To illustrate the practical effect of write speed, the 96mb CF in my Nikon CoolPix 950 takes about 10 seconds to recycle after a high resolution (2.1 mpixel, TIFF uncompressed format) photo is taken. You can set the camera to allow a burst of three photos (meaning that the photos are stored briefly in RAM and then written to the CF card). When using the "fine" setting, which delivers a compressed JPG format, the write time is about 2 or 3 seconds, and if the batteries are anything less than fresh, the flash recycle time will be greater than the time to write to the flash card.
The foregoing relates to Aus's report on the question of write times. For the most part, unless you are working in the highest resolution, it doesn't make much difference. Also, when you use the Nikon in its "automatic" mode, it functions as a point and shoot camera, with all exposure, focus, flash functions preset, and resolution automatically set as "fine." Even if LEXAR had a 96 mb card (which they don't have yet), I don't see how its purported claims would make any difference in the end result.
Though I'm not a lawyer, I think a court would find the Lexar claims to be nothing more than a sham, and, thanks to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision written by the most conservative justice (Scalia) in 1994, a company that pursued this claim would find itself on the receiving end of court sanctions. |
