SD Card Question for DSLR

[kaismahma]

Does the size of the SD card matter for my DSLR's camera speed if I was trying to take action type shots? It seems at times it takes forever for me to get a pic because the camera is thinking and will not let me do a burst type mode at times. Is this because I only have a small SD Card in I think it is 4GB. Should I be using something with more storage or would that not have anything to do with the issue. (I will admit I really do not know how to use this camera to it's fullest extent but I am trying to learn and teach myself.) I really want to bring it on our upcoming trip for evening and night time shots and make sure I have the right card for my camera. It is a Canon Rebel 12mp it's about 6 years old. (I usually shoot on auto.)
TIA

 

[mom2rtk]

My T2i always frustrated me like that. Those cameras have a fairly low burst rate. Which one do you have?

You should be able to watch the burst rate in the lower right corner of your viewfinder.

 

[Skywise]

Size doesn't matter (har har)

The important numbers are the max write speed of the card AND the max write speed of your camera.

SD Cards have a class rating for their speeds with class 10 being the fastest (and another standard UHS-I, UHS-II, UHS-III that ranks higher than the "Class" system after that)

If you put a class 2 card into a class 10 capable camera you're slowing down the camera (it won't be able to write as fast) but if you put a class 10 card in a class 2 camera you're not going to see that much of a speed improvement over class 2.

This will give you a bit more detail of how that works:
http://www.alphr.com/features/380167/does-your-camera-need-a-fast-sd-card

Aside from classes there's also things the card manufacturers can do to squeeze out performance (buffers, bigger internal "pipes", that sort of thing) which is why pro versions of the same card class can have better performance than the basic version of that card. But it's only a percentage difference - not a major difference (though depending on your needs it might be a "major" difference) and, again, if it's a higher class card than the camera supports it's not going to make any difference at all.)

 

[xlxo]

Thoughts....

• are you shooting RAW? JPG's save much faster. Are you shooting full size or VGA? Smaller images will save faster.
• auto focus can slow down the burst rate.
• some DSLR models will have slower continuous frame rates than premium models.

 

[kaismahma]

Thanks for your help everyone.