Sandisk vs Lexar experience

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Sandisk vs Lexar experience

TimMunsey
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p.1 #1 · Sandisk vs Lexar experience

I would just like to share my card comparison, Lexar 800x UDMA7 vs Sandisk 60MB/s both 32GB.

I shot both for 30 seconds on a manually setup D800, ISO 100 so no NR.

I got 39 lossless compressed NEF's on the Sandisk

I got 27 lossless compressed NEF's on the Lexar

Verdict buy the cheaper Sandisk, the 800x Lexar can lead you into thinking its near the 1000x but thanks to its slow write speed it's a poor purchase.

Sorry if you already knew this but feel gutted as I've wasted good money.

Feb 27, 2013 at 05:03 PM

Nathan Padgett
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p.1 #2 · Sandisk vs Lexar experience

Here are some write / read speeds I took from B&H:

800x Lexar is 45mb/s write and 120 mb/s read.
The 400x Transcend writes at 60 mb/s and reads at 90mb/s.
The 60mb/s Sandisk Extreme is ........... 60mb/s read, but it doesn't state the write.

It seems clear that everyone is listing their read speed on the cards, but not the write speeds.

Now the Lexar 1000x is a bad boy. It writes at 145mb/s and read's at 150mb/s. This is FASTER than a first gen XQD card!?! The Sony H series QXD reads and writes at 125mb/s. But you will need the Lexar USB 3.0 reader to get those speeds (and update it's software).

I had slow cards when I had a D800 and it drove me nuts. Had to wait to review images, took forever to download ect. I ended up getting the Lexar 1000x when it had a decent rebate.

Feb 27, 2013 at 05:24 PM

michaelwatkins
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p.1 #3 · Sandisk vs Lexar experience

I've always owned Sandisk out of habit but I wait for them to come on sale. When I recently needed some new cards for use with my D800 I bought some 800x UDMA7 Lexar cards because at the time they were priced at or below anything close by Sandisk. Currently both these and the Sandisk 60MB/s 32GB cards are about $82 on Amazon.com. Probably I'd have been happy with slightly lower rated cards from either maker but the Lexar on Galbraith's site had similar throughput specs to Sandisk CF and SDHC cards I'm using in other bodies so I went with the 800X.

All I cared was they perform well enough to support short bursts which I only occasionally need, and that the read speed was reasonably high as I almost care more about the download from the card than writing files in the first place.

BTW, @ 1/8000 ISO 100 aperture wide open no NR 14 bit lossless I get 40 exposures in 30 seconds using the Lexar 800x. Maybe 42 depending on my button pressing precision.

That's probably the first I've ever measured that and I'm certain it will be the last.

Most cards are plenty fast for my purposes, but I tend to buy cards in the middle to upper end of the pack anyway as I'd read once the components in them are of higher spec and indeed some cards are rated better for temperature extremes, something which does matter to me.

Feb 27, 2013 at 05:52 PM

TimMunsey
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p.1 #4 · Sandisk vs Lexar experience

Interesting Micheal, wonder why the big difference. In theory you'd expect near 60 at a write rate of 45 Mb/s, assuming lossless compressed NEF's. So some time is lost processing the images, perhaps an in camera setting is really slowing mine down. Still the sandisk whipped its ar.e for sure on the same set up.

Feb 27, 2013 at 06:39 PM

michaelwatkins
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p.1 #5 · Sandisk vs Lexar experience

Probably there's a setting difference. Does your camera have the same firmware? I have 1.00/1.01/1.006.

Although I said I was unlikely to test write speeds ever again the geek in me came out and I checked the other cards I use for overflow or backup in the D800, a trio of 8GB Sandisk Extreme Pro 45MB/s SDHC cards. I found these allowed for 40 exposures in 30 seconds.

The Lexar/Sandisk 32GB cards are not that much more expensive today than the 8GB Sandisk when I first bought them.

Feb 27, 2013 at 07:04 PM

TimMunsey
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p.1 #6 · Sandisk vs Lexar experience

Sadly the firmware is as yours. Interesting too that the sandisk was also nearly 40, perhaps my Lexar is a fake :-(.

Feb 27, 2013 at 07:16 PM

M635_Guy
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p.1 #7 · Sandisk vs Lexar experience

TimMunsey wrote:
Sadly the firmware is as yours. Interesting too that the sandisk was also nearly 40, perhaps my Lexar is a fake :-(.

That was my first thought - in virtually all the performance tests I've seen (Rob Galbraith, et. al.) Lexar Pro tends to be at the top. Since there are so many fakes out there, I buy my memory cards from B&H, not ebay, etc.

I know my 1000X cards are extremely quick...

Feb 27, 2013 at 09:43 PM

Gregg Heckler
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p.1 #8 · Sandisk vs Lexar experience

They are both pretty much equal. They are both good customers of mine and both are the best you can buy. While I shoot mostly Sandisk I have never had a problem with either one after over 500,000 images.

Mar 01, 2013 at 03:13 AM

TimMunsey
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p.1 #9 · Sandisk vs Lexar experience

Problem with Lexar is that you have one card labelled 1000x which is genuinely fast write and read, whilst the 800x is not so and should be labelled 800/300x. Misleading in my opinion.

Mar 01, 2013 at 09:44 AM

Andre Labonte
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p.1 #10 · Sandisk vs Lexar experience

Hmmm ... good information. Fortunately I've always been a Sandisk guy.

Mar 01, 2013 at 11:10 AM

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