MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Feel free to swap your SD cards back and forth freely, no in camera formatting is required in Nikon cameras since the D90. Each body creates its own folder with no detrimental affect whatsoever. Even newer Pentax and Canon bodies do the same although I don't know exactly when they started. The 6D, 6D II, 5D III, 5D IV, & 7D II all do this.
Sonys still require formatting but I have not yet tested the newer "III" or a9 bodies.

texaseve Loc: TX, NC and NH

I did find that formatting seemed - I say “seemed” to make it easier to get those blasted updates loaded in to my cameras. I have always had a hard time before, and after reading awesome suggestions by hoggers a couple days ago, did it.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

A different camera will make its own folder and put the pictures there. I've had a card with folders from three different cameras.

AirWalter Loc: Tipp City, Ohio

I am confused. A lot of times on this site when someone posts a question, invariably someone will answer that question with, "have You read the camera manual?" I am pretty sure every camera manual out there tells You to format Your card in the camera. There must be a reason for this. If You are so cheap that You can't afford a dedicated card for every camera that You have bought, then You have bought too many cameras. It doesn't take that much time to format the card in Your camera. Stop trying to cause problems and format.

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

There are situations where I find it more convenient to have my images on one card or my wife wants to slip her card into my camera for a few shots with my long lens and then back into her camera. Perhaps I am just being cheap. I use two cameras to cut down on changing lenses and convenience in the field.

Following the thread more closely may alleviate some confusion.

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

It has been my experience (and this is based on a Nikon D7000, Nikon D7100 and a Nikon D610) that the memory card will work IN NIKONS without reformatting (YOU CAN NOT USE A NIKON FORMATED CARD IN A CANON WITHOUT REFORMATING I think). In my 3 cameras, it creates a "D7100" folder, a "D7000" folder and a "D610" folder and puts the appropriate shoot into that folder. NOW, this is not an ideal solution, and I HIGHLY recommend reformatting in the camera that you intend to use. This helps in several ways. 1. It insures that the card is working. 2. It provides you with an empty card so that you don't have to worry about capacity. 3. It eliminates camera/card confusion. (Every camera that I own is sitting in the case, with 2 formatted and empty cards, ready for the next shoot. It also creates the habit of me uploading a shoot as soon as possible after the shoot, verifying the images, and reformatting the card. It is a good habit to develop as it helps eliminate confusion on shoots. I keep this same habit for both professional shoots and my hobby shoots. This eliminates me picking up a camera that has one location already on the card and adding a second location/date. Yes all of my images are dated in the name, but this eliminates having to look and also has each location or day as a separate upload. (I know that Lightroom (the way I have it set) creates a separate folder for each shooting date, but this habit was probably created back in my film days of NOT combining shoots on a roll of film.

rodpark2 Loc: Dallas, Tx

I have a pile of SD cards on my desk and most have been used in several different cameras. Never an issue or problem...but one. Usually images go into a folder created by the particular camera being used, sometimes they go into another camera's folder. So...makes it hard at times to find a picture.

Just Shoot Me Loc: Ithaca, NY

Agreed. Formatting between cameras is a must.

lmTrying Loc: WV Northern Panhandle

I have a card that does don't want to download in my laptop. I have to use the connector cable to download from the camera to the laptop.

Obviously there are many of you more knowledgeable than me. Any thoughts on this problem?

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

When I bought my Lumix GH4, it came with a 64GB Transcend SDXC card. The card would not work in the Lumix. I put it in a Canon. It worked fine. I put it back in the Lumix. Again, it didn’t work. I *formatted* it in the Lumix. It worked fine until I gave it away in December.

My two newer Sandisk 64GB cards worked fine in a Canon without formatting. One of them (bought two years later than the first) required formatting in the Lumix before it would work there, but the other didn’t.

12 years ago, at my former employer, we used thousands of CF cards. Some of our customers used both Canons and Nikons. The issue of card formatting compatibility came up several times a year, and was always solved by formatting in the camera of intended use. I learned this because I had two Canons and a Nikon in my training studio, and I saw the problem there.

Another issue you’ll possibly run into is with older card readers not working with newer, high capacity (SDXC) cards.

Yes, the formats (FAT16, FAT32, and ExFAT) are absolutely standard. So long as the device can use them, a card “should” work. Except when it doesn’t!

photoman022 Loc: Manchester CT USA

I just read an article about this yesterday, and posted a different article on here a while ago. The advice of the experts is: Always format in camera EVERY TIME (caps added for emphasis, not anger). Do not take photos in one camera and then transfer the card to another camera (without formatting) because the potential for corruption increases greatly.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Yep, exactly why I put a “disclaimer” in my last sentence. Same card works for me with my Fuji and Canon, but may not work in other cases.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

It's always best to reformat your card in the camera you are going to use it in every time before you use it.

JeffDavidson Loc: Originally Detroit Now Los Angeles

When you don't have enough room on the card, it needs to be formatted in the camera of choice.

texaseve Loc: TX, NC and NH

Thanks again. Just wanted to use my extra card in whichever camera needed it first! 😁. I do use my cards as storage most of the time with external drives and the cloud. No I’m not cheap and one can NEVER have too many cameras. 😁