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Good cheap SDHC for hacked cameras
  • Hi All,

    What are the best/fastest SDHC cards you guys have had success with for HD videos with GH1 without breaking the bank?
    I'm looking to buy a class 10 but what brands/type(speed/transfer rate/kind) would you recommend? I'm not concerned about the size(GB) of the card but I am keen about the type of the card.

    I'm your average/casual user.

    Please let me know what's the best price/performance point for a good SDHC? Patriot seems good but then sandisk are supposed to be the best. Aren't they but there are just so many choices. Not sure which ones will even work with GH1. The site just says SDHC.

    Thanks in advance.

    Vishal
  • 66 Replies sorted by
  • Transcend Class 10 is cheapest reliable card.
    SanDisk must be real one, as many false one exists due to higher price of this brand.
  • Thanks Vitaliy - should I shoot for a minimum read/write speed?
  • I tried to find a SanDisk Extreme at the local Fry's Electronics, but they didn't stock them. So, I opted for a PNY Class 10 cheapy, which works great. And unlike the other cheap card I had lying around (a Kingston Class 10 Ultimate X 100x), the PNY actually works past the 4 GB limit and creates a new file. The Kingston Class 10 Ultimate X always crashes at the 4 GB limit.
  • How can you verify if the scandisk is original, if you buy it online, is it enough to trust a known seller as eg. bhphotovideo.com/' or Adorama?
  • @Nic

    If you buy it from reputable seller like B&H.
  • +1 for transcend class 10
  • Thx for answering, meanwhile I fund this review about the GH1 and recommended memory cards:

    http://www.youtube.com/user/eyepatchentertainmen#p/search/3/FFggndkzClM

    He recomends Scandisk, Panasonic Gold Class, and Patriot LX , while he is warning about Transcend claiming that the quality of the cards vary...

    Anyhow I fell a little wiser now :)

  • I have the 32GB patriot LX, and its doesn't go past the 4GB limit at 42mbps.
  • Does the Transcend Class 10 go past the 4GB limit and at what mbps?
  • is there any difference in the reliability of a 32gb card and a 16Gb card?
  • +1 for Transcend class 10 cards. As with all storage, a card WILL fail at some point. The key is to have a backup solution in place and a good warranty. Transcend cards have a lifetime warranty.

    I stick to 16gb cards for a few reasons:
    * Same price/gb as 32gb card (~$1.50/gb) (no savings going with the bigger card)
    * Multiple cards can be used in multiple cameras
    * If a card fails, I don't lose as much (only 16gb and not 32gb) and I still have another card to use
    * Limited recording time keeps me thinking about what I'm shooting, which results in less footage to sift through in post
  • I am considering the 32Gb for live event, where it will be an advantage not to have to change the card, but I actually dont know how much space the avchd codec is requiring, of cause that depends on what resolution and bitrate I choose. I will have a camera in a week, then --i can start to experiment :-)
  • 32Gb on the stock GH2 will get you about 3 hours.
  • @Nic
    Just remember, if a 32gig card crashes, you lose 32 gig of footage. I rarely use more than 8 gig for that reason. ymmv.
  • I've had no problems with ADATA class 10 cards -- they seem to easily go over 4 gigs -- once recorded a 2 hour interview on one no problem. Transcend good too. Good prices at B&H.
  • I use a transcend class 10 with my gh1. I am running the Blackout-Ipowell patch and i normally get about 50mbps so my card is fine, but i have read reviews about ones that are duds. For anyone that got a dud, how likely is is that you will get one?
  • Am using transcend class 10 in my GH1. Was fine with 100mbps hack on 1080p24fps, but i just repacked to the 50mpbs (the blackout?) version as i wanted to shoot at 720p60fps this weekend.. it crashed ALL THE TIME due to write speed. am going to hunt around to see if this is 'typical'.. mb i got a dud, but it has been fine previously... will look into getting a sandisk with 30mbs write speed and hope that corrects things.
  • MicroCenter's Class 10 32GB card works really well for me. $45. I bought two.
  • For any of you in Germany, i bought a 32gb extrememory from ebay for 4,95 euro , bundled with a prepaid sim card from klarmobil, if you are careful and cancel after 2 months, there are no strings attached. The sd-card works great, even with 176mbit patch under all circumstances. it is double as fast as the transcend 16gb class 10. its a no.brainer! :)
  • @johnnym: these are UHS. GH2 does not have UHS. So theres no point buying them over a fast class 10 card, like extrememory, wich is great, and even cheap when bought normally :) - crystaldiskmark says 15 mb/s
  • @johnnym still waiting for my eval of the Delkins to come in.
  • @fatpig wow! but I live in italy, so i don't think they'll send that here. missed opportunity..
  • +1 Transcend Class 10. I use a bunch. My eventual goal is to be able to finish out a given shoot without overwriting any data. (I'm not quite there yet for my longer shoots. Especially as the data rates keep climbing...NOT a complaint!)

    @Jive , I like your thinking about 16GB over 32GB. I guess I was thinking bigger is better, but I think in the future I'll get 16GB as it does make more sense for most situations.

    By the way, I'm seeing that SDHC cards are becoming the new tape stock. I know several producers who just leave these as their 'master tapes' for archiving future projects and never overwrite. Again, a little too rich for my blood for most of my personal projects but I can see the value for certain shoots.