How big an SD card is best for a big trip? (Page 4): How much of the 128 have you ever filled? I use 2 32 cards in my D500 and have never com close to filling one. I too download every...

Bultaco Loc: Aiken, SC

Country Boy wrote:

I always use a 128 card with another smaller card as the second card. I could never understand trying to carry a pocket full of cards if one large card will hold all you need. My second card has never been used and I have never had a 128 to fail. If you down load to your PC each evening, you should be good. For everyone that changes have you really had cards go bad? I would have more trouble just keeping track of the cards than problems with having a card go bad.

How much of the 128 have you ever filled? I use 2 32 cards in my D500 and have never com close to filling one. I too download every night.

gwilliams6

Country Boy wrote:

I always use a 128 card with another smaller card as the second card. I could never understand trying to carry a pocket full of cards if one large card will hold all you need. My second card has never been used and I have never had a 128 to fail. If you down load to your PC each evening, you should be good. For everyone that changes have you really had cards go bad? I would have more trouble just keeping track of the cards than problems with having a card go bad.

Cards do go bad country boy. You are lucky and probably haven't shot enough for it to happen to you, but it does happen. I teach photography to university students who are required to buy their own memory cards for use in our university-supplied DSLRs, and very semester someone has a corrupt or broken card. Quality of the card, how they are handled, and proper formatting and removal from camera can all contribute to card failure, as well as weather and accidents.

A wise shooter covers themselves and never uses just one card.

kskarma Loc: Topeka, KS

A trip down Digital Memory Lane.... Many years back, the first digital camera I bought was a Nikon SQ...a very unique and versatile camera. It came packaged with a 16 Meg CF card. If I were to put that card (Formatted!) in my current camera...a D-750, I get a "Memory Full" error after exposing just one JPEG......!!!
How far we have come...!

So....taking the advice of many on here, I'd need to have about a bushel basket of these 16 Meg cards for even a short hike......[G]

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

kskarma wrote:

A trip down Digital Memory Lane.... Many years ba... (show quote)

Meg...

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

tboro wrote:

I know it is exhausting, both mentally and physically, to change a memory card and/or battery. It must take between 30/60 seconds to accomplish the task. So why stop at the 128GB ? Go for the max.

18,000 shots on one card is insane. To avoid missed shots while changing a card, he should also not stop for a drink of water or tie a shoestring or take time to pee. BTW, an average walker will take 22,000 steps in 10 miles. That would be 5 shots each 6 steps.

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

Longshadow wrote:

Meg...

The SmartMemory cards for my first digital camera are out of production but I can still get new 32 MB cards for $30 to $40.

PAR4DCR Loc: A Sunny Place

I never use any card over 32GB, carry extras. That being said I do not shoot any video.

Don

rfmaude41 Loc: Lancaster, Texas (DFW area)

harlequin2 wrote:

You can get a portable, battery powered hard drive with an SD card slot that will back up your stuff. Just plug your SD card into it and it transfers at about 30 MB/sec. Do a back-up every night and you are good to go!
Here's a typical one:
https://www.hypershop.com/products/hyperdrive-colorspace-udma3

$250, WITHOUT a drive ?????

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

OddJobber wrote:

The SmartMemory cards for my first digital camera are out of production but I can still get new 32 MB cards for $30 to $40.

I finally found smaller Memory Sticks for my Sony H1, I bought a couple.
(It maxes out at 4Gb (maybe 8?) I believe, no matter what you put in it.)

pbradin Loc: Florida

I would suggest getting several cards so that if you lose one card you still have a few others that have images from your trip. Since I don't know how long your trip is or how may mega pixels your camera is (or how large a file a typical image is) I cannot help you with any specifics, but if it was a week long trip, I would say to have at least one or two cards to use per day. That way, if you lose a card you haven't lost too much. If you are taking a laptop, you could also get a potable digital drive to upload images to as a backup.

mlj Loc: Anderson, SC

Longshadow wrote:

I would never put all my eggs in one basket.
I have eight cards that change out every day/every other day, depending on how much is on them.
I have no problem with changing one in the middle of the day if necessary. There is always some kind of "break" at some point.

Jaackil Loc: Massachusetts

BobIn wrote:

I use a 128GB SD card for my Nikon Coolpix P900, Sandisk Extreme sdxc with 90mb speed.
I go on 3 week trips and shoot around 8000 pictures plus video at National Parks.
Next week is Badlands, Glacier, Yellowstone and Theodore National.
On a 10 mile hike, I don't want to stop to change my memory card.
Any comments or expert advice on this strategy?

Here is my strategy, right or wrong it might give you an idea. In my D7100 I carry 2 64gb cards. Plus 3 or 4 spares in my bag. Even if my camera only had one slot I would still not use anything bigger than 64 swapping out cards is a good practice. I shoot raw and I very rarely fill a single card. For sports I never put more than 1 game on a card. Shooting multiple games in a day at a tournament I swap out cards in between games. Shooting Street usually one card per day will be good enough. But I will still swap out at least once. I do this to prevent putting all of my eggs on one card in the event of failure but also to make cataloging easier. If I am doing portrait work then I make sure I download all images of a model before the model leaves to make sure the images did not corrupt due to a bad card. If it did I can re shoot right away. For a trip like yours I would change out at least daily or by location, for example if I were in NYC shooting in time square that would be one cArd then if I went to Central Park that would be another. If I were doing what you are doing I might change them by morning and afternoon. That way if I want to locate a particular image it would be easy I could remember if I shot it on Monday in the morning or afternoon and it would save me from having to go through all the images for the day. So to answer your question directly. You already own a 128 , I would buy at least a couple more cards most likely 64’s but I am not sure how much video you shoot and I would be swapping out at least once during the day.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

bpulv wrote:

I use 256GB cards (SDHC and CF) in my D800, but one card is backing up the other so I have a copy of every exposure made when I take each picture. Your camera only has one card slot, so I would heed the advice of those that are telling you to either backup to another device every day or use several smaller cards.

Funny, a 256 Gb XQD card for a Nikon D850 is $450

GrandmaG Loc: Flat Rock, MI

dcampbell52 wrote:

Like Longshadow.. I never put all of my eggs in on... (show quote)

On my last trip, I went carry-on only and weight was a factor, so I took my iPad and a6000, which only has one card slot. I brought 8 32gb cards. At the end of each day, I downloaded the pics to my iPad through an attachment just for that. After 3 days, I put in a fresh card. No cards were formatted until after they were imported into Lightroom at home, edits made, and copies made on 3 external hard drives.

I agree with the comments that said 128gb was too big. I don’t even use that size for my D500. It has two card slots & for trips I set it for backup in case the main card fails; plus, I carry extra cards.

TomV Loc: Annapolis, Maryland

I have been shooting digital for 15 years and have not had a memory stick issue. I always use the largest sticks that camera supports.
If you really want to be paranoid about losing a shot, I suggest buying the cheapest stick and using it for no more than 1 shot per stick. Otherwise, most suggestions about how large a stick to use can always result in a large amount of lost photos in the event of a total catastrophe. Do you carry a spare DSLR on your trips? I suggest you do since the camera has a higher failure rate (internal failure, drop on the floor) than an SD stick.