Extreme vs Extreme PRO SD Card

[droneworx]

That's actually not how it works Megapixels do not equal file size.

You may be writing 20 megapixels per second at 1 shot per second but that has little to do with the resulting file size. A Mavic 2 Pro DNG is approximately 40MB, and that will fluctuate depending on what is in the scene (more information = bigger file).

What matters just as much is how fast the memory controller is in the Mavic Air itself - if the speed at which the Mavic Air can write to a card is not as fast as the card, any headroom you think you may have by using a faster card is technically a waste. The entire imaging chain from capture to card operates only as fast as the weakest link.

For video, you are correct that U3/V30 is all that matters because there is no way to get the M2P to write faster than 100Mbps (12.5MB/s).

For the mavic 2 pro that’s exactly how it works. The camera is 20mp. A 12 bit photo would end up with a 30mb file, since (according to the specs) it’s a 10bit camera, it ends up being roughly 20mb.

 

[crlmjohnson]

I order three of these, because of the price:

one in my phone, one in my drone, one in my go pro

 

[Inspirephil]

Look for the 'U3' logo on the card as that identifies the card as being able to sustain the WRITE speeds needed for HD video.

View attachment 55738

Exactly! U3 is the most important thing you should look for in any card you’re looking for. Personally I use the Samsung Pro 128gb U3 card in both of my drones (Inspire 2& M2P) and it has performed flawlessly for me. They’re also recommended by DJI as an acceptable one. And the 128gb is only $19.99 on Amazon right now. But I also have several SanDisk Extreme Pro 16 and 32gb cards and they perform flawlessly as well. You can’t go wrong with either choice in my opinion.
I don’t know if the MA supports larger than 64gb or not but the same card is offered in a 64gb version too.

 

[Meta4]

Exactly! U3 is the most important thing you should look for in any card you’re looking for. Personally I use the Samsung 128gb U3 card in both of my drones (Inspire 2& M2P) and it has performed flawlessly for me. They’re also recommended by DJI as an acceptable one. And the 128gb is only $19.99 on Amazon right now.
I don’t know if the MA supports larger than 64gb or not but the same card is offered in a 64gb version too.

The idea that bigger must be better when it comes to SD cards seems to be very common on this forum.
I would suggest that if you value your images, bigger is definitely not better.
You only need about 8-10 GB to hold a whole flight of full 4K video or over 3000 jpg photos.
A 128 GB card would hold the 4K video of 9 full flights (or many more if you are selective and don't video from launch to landing.
That's a lot of eggs to have in one SD card basket.
It makes a lot more sense to have several 16GB cards and swap out between flights so that you don't risk losing precious work every time you fly.

The sad story told in this old thread explains the point very well:
My inspire currently sits in 30' of water off star island in Miami.

 

[Inspirephil]

The idea that bigger must be better when it comes to SD cards seems to be very common on this forum.
I would suggest that if you value your images, bigger is definitely not better.
You only need about 8-10 GB to hold a whole flight of full 4K video or over 3000 jpg photos.
A 128 GB card would hold the 4K video of 9 full flights (or many more if you are selective and don't video from launch to landing.
That's a lot of eggs to have in one SD card basket.
It makes a lot more sense to have several 16GB cards and swap out between flights so that you don't risk losing precious work every time you fly.

The sad story told in this old thread explains the point very well:
My inspire currently sits in 30' of water off star island in Miami.

I just don’t like swapping cards and that’s why I use a larger size micro SD card. And if I’m up in the air the last thing I want to be thinking about is “Do I have enough card left”.
And the price allows me to not worry about if I lose it or not. And if my drone ends up lost somewhere (in the water or anywhere else) that cheap little SD card is the last thing I’d be worried about!! I just lost a whole bunch of money, that’s what I would be worried about.

 

[Meta4]

I just don’t like swapping cards and that’s why I use a larger size micro SD card. And if I’m up in the air the last thing I want to be thinking about is “Do I have enough card left”.

I've never been able to fill a 16GB card in one flight so there's no worry about having enough space left.

And the price allows me to not worry about if I lose it or not. And if my drone ends up lost somewhere (in the water or anywhere else) that cheap little SD card is the last thing I’d be worried about!! I just lost a whole bunch of money, that’s what I would be worried about.

That's fine if you don't value your work. My suggestion is for those that do.
I fly in an environment where there's no recovery if things go wrong and I've sold images for more than the value of my drone in the past so there's no way my work goes flying a second time.

 

[Inspirephil]

That's fine if you don't value your work. My suggestion is for those that do.
I fly in an environment where there's no recovery if things go wrong and I've sold images for more than the value of my drone in the past so there's no way my work goes flying a second time.

After each and every flight I download any and all important pictures/videos to my iMac and delete all the ones that are not important and that way my card is prepped and ready to go the next time. And if I want to save them I can transfer them to another thumb drive or even another SD card. You have a lot of different choices how you choose to store them.
And different strokes for different folks as they say!! All I am trying to say is that “I” don’t want to have to worry about my SD cards when I am up in the air. That’s the last thing I want to deal with. There’s many more important things to do than that.

 

[Rayman]

I just got thr magic air and I ordered the extreme pro 64gb from amazon. I haven't flown it yet. Still learning the ins and out of this air.

 

[CanadaDrone]

For the mavic 2 pro that’s exactly how it works. The camera is 20mp. A 12 bit photo would end up with a 30mb file, since (according to the specs) it’s a 10bit camera, it ends up being roughly 20mb.

That is incorrect. The original assertion was that a 20MP photo = 20 MB file and that is simply not the case. The DNG's from the Mavic 2 Pro are around 40MB, and as I explained earlier that will fluctuate with the amount of detail in the scene. I think you are confusing megabytes and megapixels which are not interchangeable terms, and megapixels on their own have nothing to do with file size. Plenty of examples out there if you're curious - every M2P DNG I have ever seen is around 40MB.

The RAW photos from the M2P are actually packaged in a 16bit file, but they do not actually contain 16bits of color information as the Sony IMX183 is only capable of 12bit RAW capture.

 

[dannybgoode]

That is incorrect. The original assertion was that a 20MP photo = 20 MB file and that is simply not the case. The DNG's from the Mavic 2 Pro are around 40MB, and as I explained earlier that will fluctuate with the amount of detail in the scene. I think you are confusing megabytes and megapixels which are not interchangeable terms, and megapixels on their own have nothing to do with file size. Plenty of examples out there if you're curious - every M2P DNG I have ever seen is around 40MB.

They are certainly sizeable files. Just invested in another 16gb of RAM to take my machine up to 32gb to give it a bit more poke when processing them.

 

[CanadaDrone]

They are certainly sizeable files. Just invested in another 16gb of RAM to take my machine up to 32gb to give it a bit more poke when processing them.

Were you maxing out your previous RAM? Photoshop only starts using the hard drive as a scratch disk when the RAM is full.

 

[dannybgoode]

Were you maxing out your previous RAM? Photoshop only starts using the hard drive as a scratch disk when the RAM is full.

Affinity and DxO are both noticeably quicker now I've gone to 32gb. Don't forget Windows can store more of its page files etc direct in RAM instead of caching the HD which makes a difference also so performance is not just about how individual programs use the available memory.

 

[FoxhallGH]

The idea that bigger must be better when it comes to SD cards seems to be very common on this forum.
I would suggest that if you value your images, bigger is definitely not better.
You only need about 8-10 GB to hold a whole flight of full 4K video or over 3000 jpg photos.
A 128 GB card would hold the 4K video of 9 full flights (or many more if you are selective and don't video from launch to landing.
That's a lot of eggs to have in one SD card basket.
It makes a lot more sense to have several 16GB cards and swap out between flights so that you don't risk losing precious work every time you fly.

The sad story told in this old thread explains the point very well:
My inspire currently sits in 30' of water off star island in Miami.

"Bigger" has nothing to do with this ... It's all about write speed to the card. If you want to be able to write 4K video (or anything up to) to the card, then get a U3 card - end of story.

 

[Meta4]

"Bigger" has nothing top do with this ... It's all about write speed to the card. If you want to be able to write 4K video (or anything up to) to the card, then get a U3 card - end of story.

That's in the specs and I wasn't questioning it.
Supporting Micro SD with capacity up to 128 GB and R/W speed up to UHS-I Speed Grade 3
I was questioning the pervasive notion that when it comes to SD cards, bigger must be better.
If you can't find these:

or other suitable 16GB cards, there are plenty of suitable 32GB cards available.
Storing a whole week's work on a huge SD card isn't a great idea.

 

[CanadaDrone]

Affinity and DxO are both noticeably quicker now I've gone to 32gb. Don't forget Windows can store more of its page files etc direct in RAM instead of caching the HD which makes a difference also so performance is not just about how individual programs use the available memory.

Yes, I am very familiar with RAM - I was just curious if you noticed a difference right away. Sounds like you did

I have no trouble using up most of my 32GB when I am editing a large shoot for a client, but those files are much larger than M2P files and I open dozens at a time. Even Chrome these days can easily use ~10GB with a bunch of tabs open.

 

[Lucido]

Just got the Mavic Air as my first drone and looking into which SD card to buy. I understand DJI recommends the Extreme and Extreme PRO. I see alot of MA owners recommending the PRO, but it seems the only difference is the faster read speed. Are there any other advantages that make it worth the purchase?

Extreme pro all the way!!

 

[Tiago_Wolf]

I order three of these, because of the price: View attachment 55777

one in my phone, one in my drone, one in my go pro

I got one of these 128gb extreme pro in replace for an old 64gb .
SanDisk warranty is the best.

You guys have encountered any kind of problem shooting videos with a 128gb card?

Haven't flown yet since I got mine

 

[crlmjohnson]

none so far.

 

[FoxhallGH]

I got one of these 128gb extreme pro in replace for an old 64gb .
SanDisk warranty is the best.

You guys have encountered any kind of problem shooting videos with a 128gb card?

Haven't flown yet since I got mine

Only that you'd be hard pressed to fill a 128GB card before your batteries ran out. 64GB is more than enough in my experience.
Some operators also make it a habit to change SD cards when they change batteries, so that if the Drone does get in an accident or lost, the previous filming for that job is safe. Using that method 32GB SD's are more than enough ...

 

[crlmjohnson]

I love my 128 GB car