TM900 - best memory card?
 

So that wedding is fast approaching, and the TM900 is down to around AU$775 on the Australian Grey Market, yay.

The vendor offers a large selection of memory cards for this camera... and whilst I've tried to read up on the subject, the descriptions don't always seem to match what I've read about... The vendor does seem to have good prices, so I am guessing they'll have cheaper prices than if I go into a local store... if only I knew what was what...

This is their list:

Transcend Class 10 SDHC, 16GB $62, 32GB $96
SanDisk Ultra 15MB/s SD, 16GB $46, 32GB $85
SanDisk Standard SD, 16GB $36, 32GB $61
SanDisk Extreme Pro 45MB/s, 8GB $50, 16GB $92
SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s (typo?), 32GB $147
SanDisk Extreme HD 30MB/s, 16GB $69, 32GB $107

I will be recording the wedding in full HD... the ceremony is going to be short, ie 1/2hr I am told... and then reception...

I also am hoping to use the camera to offer my services to the local community television station... which broadcast in 576i...

What would you recommend?

cheers


Travis

Re: TM900 - best memory card?
 

An interesting question. How do you decide which card is best? When I got my TM900 I tried San Disk Class 4 cards rated at 15 MB/s. I tried these because I had some for another camera. As they seem to work OK I have kept using them. The last ones I bought were just under $50 for 32GB ($85 on your list). Do I need anything better?

Re: TM900 - best memory card?
 

The which card is best question, is a question that can never ever be answered in an objective manner. The card that works best is the one that you have tested, and satisfied yourself of its reliability. Any card can, and probably will fail at some time, its something we all have to live with. All of the replies you will get are people telling you this card works, dont go near that one, etc,etc. Any class 6 or 10 Transcend, Sandisk, etc should give you no problems at all. The only way is to use a card yourself, once you are confident in the cards performance, stick with that brand. I would always avoid using cheaper unknown brands. Also, I always stick to 16gb cards. With the upsurge in mega size cards, you are putting an awful lot of eggs in one basket, imagine the loss if a 64gb card, or bigger failed or became corrupt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: TM900 - best memory card?
 

As you buy various cards you should try seeing how fast they transfer data. There is a difference between different cards.

I've always shot with Sandisk Extreme Pro. The 45 Mbps should be more than enough to handle the amount of data transfer from the TM900.

I have heard from pros that the Hoodman Pro Steel SD cards is excellent and has very fast transfer rates in real world tests.

So given that you are in Aus. and may not be able to get Hoodman, I would probably go with the Sandisk cards. They have never let me down.

Last thing I want is a card failure during a shoot. That is one of the problems with the TM900, in that it can't run dual cards to protect against that.

Good luck!

Re: TM900 - best memory card?
 

Thanks for the replies guys.

I recognised the SanDisk name, but not the other... And had been thinking to go for as big a card size as possible... But indeed the idea of then losing EVERYTHING in one go... Ouch.

Having xD cards only to try at home, I guess it'll be hit n miss, but I think I'll go for 2 x 16gb 15mb SanDs...

The idea of a redundant copy was a bit lost on me as at uni we never had such benefit on the Sony DSR300 or XDCam... (least, not that we were made aware of)