Do you buy lots of small amounts of memory on a lot of cards or one big card with lots of memory?

Do you buy lots of small amounts of memory on a lot of cards or one big card with lots of memeory?

  • One big card e.g 32/64gb

    Votes: 10 31.3%

  • few small one for example e.g 3 X 8gb

    Votes: 22 68.8%
  • Total voters
    32
topcat07

topcat07

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Yes
Do you buy lots of small for reliability encase the card failed or one big card for convenience?
 
Small cards (4, 8 and 16) here. I use the 4 and 8s when the photos are more important and I want to limit any potential losses from card failure.

If I'm just shooting for fun, I'll usually just stick the 16s in.

Tempted to get a 32 or 64 but would be pretty gutted if I filled one of those and it corrupted.

I guess smaller cards could be thought of as damage limitation?
 
Great big massive ones... in pairs, and use both card slots - set so B backs up A. I hate arsing about changing cards.
 
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i use a 128gb lexar compact flash in my 5dmk3, ive never had a problem with any memory card , been using dlsr's since 2005.

I tend to buy sandisk or lexar , and from decent places, not ebay.

First time for everything i suppose.
 
Balb0wa said:
i use a 128gb lexar compact flash in my 5dmk3, ive never had a problem with any memory card , been using dlsr's since 2005.
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You've been lucky then. Don't make the mistake of thinking that because YOU haven't had trouble, there is no trouble to be had. That's like assuming that because you've never had a car crash, you're never going to have one. You've got 2 slots :) I've had cards fail.
 
On a trip, 16 or 32GHz, back up every evening incrementally with a Nexto 750 Gig hard drive.
 
when I had cameras with one slot.. I used smaller cards on the basis that if one messed up I would still have somehting to show.. now I have cameras with 2 slots I always shoot to both cards at once so use bigger cards without worrying about one going :)
 
Pookeyhead said:
You've been lucky then. Don't make the mistake of thinking that because YOU haven't had trouble, there is no trouble to be had. That's like assuming that because you've never had a car crash, you're never going to have one. You've got 2 slots :) I've had cards fail.
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Maybe so, but no point worrying about ifs and buts, you could shoot on 8GB cards, and get mugged on the way back from somewhere.

Having said that, ive had 2 hard drives fail since 1998 :)

Like i say, if you buy genuine decent brand, you stand more chance of being ok, than cheap and ebay fake.
 
Balb0wa said:
Like i say, if you buy genuine decent brand, you stand more chance of being ok, than cheap and ebay fake.
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Silly Logic..... means nothing if a bunch of important pictures are lost.. same effect no matter what brand the cards.. It happens to all brands.. defining the odds doesnt make it any less better when it happens... 2 slots no excuses for lost pics IMHO :)
 
^This.

It's like people who have all their stuff on one hard drive, and no back ups. I find it hard to sympathise when they lose data.
 
I've got about 20 x 8gb cards in sd and cf, and also a few 16gb in sd. I also have a few 16gb and 32gb in micro sd for my gopro's and dashcams.
 
Since I shoot JPEG rather than raw, I can fit more than enough on even a 2GB card. I tend to use larger cards in waterproof cameras in the hope that I can avoid opening the door too often but even then, that tends to be dictated by battery life rather than cards filling! Another reason for me to use smaller SD rather than SDHC cars is that my little postcard printer can't read SDHC so I use the smaller cards to avoid the need to connect the cameras to the printer via USB.

I have had a card fail - on a family group shot where one family member sadly passed away soon after. I managed to get the relevant images back (at a cost) but it put me off cheapo cards as well as big ones. I do now use large capacity for some things but not for camera use just in case of another failure, although (touch wood!) I haven't had a SanDisk card crap out on me. Yet...
 
Single slot body, unrepeatable (or difficult/expensive to repeat) shoot = plenty of small cards (max 4gb).
 
I use 16gb Cf cards in both my 5D3 & MkIV. I never write to both at the same time. On the 5D3 its not really practical to write to both cards as it slows the camera down. I really should do it though on the MkIV. All I do when i shoot something important (to me that is) is to change the card after every session. So i could change the card with only a 100 images on it.
 
I accidentally put a CF card through a wash cycle not so long back. Came out clean with all 32gb of data intact. :) Not that I recommend popping your compact flash card into the washing machine.
 
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This argument will rage on forever. I remember the same argument use to be debated in respect of 125 mb cards v 512mb cards. There are risks with everything. I have never had a compact flash card fail in all the years I have been using them, or an sd card for that matter, way over 10 years. I did make a stupid mistake once and wiped some data by accident but that was my error and not card failure. Yes a card could fail, but that's a pretty low risk.

There is a risk whatever you do. I know someone who lost a whole days shooting on several 4 gb cards. With all the faffing about changing the cards he lost them all, no idea where, they never turned up. Yet my 32gb card was safe in the camera. There are always risks, but that's life. Who says an 8 gb card is not going to fail with your best shots of the day on it? Is there an assumption the the 128 gb card will fail only when it's full?

64gb cards for me. Even my 32 gb card that went through the washing cycle works to this day. :)

There are probably occasions when I would only want 8 gb. I just think it's a matter of weighing up the risk. I am not a great photographer, I am learning. Is it the end of the world if I lost a few shots? Nope. I would be more worried about the price of the memory card. :)

In my opinion it's a bit of a funny argument to have. :)
 
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2x 16gb cards, one in each slot so i have a good 600 shots available - never normally take that many shots in a day so suits me fine and if one card were to die i'd still have a 300 shot capacity left
 
boliston said:
2x 16gb cards, one in each slot so i have a good 600 shots available - never normally take that many shots in a day so suits me fine and if one card were to die i'd still have a 300 shot capacity left
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That's the way to do it. Small cards can still fail with essential images on them but more likely they can be lost and the process of swapping cards may damage the camera CF pins.
 
kev2010 said:
I accidentally put a CF card through a wash cycle not so long back. Came out clean with all 32gb of data intact. :) Not that I recommend popping your compact flash card into the washing machine.
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Done exactly the same with an SD card, that was in a point and shoot...

Card was full of water, let it dry out and is fine.

Camera I shot with the air riffle lol
 
Surely the only sensible option is to shoot to 2 huge cards in camera, but not take either out EVER - moving them can increase the chances to corrupt :(

So, you need to be able to instantly wifi them to your laptop, which backs them up instantly to at least 2 external harddrives. As soon as you've done shooting, one harddrive is couriered to a secure fireproof storage facility while the laptop backs everything up to the cloud. Of course if it really matters then you also need a 2nd shooter with the same everything sat next to you shooting the same too, and backup up to their own lappy/cloud etc.

Be safe people

Of course when you get back to editing you'll still delete 90% anyway cos you shot a load of s***e :D

Dave
 
Given the cheapness of good fast NAND flash these days, you can score decent 8GB cards for less than a fiver Transcend/SanDisk etc. I find my self buying what ever the best price to speed ratio is, always carry at least 2 brand new unopened cards with me, and very rarely fill a card full. I tend to recycle them after 4-5 uses, plenty of other media devices that I can use them on. Or sometimes I give them away to friends. :)
 
I dont believe that 32Gb is a large card anymore.... (not when you can buy 128Gb) & using much smaller on a D800 is also crippling..
 
I tend to use 8 GB cards both CF and SD not had any problems with either yet, I do have bigger for both 1 16 and 1 32 GB which I have used mainly got those I was planning on attempting some time lapse like others just got smaller ones in case of problems if away once the card is full leave in the hotel room, then if anything happen to the camera while I was out still at least have some photos from my trip.
 
64gb cards. One card for the shoot.

My cameras have backup slots and i always use them. I use sandisk extreme pro only.

Ive never had a card fail, but i have had a bag containing a card stolen. I think its more likely that ill lose a card if i shoot multiples, than 2 cards both failing.

Also, if you lose a card you've zero hope of getting your pics back. If a card fails theres a chance something can be recovered.
 
DG Phototraining said:
Surely the only sensible option is to shoot to 2 huge cards in camera, but not take either out EVER - moving them can increase the chances to corrupt :(

So, you need to be able to instantly wifi them to your laptop, which backs them up instantly to at least 2 external harddrives. As soon as you've done shooting, one harddrive is couriered to a secure fireproof storage facility while the laptop backs everything up to the cloud. Of course if it really matters then you also need a 2nd shooter with the same everything sat next to you shooting the same too, and backup up to their own lappy/cloud etc.

Be safe people

Of course when you get back to editing you'll still delete 90% anyway cos you shot a load of s***e :D

Dave
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I have an idea for waterproof cameras involving wi-fi for data transfer and recharging would be done via induction. No need for any doors for waterproofing.

USB has a finite connection life as well and IIRC it's fewer cycles than pins or other card contacts. There's always a possibility that an errant pet or child will trip over the connecting cable too!

The truth is, there's no real right or wrong and lots of different ways of approaching the dilemma.
 
Nod said:

The truth is, there's no real right or wrong and lots of different ways of approaching the dilemma.
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Exactly - and I don't ever recall in my film days anyone suggesting using 12 exp rather than 36 exp in 35mm for 'safety'; nor anyone panicking over only recording each shot once in just the one negative

We're all getting a bit too paranoid these days, driven by the marketing dept maybe ???

Dave
 
gadgeteer said:
If you have dual slot camera then use big cards, otherwise small. That's about it really
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Can't argue with that really. Just common sense.
 
If you had a Nikon D4 or D4s would you be limited to the speed of the CF card rather than the XQD card in the case of backing up?
 
prefer larger cards, feel im more likely to lose the cards if i got to many
 
shapeshifter said:
If you had a Nikon D4 or D4s would you be limited to the speed of the CF card rather than the XQD card in the case of backing up?
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Camera is only as fast as the slowest card in it if you're backing up the same files to both slots. Dunno if backing up sRAW to the cf would change this.
 
I have a Canon 1Ds MkII with one 16GB SDHC card and one 4GB CF card.

Since I shoot in JPEG the 16GB is definitely large enough with the CF as a backup (never needed yet).

I never take the card out and always download all pics by cable onto my PC so less chance of damaging the contacts - ditto with the CF card.

Slow downloads so just leave it connected till it's finished (sometimes overnight).
.
 
So, having replied to this yesterday, what did I get late yesterday afternoon? Read errors on my Sandisk Extreme Pro!

The lesson, is (a) stuff happens, and (b) don't reply to threads like this because it seems it makes stuff more likely to happen:(
 
Currently using dual card slots with backup selected, slot 1 4x 8gb and slot 2 1x 32gb card. Only problem I've found is once the 8gb card in slot 1 is full the camera locks up until thecRd is changed, I only need to change one card to get it working again so it's a bit quicker than changing both.

shapeshifter said:
Another cock up by Nikon .LOL
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I've never quite understood why consumer level nikon dslr's have dual SD slots(d7100 2x sd) but the pro level dslr's different card types (d800 cf and sd, d4 cf and xqd), seems a strange choice to me.
 
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