Which Memory Card for Sony CX?

[LukeH 0]

So the newer Sony CX cameras can take Sony MS or SD cards. The manual says use Class 4 cards, Sandisk Class 4 is about a third of the price of a Sony MS.

A while back Sony introduced their Mark 2 cards which are designed with a minimum write speed suitable for AVCHD capable video cameras.

I've heard of problems with some SD cards, and an old thread recommend using Class 6. Spot has previous said that "cheap memory cards" and HD video recording don't mix well.

Looking at the specs, the CX115's highest quality is HD FX which is 24Mb/s, so Class 4 (4MB/s or 32Mb/s) should have plenty of overhead.

What cards (Brand, Format & Speed Class) have you had success or problems with and which would you recommend?

I've found an article on the subject but it's from 2 years ago. http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/how_buy_sd_card_your_digital_camera

[antonija 0]

I used cheap (dirt cheap, ebay) MS stick with my CX105 and it kept stopping recording the video (fullHD, highest setting possible). My guess was that the card was just too slow for camera to empty its buffer in time.

I then bought somewhat cheap (but not from ebay) MS stick and so far so good, it recorded until the card was full.

If I had a choice (I don't with CX105) I'd go with a good SD card. They can be found quite cheap and SD cards are used in lots of other gizmos.

I understand the need for conformity. Without a concise set of rules to follow we would probably all have to resort to common sense. -David Thorne

[LukeH 0]

Thanks.

Yes I'm going to go with SD. But would like to hear about specific cards as they seem to vary a lot. The classification isn't done independently.

I was looking at these:
Sandisk C4
Transcend C10

Lots of good reviews but also a high number talking about data corruption. I don't want to loose a weeks long trip of footage through trying to save a relatively small amount of money.

Also:
Transcend C4 Cheapest option
Kingston C4
Kingston C6
Sandisk Ultra C4 Quite a bit more than Sandisk above but both C4.

Probably cheaper lesser know brands available.

For comparison:
Sony MS Mark2

[antonija 0]

I don't trust manufacturers about their products' performance, even reviews and roundups are a bit tricky to judge.

Nevertheless, here is one roundup with lots of card and lots of parameters tested:
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/sdhc-memory-card-charts/benchmarks,40.html
You will probably be interested in write speeds (min, avg, max), since you only want reliable recording with lots of data.

Here is a raw burst test for nikon D7000, here you'll also see how fast can a card be written to:
http://sportsphotoguy.com/nikon-d7000-raw-burst-test/

I'd pick my favorite from roundups like these (google for more SD/SDHC comparisons, roundups, ...) and then try to find the best deal for chosen card. I'd also stay of ebay for this one

I understand the need for conformity. Without a concise set of rules to follow we would probably all have to resort to common sense. -David Thorne