Memory Card Capacity
Jan 31, 2023 14:07:01 #
Greetings, Hogs. I have a two-week birding trip planned for next spring. I want to buy more memory cards to make sure I’ll have enough card capacity. Currently I have two 32 GB cards, plus a few 8 GB cards that serve as an emergency backup. I’m debating whether to buy 3 or 4 more 32 GB cards, or a 128 GB card. I lean towards 32 just because it spreads out the risk. If a 32 GB card were to get corrupted, at least it wouldn’t have all my photos on it. Does this make sense, or are there reasons to shoot with a higher capacity card? It’d certainly be easier to go big and probably not have to change the card, but to me it seems wiser to not put all my photo eggs in one proverbial basket. Thanks for any thoughts.
I have SanDisk Extreme Pro cards. They’ve been good, so I’m inclined to buy again.
I have SanDisk Extreme Pro cards. They’ve been good, so I’m inclined to buy again.
Jan 31, 2023 14:26:02 #
globetrekker wrote:
Greetings, Hogs. I have a two-week birding trip pl... (show quote)
SanDisk cards are cheap! Buy double what you think you need.
Jan 31, 2023 14:27:13 #
i agree with your thinking,you could use the the higher capacity card,and then send them to your computer after a day's shooting,but that is just more "work",maybe your idea is less time consuming! either way i would love to see your pictures after the trip!
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Jan 31, 2023 14:29:52 #
I myself would go with the multiple 32s, for that reason of "distributed" storage.
(I use Sandisk exclusively, about 9 cards? But my camera is old, it only uses up to 16Gb I believe.)
(I use Sandisk exclusively, about 9 cards? But my camera is old, it only uses up to 16Gb I believe.)
Jan 31, 2023 14:34:29 #
globetrekker wrote:
Greetings, Hogs. I have a two-week birding trip pl... (show quote)
If youre really that paranoid, ante up for a dual slot camera and put monster cards in both slots.
Jan 31, 2023 14:42:55 #
larryepage
Loc: North Texas area
globetrekker wrote:
Greetings, Hogs. I have a two-week birding trip pl... (show quote)
I was for a long time an advocate of multiple smaller memory cards. It's still not a bad way to go if you have a good way to secure and protect your used (and fresh) cards for the duration of a two-week trip.
But the truth is that today's high-capacity memory cards are very reliable, if you buy good quality cards to start with. I would suggest that there is less risk of a high-capacity card failing or being corrupted than there is of one of several smaller cards failing or getting lost.
In the end, you need to choose the approach that will give you the greatest peace of mind. Just make sure you consider all the risks of each choice.
Jan 31, 2023 15:00:38 #
Thanks, everyone. Larry, appreciate the thought that both corruption and card loss risks are small. I guess I just feel more comfortable spreading out the hopefully tiny corruption risk. I've never had any corruption or loss problems, so hopefully this is just me being prepared - and perhaps a bit neurotic, lol.
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Jan 31, 2023 15:23:09 #
Jan 31, 2023 15:37:44 #
How big a card is depending on the size of files of your cameras and how you shoot. The card should be large enough so that you don't have to replace card in the field. When stop and for the day it's when you should replace the card.
Jan 31, 2023 15:46:10 #
I've been using 32 and 64 Gig cards for about 10 years now. For normal shoots 32 is quite adequate (I download at the end of the day and reformat after backing up). For long shoots I use the 64, but all my cameras have 2 card slots so I save raw+raw so I always have a backup in the camera. I don't do long bursts so I don't have problems with the buffering. In addition, I use 2 bodies so the images are spread out over 4 cards. A long shoot will generate about 1000 shots.
I don't do birding or other wildlife or sports so if you are into that sort of shooting I suspect you will generate more shots than I.
I don't do birding or other wildlife or sports so if you are into that sort of shooting I suspect you will generate more shots than I.
Jan 31, 2023 16:20:26 #
Meant to mention that I shoot RAW. I figure around 1k photos per 32 GB card.
I don’t have a laptop or iPad so I cannot upload photos during the trip.
Perhaps I’ll buy a 128 in addition to some 32s.
I don’t have a laptop or iPad so I cannot upload photos during the trip.
Perhaps I’ll buy a 128 in addition to some 32s.
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Jan 31, 2023 17:02:45 #
larryepage
Loc: North Texas area
globetrekker wrote:
Meant to mention that I shoot RAW. I figure around 1k photos per 32 GB card.
I don’t have a laptop or iPad so I cannot upload photos during the trip.
Perhaps I’ll buy a 128 in addition to some 32s.
I don’t have a laptop or iPad so I cannot upload photos during the trip.
Perhaps I’ll buy a 128 in addition to some 32s.
So it looks like your camera can use up to a 128GB card, which gets you to around 4k files. (It may be that firmware updates have increased that.) 128 is pretty much a mainstream card size nowadays.
My current cameras have two slots...one SD and one XQD/CFEexpress. When I got the first one in 2018, i set it up "backward," with raw files going to a 256GB SD card and JPEGs and the rare video going to a 120GB XQD card. This was initially an economic decision, but it actually worked great since I don't shoot long bursts.
After some experimenting last summer, I'm gradually transitioning to 325GB CFExpress cards for raw and using the existing SD cards for JPEGs. This will provide slightly increased overall capacity, but mostly will put my JPEGs on a card that I can more readily share when working on a group project at school.
My purpose in sharing this is to demonstrate my level of confidence in the higher capacity memory, based on several years' experience.
Jan 31, 2023 17:20:42 #
larryepage wrote:
...
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My purpose in sharing this is to demonstrate my level of confidence in the higher capacity memory, based on several years' experience.
...
My purpose in sharing this is to demonstrate my level of confidence in the higher capacity memory, based on several years' experience.
I kinda agree, haven't had a Sandisk card fail in over 10 years.
But there's this guy, named Murphy.....
Jan 31, 2023 17:24:32 #
My pennyworth:
I have 4 x 32GB (Sandisk Pro). I use 2 at time in a D7100 and shoot RAW files. (2nd card is backup)
I've never needed the spare 2, but carry them, just in case.
Having said that, I'm a careful(ish) sniper shooter and rarely if ever take more than 2 shots of a scene.
On an average 2 0r 3 day excursion the most pics I've taken is about 400.
I have 4 x 32GB (Sandisk Pro). I use 2 at time in a D7100 and shoot RAW files. (2nd card is backup)
I've never needed the spare 2, but carry them, just in case.
Having said that, I'm a careful(ish) sniper shooter and rarely if ever take more than 2 shots of a scene.
On an average 2 0r 3 day excursion the most pics I've taken is about 400.
Feb 1, 2023 08:56:27 #
Make sure you format the cards while in the camera, dont do it on a PC. I have seen too many issues with folks formatting cards in PC & using
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