OM-D E-M5 SD / SDHC / SDXC Cards Raw Burst Benchmark Test

Last Update: 2012-5-7

Introduction

It’s easy to do a bit of google and find that Sandisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s card is one of the best choices for my OM-D E-M5 camera (or any camera that takes SD card).  However, I’d prefer cheaper cards.  So I bought a Kingston UltimateX 100X Gen 2 Class 10 (SD10G2) 32GB and borrowed a few other cards and performed this test to find out how fast (or slow) it is, relative to price.  (Note: there are many complaints about this Kingston card being slow in amazon)

Methodology

• OM-D E-M5 with Firmware 1.1
• IS Off setting
• 9fps setting
• Set to RAW
• Shoot a watch / clock, hold the shutter until the camera pauses briefly
• Check how many photos are taken
• Measure the time between pressing the shutter and the SD write icon disappears
• Set to RAW + JPEG Large Normal and repeat

Submissions

Submissions are welcome, but please follow the settings stated above.  If you’re using firmware earlier than 1.1, please upgrade to firmware 1.1 first.

Related resources

• Ian Burley’s Olympus OM-D E-M5 high speed burst mode shooting timings
• Giulio Sciorio’s Olympus OMD EM5 Memory Card Test
• Rob Galbraith’ CF/SD/XQD Performance Database
• The Sports Photo Guy’s Nikon D7000 RAW Burst Test

OM-D E-M5 SD / SDHC / SDXC Raw Burst Benchmark Test Results:

• Time is measured in units of seconds
• error +/- 1 second

SD card	Frames	RAW time	RAW + JPEG Large Normal time
Sandisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s 16GB	13	12	17 (12 frame)
Transcend Class 10 SDHC UHS-I (TS16GSDHC10U1) 16GB	12	12	19
Kingston UltimateX 100X Gen 2 Class 10 (SD10G2) 32GB	12	20	28
Eye-Fi Mobile X2 Class 6 8GB (WiFi turned off)	12	21	29
Sandisk Ultra 30MB/s Class 6 SDHC UHS-I 32GB	12	27	39
Kingston Class 4 SD (SD4) 8GB	12	25	44
Kingston Class 10 MicroSDHC 16GB	12	28	41
Lexar Class 10 MicroSDHC 32GB	12	32	48

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