[MisaPWNs]

When I was looking at SD Memory Cards, I saw that there were SanDisk and then SanDisk ULTRA II.

What is the difference between the ultra ones?
Is it worth paying a little extra for it?
What is it for?

[DaRkViEt73]

It's about speed. The ultras use faster memory so it's faster when it comes to reading and writing data on the card. It's supposedly (I don't have a digicam myself) important to have it especially when you take alot of high-res pictures in a few seconds. You know, when you do a rapid fire session with your camera like taking 3-4 pictures in 2 seconds or something. And we're talking at least 4 megapixels or above per picture. All that data has to get written to the memory card quickly hence why they have these faster memory cards. The ultra is advertised as 66x faster. Warning, do NOT rely too much on those "66x" or "100x" or "250x" numbers as you really cannot trust those numbers given by the manufactures.

This explains it better than I can. Click here for CNet as well as the Compact Flash Database also available thru that link.

So in short, you'll need the faster memory if your camera is at least 4-5 megapixels or higher and you routinely take high res photos. If you have 3 megapixel camera or less then you don't need it unless you plan on upgrading your camera in the near future.

[kpop012]

keep in mind that your camera may or may not support the faster SD cards (ultra)... newer cameras can support the faster read/write... just depends on your camera too

[MisaPWNs]

It's about speed. The ultras use faster memory so it's faster when it comes to reading and writing data on the card. It's supposedly (I don't have a digicam myself) important to have it especially when you take alot of high-res pictures in a few seconds. You know, when you do a rapid fire session with your camera like taking 3-4 pictures in 2 seconds or something. And we're talking at least 4 megapixels or above per picture. All that data has to get written to the memory card quickly hence why they have these faster memory cards. The ultra is advertised as 66x faster. Warning, do NOT rely too much on those "66x" or "100x" or "250x" numbers as you really cannot trust those numbers given by the manufactures.

This explains it better than I can. Click here for CNet as well as the Compact Flash Database also available thru that link.

So in short, you'll need the faster memory if your camera is at least 4-5 megapixels or higher and you routinely take high res photos. If you have 3 megapixel camera or less then you don't need it unless you plan on upgrading your camera in the near future.

Well, I'm going to have a 5 megapixel camera soon. The Canon SD450.
Thanks for the link. So it reads and writes faster to the card, but would it be worth the extra money if I rarely rapid shoot pictures?

Also, do you know if movie clips are affected by the memory card? I heard that if you have a normal SD, it won't be able to keep up with the movie. I'm not sure what that means though. Hmm, would the movie skip if I don't have a fast enough SD memory?

[awdark]

wont skip, you just end up recording at a lower resolution or frame rate.

[tieulongnhi]

I have the sd450.. and when I bought that, i bought along the scandisk ultra II 1gb.. i think heres a sale at buy.com. good luck!

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=...654&dcaid=17654

[mangujowa]

I use the Ultra II 1gb sd card for my canon sd550!! It makes the writing speed faster, I think its 66x. or soemthing like that... o_o" I got it from Costco =]