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Hi all,
I posted this on talk photography too, but I know there are plenty of photographers on here too, and a few with this camera.
I’ve just got off the fence (I've been up there a good few years!) and bought an LX3. It’s my first digital camera so I’ve got a bit of catching up to do.
I’ll need a card and I’m trying to figure out how much write speed I need to buy.
There’s a lot of performance information here: [url] http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/LX3/LX3A6.HTM [/url] the most relevant seems to be the Cycle Time table. This states that they were achieved with a SanDisk Extreme III. (20 or 30MB/s, I don’t know). Either way, it seems from my maths (below, please pick holes!) that the max write speed of the camera is short of 20MB/s.
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So is it pointless buying a card with a write speed of more than 15MB/s for this camera, or have I missed something? I appreciate the speed to transfer files to a laptop will be affected too, but I’m more concerned with getting the best out of the camera without wasting money on overly fast cards.
Thanks for any help and advice!
Looks to me as if the camera's buffer is the limiting factor.
I use two different cards for my SLR - one is a Sandisk Extreme III (30MB/s) and the other is a Sandisk Ultra II (15MB/s) and I can't tell the difference in real-world use. Again, I suspect the camera's buffer would be the bottleneck anyway (basic Sony dSLR) so buying faster cards would bring diminishing returns.
I'd say go for a cheaper Ultra II card and see if it is limiting in daily use. I guess it depends on how you use the camera whether the cycle time is important.
I've an LX3 on my desk here with a 30mb/s card on it. I've had slower cards in it and, as stuartie says, in reality in makes virtually zero difference. its basically irrelevant. someone may be along here in a minute to tell I'm wildly wrong and that table has some critical truths in it but it looks boring as sin and in actual use of the camera it matters not a jot IME. The time wasted dicking around procrastinating is worth more than the few quid you might save on a card IMHO. Life's too short etc etc.
The LX3 is a brilliant camera, and I would just get on with having fun taking photos with it. Enjoy!
Cheers both,
Chela, the table says the same as you, no difference in use, as max write speed of the camera is below 20Mb/s. But as it's my table based on someone else's facts, + my guesses and assumptions, I thought I'd run it past some of you guys.
I've ordered the camera, but it's not here yet. I'll order the Ultra II and it should come at the same time.