Difference Between SanDisk's Ultra II Series and the Normal Series ?

Question

What's the difference between SanDisk's Ultra II Series and the normal ones ?

I know it's Write Speed is 9mb/sec and Read Speed is 10mb/sec. But is it really that necessary ? Are the improvements even noticeable ? Should I buy it over a normal one ?

I'm getting a Canon Powershot SD600 (6 MegaPixels) and I'm planning on buying either a:

SanDisk 1Gb SD Card
SanDisk 2Gb SD Card
SanDisk Ultra II 1Gb Card

Answer 1

As far as write speed concern, the SD600 Continuous Drive only deliver 2.1fps (frames per second) and the total number of frames that can be shot in burst mode is rated unlimited using regular SD Card. Therefore, you will not notice the different between the Ultra II or the normal ones even shooting in burst mode. But of course, if the price different is not too much, I'll still go for the Ultra II because who knows if my next camera will need the extra speed.

Answer 2

I am not familiar with your camera but here's my experience.

I have a Nikon D50 which writes at a measured speed of approximately 3.75MB/S or approximately 25X. So as you can see, to get the most out of my camera I definitely need an ultra II, but I do not need an extreme III.

When photos are taken the image is held in the camera's buffer and then written to the card as fast as possible. If you either bracket shots or continuously shoot, the write speed becomes an issue. If you never do either of these i.e. landscape photography, you may never need to worry about write speed.

My advice however is that 1GB is still adequate unless you are going overseas and will not be able to download the pictures for a long time. In which case I would buy the 1 GB Ultra II.

Beware if you are thinking about buying one on ebay though, as a large number are fakes.

Answer 3

I wrote this for someone with a Nikon D50, which is the same as my wife's camera. The D50 is also 6 MP, so I would think this would apply for your Canon SD600. I would buy the Ultra II.

Yes. Sandisk makes some nice higher speed cards in SD format (and others) with a lifetime warranty. The Ultra II is "mid range" high speed and Extreme III is ultra high speed. We have an Extreme in my wife's D50 and never had a problem with write speed. Click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click.....

The benchmark of 1X is a transfer rate of 150 KB per second.
40X is a common card, so the transfer rate would be 6 MB per second.

Sandisk Ultra II claims a minimum write speed of 60X or 9 MB per second, and a minimum read speed of 66X or 10 MB per second.

Sandisk Extreme III claims a minimum write and read speed of 133X or 20 MB per second.

The largest 6MP photos on a D50 camera seem to be about 3 MB, so it seems that an Ultra II could save 3 high data images per second, while an Extreme III could save 6 high data images per second. The D50 continuous mode gives up to 2.5 frames per second, so you could be gathering about 8 MB of data per second. If you do not have at least the Ultra II or equivalent, it is easy to see how your D50 bogs down at times.

Answer 4

the speed of the regular sandisk sd memory card and the sandisk ultra ll will not see any difference when u use them with Digital Camera

but if u use them with PDA then u will actually notice a bit difference

and it ultra ll speed will show u a bit faster when u transfer big the file to and from ur computer.

as u will to use the SD card with Digital Camera
I recommend get a Standard 2GB instead of 1GB Ultra so u can some time even record Video (AVI) up to 37 min with 4x6 res and 15 fps.

with 2GB u dont have worry of run out of memory space when u r travel or camping it can take up to 700 picture with the best quality with the 6MP digital camera.

i also recoment kingston compo pack 50 elite pro SD
http://www.buy.com/prod/Kingston_Travel_Lite_Reader_with_2GB_Elite_Pro_Secure_Digital_Card_50x/q/loc/101/202418960.html

it very good i can use it as the travel drive when i have to tranfer file from one pc to another.