Just completed a comparison of 44 SD cards in the Nikon D7200. Having put the D7100 through a similar test, it is clear that the increased buffer size has greatly improved continuous shooting performance. The D7200 buffer has about twice the capacity, but the end result is actually more than double the amount of images at full frame rate when using fast SD cards (since the camera is clearing the buffer while it shoots). Actual write speed of the D7200 also increased slightly, now up to about 75MB/s maximum, but the D7100 was already able to write at a very fast rate.
The write speed of the SD card affects buffer "capacity" (the number of shots that can be taken at full frame rate) as well as the sustained frame rate with the buffer full. In this aspect the D7200 is similar to the D7100 - both can take advantage of fast SD cards.
swartzfeger wrote:
I noticed you've tested the D600 but not the 610... do you know if they're the same?
I don't know, I have not tested the D610
Based on anecdotal evidence, I don't think the write speed would be significantly different.
object88 wrote:
Is it safe to assume that for a given card, there will be the same performance across capacities (I.e., 16GB, 32GB, 64GB)?
Read performance is similar. However the write performance on some cards was different between 32 and 64GB:
Lexar Professional 600x
PNY Elite Performance
Kingston Class 10/Ultimate
SanDisk Ultra 40MB/s
In the first three examples the 64GB version was significantly faster. This may be due the controller and NAND configuration. Larger capacity cards may use separate chips and if the controller writes in parallel it could increase write speed.
The SanDisk Ultra 40MB/s 32GB sample tested similar to the now discontinued Extreme 45MB/s. It had 45MB/s write instead of 15MB/s like other Ultra cards. Maybe SanDisk had some extra parts? I'm not sure if that result will hold true for other 32GB Ultra cards.
