# Memory Card Performance in Nikon D5100



## Champ (Nov 16, 2011)

Hi Guys,
Today I had a bit of free time in afternoon, so decided to do a small benchmark test for memory cards.


*Objective  *
wanted to test Buffer depth and write speed of each card.

*Equipments Used *

Nikon D5100
Transcend 16GB Class 10 SDHC card
SanDisk 4GB Class 2 SDHC Card
Lexar 4GB Class 4 SDHC Card
Samsung Galaxy S

*Methodology Used *

 Formatted Card in camera. 
 Set Camera in Program Mode, Continuous Release Mode, Image Quality Fine Jpeg, Focus Mode AF-S, Other Settings Default.
 Open Stop Watch on Galaxy S 
 Press Start on clock and press shutter on camera simultaneously.
 Shoot till camera buffer is over and it stops/Shoots at very low rate.
 Compute time by captured image of stop watch.


*img1.imagehousing.com/40/b49557500cb0fb19d6ad421cc453d5db.jpg


*Results *

None of the card used was able to achieve promised 4FPS on Nikon D5100, Highest score was of 3.9
Only class 10 Transcend card was able to shoot till 100 images as advertised by Nikon, other class 2/class 4 card started stalking around 22 images, can be seen by sudden drop in graph.
I stopped test for 40 images and 60 images for Lexar and Sandisk card as rate at which images were being captured was too low and unusable for real world.



*img1.imagehousing.com/35/dc4a018e56a6ca7e46fce6449a3c6deb.jpg

Disclaimer 
Although I tried to be as accurate and as rational as possible, but possibility of human error can not be ignored. I did this test for purely personal purpose, sharing it as it might be useful to others as well.

Comments/suggestions are welcome, Also it will be useful if some of you guys perform similar test with other camera models/cards and post results


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## sujoyp (Nov 17, 2011)

nice comparison...ur data may be correct and may not be...
BTW y r u using a class 2 card on DSLR...it will take soo much of time to save low exposure shots and transfer pics to PC


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## Champ (Nov 19, 2011)

@sujoyp My Primary Card in D5100 is Transcend 16Gb Class 10 card.
SanDisk 4GB Class 2 card is used with another point and shoot.
I got Lexar 4GB Class 4 Card free with D5100 and it acts as a backup card.

As far as data is concernd, I tried my level best, but yes for more professional results tests should have been performed 3-5 times and average should have been taken.


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## sujoyp (Nov 20, 2011)

Atleast u gave ur efforts and time 

I am using a sandisk ultra 8GB class 4 card as primary and a strontium 4gb class 4 card as backup which I got free


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