FZ5 / FZ20 Flash Memory card requirements

[mallen]

Size: 512 Kb plenty or is 1 Gb a wise choice - especiallly if you want to combine some video with about 100 images?

How many minutes of video at 320 x 240 x 30fps will fit on a 512 card?

Speed: Is regular 2 Mb/s fast enough for video and continuous shooting?

Does a faster card actually improve performance and what speed helps - 50X (7.5 Mb/s), 60X (9 Mb/s), 150X (22 Mb/s)?

Thanks!

[Mike63]

I assume you mean a 512mb card. With my FZ20 I can get about 200 pics at max resolution or 16 minutes of video at 30 frames/sec. Obviously if you mix pics with video the numbers will change. You definitely need a faster card for video and shooting in burst mode. My main card is a Sandisk Ultra II which is 66mb/sec. A fast card will help with file transfers also, if you use a card reader. What used to take 2 minutes with the USB cord supplied with the camera now takes about 10-15 seconds with the card reader. To get that kind of speed you need USB 2.

[mallen]

Yes, I meant 512mb. Thanks for confirming the video and still image capacity.

Time to go shopping...

Thanks Mike63!

[emalvick]

I think we should add that, the number of pics will depend on whether you are saving in tiff or jpg.

[Honest Gaza]

.....and personally, I'd rather have 2 x 512MB cards than 1 x 1GB. It may mean higher costs, but I have an aversion to placing all of my eggs in one basket. If away on holidays, and the ability to download pictures to a PC isn't possible, a faulty or lost card means you only lose half of your photos.
....but that's just me.