Do I need a SD memory card for my 7 megapixel digital camera that has a high write speed?

I can't decide what SD memory card to buy for my digital camera. There are two options, the less expensive SD card that has a write speed of 1.5 megs/second and the more expensive card that writes at 7 megs/ second. I've read that cameras will take a long time to save pictures on slower memory cards. But, some other people have said that there is no noticeable difference.

Can you help?

BY ALL MEANS, get a card with the higher write speed. Even in a 2 MP camera, my daughter saw a huge difference. I wrote this for someone else, but it applies to you, except that your camera is 7 MP instead of 6. Do the math. I imagine a 7 MP camera would usually create files that were 4 MB or less.

Sandisk makes some nice higher speed cards in SD format (and others) with a lifetime warranty. The Ultra II is "mid range" high speed and Extreme III is ultra high speed. We have an Extreme in my wife's D50 and never had a problem with write speed. Click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click.....

The benchmark of 1X is a transfer rate of 150 KB per second.
40X is a common card, so the transfer rate would be 6 MB per second.
Sandisk Ultra II claims a minimum write speed of 60X or 9 MB per second, and a minimum read speed of 66X or 10 MB per second.
Sandisk Extreme III claims a minimum write and read speed of 133X or 20 MB per second.

The largest 6MB photos on a D50 camera seem to be about 3 MB, so it seems that an Ultra II could save 3 high data images per second, while an Extreme III could save 6 high data images per second. The D50 continuous mode gives up to 2.5 frames per second, so you could be gathering about 8 MB of data per second. If you do not have at least the Ultra II or equivalent, it is easy to see how your D50 bogs down at times.

yup there aren't that much of a difference in speed cause most of ur pics would be around 3mb each on the highest rez, but when u r transferring the data to ur comp, there will be some difference in speed but that doesn't matter that much

This is a relative issue (relative to what you are doing with your camera). Most cameras, especially of the 7 megapixel and up variety, have a sufficiently large buffer to hold several shots. It is pretty difficult to fill up that buffer, requiring you to stop shooting as it moves the photos from the buffer to the memory card.

There are two exceptions....taking pictures in RAW mode (the files for these are huge) and using the setting that takes multiple pictures continuously as you hold down the button. Doing both at the same time will almost certainly require that you have a high speed card.

If you aren't doing either of these things, a high speed card is a waste of money.

If you get the 1GB, that would give you plenty of space especially if you are out for at least 2 weeks on vacations so that you don't run out of space.