Olympus OMD EM5 Memory Card Test

By on April 27, 2012 in Featured, Reviews

Cards Tested
Sandisk Extreme Pro 16GB 95MB/s  Buffer cleared just under 10 seconds.

Sandisk Extreme Pro 16GB 45MB/s Buffer cleared just under 17 seconds.

Sandisk Extreme 4GB 30MB/s Buffer cleared just under 13 seconds.

Sandisk 8GB Class 4 Buffer cleared just under 56 seconds.

Eye-Fi Pro X2 8GB + WiFi Buffer cleared just under 30 seconds.

As you can see a quality card makes a big difference in write speed which translates to less photo opportunities lost and the cost differences are minimal. With the exception of the Eye-Fi card the only card I could suggest is the Sandisk Extreme Pro 16GB 95MB/s. The 45MB/s version is still available but is discontinued and don’t even bother with a Class 4 card.

Of all the card I do have the most fun with the Eye-Fi card. Shooting wirelessly to my iPhone while its in my pocket is great! I’m able to go from the Pen or OMD to the iPhone or iPad for a quick edit then to Instagram to share in no time at all. I’m currently writing an in-depth Eye-Fi wireless workflow which you’ll just love. Subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss it!

Which cards do you find to be fast and of high quality? Any cards photographers should stay away from? Let us know in the comments.

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About Giulio Sciorio

Giulio Sciorio is an award winning commercial photographer based in Miami, Florida that specializes in portraits. His clients range from advertising to editorial who need photography that is natural, spontaneous and fun. Create, Inspire You!
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  • Deryckb

    Hi,

    Sandisk Extreme Pro 16GB 45MB/s Buffer cleared just under 17 seconds.

    Sandisk Extreme 4GB 30MB/s Buffer cleared just under 13 seconds.

    is the Extreme Pro really slower than the Extreme?
     

    • http://giuliosciorio.com Giulio Sciorio

      Correct. The Sandisk Extreme 4GB is slower then the Extreme Pro 16GB only because the card size is smaller. Typically the larger the card size the slower the performance. Think of it as dropping a rock down a well. The deeper the well the longer it takes for the rock to hit bottom.

      I would speculate that the Sandisk Extreme Pro 8GB 95MB/s would be faster then both - http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extreme-UHS-1-Memory-SDSDXPA-008G-A75/dp/B005LFT3GG/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1335560186&sr=8-4

      • Sune

        I think this is due to the 45 card actually being slower than the 30. The 45 gets that speed rating only due to being uhs. Though the size might matter too

  • Thearne3

    Nice job, Giulio.   A procedural question:  how did you standardize the number of shots taken?  I’d like to test my Sandisk 30mb 8gb card…

    • http://giuliosciorio.com Giulio Sciorio

      Hi there. Good question. I wait until the buffer on the camera is full then I stop shooting. Took me more then a few tries to get it right. Keep in mind that most cameras will allow you to continue to shoot as the cameras buffer dumps to the card but its at a much slower speed.

      In testing try to keep your shutter speed as fast as possible so you can quickly fill the buffer. For the purpose of the video I wanted to be able to see the image on the back of the OMD so I cranked up the ISO which also allowed me to get a fast shutter speed.

  • http://twitter.com/Rick_Baumhauer Rick Baumhauer

    I tested with both a Lexar 16GB 600x UHS-1 card and a Transcend 16GB Class 10 UHS-1, and they seemed very similar in performance (and both should be competitive with the SanDisk 95MB/s card). Both cleared the buffer in under 9 seconds (this was usually 12 shots) when shooting Large Superfine JPEGs. When shooting RAW+JPEG, they both cleared the buffer at about 1 frame/sec – just under 13s for 13 shots, or just under 14s for 14 shots.

    • http://giuliosciorio.com Giulio Sciorio

      Thanks for posting this Rick. I always had good luck with the Lexar cards in the past and many friends enjoy using the Transcend cards. Good info!

      • Timur Born

         One vote for the Transcend here. Costs less than the SanDisk and according to various reports (including yours) just as fast when it comes to writing files on the E-M5.

        • http://giuliosciorio.com Giulio Sciorio

          Good to know Timur. Thanks!

  • Quatchi_muc

    Thanks for the comparison! Looking forward to the Eye.Fi workflow post.

    • http://giuliosciorio.com Giulio Sciorio

      Still working on it. It’s become quite a project!

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  • http://twitter.com/flojoto Tobias Lohse

    Please do this Eye-Fi workflow post, I’m really looking forward to it, I use a G1 with an Eye-Fi Pro X2 and an iPad 1 but never got it to work in a fast way, that really satisfied me, so I’m very interested, how you use the eye-fi-card. 

    Love your blog by the way. But hate you for making me need an EM5 ;)  

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=719863246 Giulio Sciorio

      Hi Tobias,

      Working on it. Should be out by months end. The tech isn’t perfect so I’m testing some workarounds but I think I got some good solutions. It’s taking a bit longer to finish up then I expected but I think you’ll love the results.

      Might be a multi-part workflow too. Stay tuned.

      Glad you love the blog! I love sharing what I know on it. Get the E-M5 you’ll love it!

      • Ldguethle

        Tips on using it with an Android phone would also be appreciated (if there’d be much different than an iPod/iPhone).

      • Bragi

        Am also looking forward to the workflow post. Hope you haven’t given up on it!

  • http://www.facebook.com/peter.arbib Peter Arbib

    I have the 95MB/s card… it erases over 350 RAW files in under 5s !!!
    and you can easily shoot at 9fps as short burst, and it is ready fairy fast.

    • http://giuliosciorio.com Giulio Sciorio

      It’s a great card for sure! I do have six Lexar cards coming today that I’ll be testing. Will post the results up soon!