I have ordered my Canon &d and now need to order some memory for it. I would like to be able to shoot at 8fps so obviously I need something fast enough. I know the 7D supports UDMA capable cards. Do I need to spend the extra for one of these? Also, what is the minimum write speeds that I need for this camera. It is shooting 18.0MP at 8fps btw.

 

It is my understanding that burst shooting will write on the camera's internal buffer, not the memory card. Hence the limit of shots you can continuously take at 8fps, and the absence of correlation between fps and memory card.

This being said, Canon specifically mentions "126 pictures with UDMA card", so the buffer may start unloading to the card as you're still shooting.

126 pics is a lot. I never reached the 70ish pictures limit of my 40D. After 20 or 30 you start to feel like an idiot and everyone looks at you with the camera gatling gunning away.

 

Not a hardcore photog here but the new sandisk class 10 cards are great from what I read (just got a 16gb for my EOS 500D)

 

The buffer unloads as you shoot, so the slower the card, the more likely you are to run into a full buffer. This is especially true for any of the newer DSLRs that take 720/1080p video.

From what I've read, if you camera supports UDMA, you should go with UDMA, especially if shooting in RAW. You'll also get benefits when offloading the images.

 

Thanks for the correction!

 

looks like I am going to get a 16GB UDMA card to go with my shiny new camera. Many this hobby gets expensive quick