discworld
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| Fri Jul 18 2008 9:19pm |
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flinty99
Joined: 17 Mar 2008
Location: Durham
Posts: 139
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Just checked on Dabs.com for the camcorder you have.
They have a package deal (http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quick...ationKey=0) of the camcorder and a class 2 memory card - therefore assuming they are correct you should be fine with a class 2 card as Stapldm worked out for you. Ian
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| Fri Jul 18 2008 9:33pm |
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Bodsy
Joined: 06 Nov 2006
Location: Home, home on the range........
Posts: 5482
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stapldm - You geek! 
Fair play though, you lost me in your working, but clearly know what's what!  TDV6 HSE Black, Black Wheels /MTR's(in the shed!), Black RRS front/rear LR badge (tbf) Black Leather, Black Glass, Black TowB, Shiny Tasmods, Dull Mantec, White (& Orange) Reflective D3 Sticker, Black steering wheel badge, black air intake. Optima & Traxide dual battery setup.
Need black RRS wheel centre caps.
Now with added Engel.....
We D3, therefore we are..........
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| Fri Jul 18 2008 9:39pm |
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James R
Joined: 27 Oct 2007
Location: All at Sea
Posts: 594
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Thanks for all your replies gentlemen. But now it's even worse. According the Canon Australia that CW found, the data transfer rate at the highest quality is 9 mbps and a class 6 card has 6mbps speed rating 
However, further esearch has revealed a compatability table on Scandisks website. They reccomend a Scandisk SDHC Video card , which seems to be rated at 15 mbps. it seems that their basic card is also compatible with the camera - so I think the bottom line is that it will work with the lower specced cards.
Thanks again Gents Sharks: Natures way of telling surfers to get a job
07 Silver TDV6 XS Manual + Stainless Tubes + Tints + LR dog Guard
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| Sat Jul 19 2008 8:47am |
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James R
Joined: 27 Oct 2007
Location: All at Sea
Posts: 594
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Now I've found out that the Scandisk Video SDHC card is only class 4 but it costs more than the class 6 cards 
I think this is a marketing thing. Write 'video' on it and draw the punters in.
I think I will buy cheap and cheerful and see how I get on Sharks: Natures way of telling surfers to get a job
07 Silver TDV6 XS Manual + Stainless Tubes + Tints + LR dog Guard
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| Sat Jul 19 2008 9:02am |
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catweasel
Joined: 05 May 2006
Location: LONDON
Posts: 4048
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I thought the sdhc class 2 was rated at 2MB as in mega bytes where the canon records in mega bits. where a byte is eight bits so 8Mb=1MB so 2MB=16Mb which is more than the top record speed on the canon.
2MB is more than enough
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| Sat Jul 19 2008 9:09am |
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James R
Joined: 27 Oct 2007
Location: All at Sea
Posts: 594
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Thanks CW - I missed that  Sharks: Natures way of telling surfers to get a job
07 Silver TDV6 XS Manual + Stainless Tubes + Tints + LR dog Guard
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| Sat Jul 19 2008 10:18am |
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stapldm
Joined: 11 Sep 2006
Location: In a queue for diesel
Posts: 858
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Bodsy wrote:stapldm - You geek!
 Give a man a fire and he's warm for the day. But set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Terry Pratchett, Discworld
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| Sun Jul 20 2008 9:53pm |
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joness7
Joined: 09 Feb 2006
Location: West London
Posts: 64
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I just bought a Canon HG10 (I think) which does full 1080i HD. I also bought a crappy SDHD card from Jessops without thinking, and found out it was class 2. This works ok EXCEPT in full HD mode. So I mail ordered a Kingston class 6 for full HD, which works fine.
You camcorder doesn't look like a full HD model, so shouldn't be generating as much data, so class 2 should be ok.
The data rates they quote on the Canon web site and in the manual seem to be in MegaBITS per sec, whereas everyone else uses MegaBYTES per sec. But for some reason the conversion factor doesn't seem to be 8 - go figure.
Enjoy your new toy - over the moon with mine plugged into new Sony 40inch LCD TV in full HD. TDV6 HSE - Buckingham Blue with Alpaca
BMW R1200GS - also blue!!
Ducati Monster
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| Tue Jul 22 2008 11:49am |
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