What size memory cards do you use?

What size cards do you use?

  • <2GB

    Votes: 2 1.3%

  • 2GB

    Votes: 11 7.1%

  • 4GB

    Votes: 56 35.9%

  • 8GB

    Votes: 79 50.6%

  • 16GB

    Votes: 59 37.8%

  • 32GB

    Votes: 19 12.2%

  • 64GB

    Votes: 1 0.6%

  • 128GB

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • >128GB

    Votes: 1 0.6%
  • Total voters
    156
Toggerman

Toggerman

Messages
817
Name
Scott
Edit My Images
Yes
After reading some threads lately on weddings and card failure I was surprised to read that several people don't use higher than 4GB. I can see the point to it but personally I can't stand changing cards (nothing I shoot is really critical), as such I've just bought myself 2x 32GB CF cards.

In total I now have 2x 32GB, 2x 16GB and an 8GB. I'm just curious as to what other people use.
 
1x16GB 2x8GB and 6x4gb. if one dies, not too much lost!
 
2 x 16gb cards for me. As most electronic items seem to fail when being plugged in or unplugged I never even remove the card from the camera unless it's full when in the field. If possible I always down load by conecting camera to computer with a lead so the card is not handled. In three years I've never had a problem (will tomorrow now I've said that.)
 
2 x 4GB class 10 cards for general shooting as I'm only shooting at home so I rarely fill a card before I download the images.

I'm looking at a 32GB though as I'm starting to get into shooting some video with my camera now..
 
I have 2 x 8gb and a few 4gb ones. Prefer to use 8gb as it can hold enough for the day.
 
:) 4 gig SD with a single 32 gb cf for backup in the second slots ..
 
At the moment I have 3x 2GB and one 4Gb, on my outdated K200d that is about 150 RAW images on the 2GB. When I upgrade to the K5 though I will get two additional 8Gb cards, these will mainly be for video but also additional space if I fill the others up.

I always transfer images using a card reader and I have never had a card fail on me but I would rather be safe.

I also try to use the cards equally as much so between them they will last longer because of the limited read/write cycles.
 
ive been scared to use anything more than 2gig,though i do have 1 x 4gig and im just about to get a 8gig with my new/used D300,though i probably stilwont use more than 2gig at any time
 
Regardless of what size card I have in the camera, I always carry a spare - not in case I fill the one in the camera, rather that the one in the camera might develop a fault whilst I'm out and I don't want the choice to be

"try formatting the card and losing everything up to that point" or
"stop taking pictures and hope I can recover what I've taken so far when I get home"

For the price of an additional card compared to a tankful of fuel, it's a reasonable insurance policy IMO.
 
A900: 16gb CF + 8gb MS
A700: 16gb CF + 4gb MS

Spare : 1x8gb CF
3x4gb CF

The memory sticks only get used when the main CF is full and I don't have time to swap to one of the spare CF.
 
Isn't the information useless..... person A uses 4gb on a camera that takes 2mb pictures in reduced JPG .. Person B uses the same camera but takes 10mb pictures in raw ... and on and on..

the results make no sense when people can save vastly different amounts of pictures to the same card depending on camera equipment and file prefernces ..
 
I have 2 x 8Gb and 2 x 4Gb.

I rarely shoot millions of shots without having the ability to download anyway.

I tried to learn my lesson as I had a videocam with 40Gb od space, didnt clear it for 12 months because i didnt need to and lost the first years worth of video of my daughter when it got stolen!
 
KIPAX said:
Isn't the information useless..... person A uses 4gb on a camera that takes 2mb pictures in reduced JPG .. Person B uses the same camera but takes 10mb pictures in raw ... and on and on..

the results make no sense when people can save vastly different amounts of pictures to the same card depending on camera equipment and file prefernces ..
Click to expand...

Not really, it's a poll about size not usage. And whilst I see your point it would be far too complicated to include every different camera and quality setting combo as well. I just wanted to know what size cards people were using not so much how many shots they can fit. Also some people change their settings depending on what they're shooting. I sometimes use RAW+JPEG and other times just RAW.

I also don't think usage/file sizes matter much. I was reading on another forum that some wedding togs upgraded from a D700 to a D800 and yet were still going to use their 2 and 4GB cards but just buy more and swap more often, as in their mind a 4GB card was more reliable than a 16GB card, and the fewer images per card the better.

For a sports shooter the bigger the better I feel, I hate having to change card and miss some track action, which is why I went for 32GB cards.
 
Last edited:
I have just bought a few new cards as one of my cards has got some physical damage, I usually use as small a card as I can and swap over to reduce risk of loosing a days shooting. but the high performance cards are now only available in higher capacities I just bought some 8GB extreme pro SD and Extreme 8GB as thats all the capacity I want.

The Sandisk extreme pro CF starts at 16GB
The Sandisk extreme pro SD starts at 8GB

I am sure they are going bigger as pros and pro cameras are more likley to need more space especially with the D800 but it would be nice to have the option to buy 4gb or 8gb gb cards and not be foreced in to huge cards.
 
not had a CF card fail on me yet but tend to stick to 4 and 8gb cards

still got a couple of old CF cards that are still going strong but too small for todays cameras but still use an old 128mb CF card for firmware upgrades

still got an old IBM 340mb microdrive with the PCMCIA adapter i just cant bring myself to bin it the bloody thing cost a fortune when i first bought it :(
 
KIPAX said:
Isn't the information useless..... person A uses 4gb on a camera that takes 2mb pictures in reduced JPG .. Person B uses the same camera but takes 10mb pictures in raw ... and on and on..

the results make no sense when people can save vastly different amounts of pictures to the same card depending on camera equipment and file prefernces ..
Click to expand...

I agree.

I've always used 1GB and 2GB cards on the basis that that represented the maximum number of images I was willing to risk. It paid off last year in Central America when I noticed that the card refused to display a photograph I had just taken. The camera continued to let me take photographs but not allow them to be displayed. If I hadn't noticed when I did, I would have lost ~1.5GB of images.

Now that I'm shooting in RAW with a camera with significantly more pixels, I'm using 4GB and 8GB cards.
 
digital said:
I agree.

The camera continued to let me take photographs but not allow them to be displayed. If I hadn't noticed when I did, I would have lost ~1.5GB of images.
Click to expand...

I had a film camera that did that once possibly twice or maybe a lot more. thats why I now have the camera set to not allow the shutter release without a memory card.
 
Little John said:
I now have the camera set to not allow the shutter release without a memory card.
Click to expand...

That's the way I have the present camera set up. However, that doesn't cover the situation I described: the camera had a card in, it's just the card didn't record the images.
 
32gb. That way I don't have to bother about swapping cards at critical moments, re-using a card that I thought was empty or losing images by losing a card.

I've been using CF cards for over a dozen years and never had one fail. If it ever does happen there are hundreds of excellent recovery tools. I worry more about having a meteor hit my camera.
 
Got four 8GB cards and about 10 4GB cards, plus some odd 2GB ones. I mainly use the 8GB cards because I can get a full day's shooting on that (one feature, about 420 shots). I rarely use the smaller cards unless I know it's a small shoot. Not really fussed about going to larger cards because I like to change cards if I shoot more than I can fit on one.
 
I had 2GB cards when I had a D70, but they went with the camera. Then I moved up to 4GB cards with the D200. I got all my cards nicked with a D300, :( and now I'm on 8GB cards, for most part, :) with my D300S.

I now have;
3x 8GB CF
1x 8GB SD
2x 4GB SD
1x 1GB CF

I wouldn't go to any larger cards with the camera I have. 8GB is a touch too large, as I always say look to about 300-400 images on a card for safety reasons. For times when I've got the continuous shooting on though, 8GB seem the right size. ;)

A couple of the CF cards are fast cards, and a couple of the SD cards are fast, for times when I need the speed for sport. If I had the money they would all be fast cards of course. ;)
 
I've got 4 16Gb and 1 4Gb CF cards for my 5D3, and 4 16Gb SDHC cards that go between my 5D3 and my 60D. I don't want to keep running out of space, but I don't want to risk everything all on 1 gigantic card for that just in case moment.
 
I use 2x8gb and sometimes have another 4gb, but to be honest, i never have more than one card full, i am pretty good at processing or maybe i just dont shoot enough :)
 
Claudio17177 said:
I use 2x8gb and sometimes have another 4gb, but to be honest, i never have more than one card full, i am pretty good at processing or maybe i just dont shoot enough :)
Click to expand...

I generally keep the same two cards in the camera, but when on holiday, or at a sporting event, the extra cards come in useful. :D

On holiday, I like to fill the cards up as an extra backup to the laptop for as long as I can. :)
 
Main slot 64Gb and second slot 32Gb...Sandisk Extreme Pro
 
I shoot with a couple of Sandisk 8GB Extreme 60MB/s cards & have never had any troubles with them. Heard many stories of larger cards failing before the 4GB & 8GB cards. I've always preffered to avoid 16MB & above as they have been more likely to currupt in the past.
 
I use a 32gig for RAW and a 16gig for jpeg - both Sandisk Extreme UHS1 SDHC class 10
 
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