Reusing camera cards (Page 2): And, every night, before you go to bed, get down on your knees and transfer them to secondary storage (which to me is actually primary storage).

cahale Loc: San Angelo, TX

And, every night, before you go to bed, get down on your knees and transfer them to secondary storage (which to me is actually primary storage).

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

docsteve wrote:

ADD-TO ORIGINAL:
Opinions on micro cards that have an adapter??

Three or four of my cards are micros in adapters. No problems, no worries.

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

docsteve wrote:

Ok lots of discussion re: machinery and glass; what about the chips??
Do they go bad and how often?
Are they better the bigger they are ?
Are some brands better?
What should I look for in a deteriorating card?
Going on safari soon and do not want to miss the shot(s)!
Steve

If you are going on safari then you obviously spent some money on the trip, unless someone made a gift of it (in which case, please introduce me). Spend a little bit more and buy some new cards to take along, if that will give you some peace of mind. Just be sure to check each one before you go to make sure it is OK. Even a brand new card can be defective, although, as with failures of any type, that's quite rare nowadays.

FatCatPeter Loc: Shanghai

Backup, backup, backup. Best practice to save your pics on a set of two hard drives directly after your shooting sessions. When on the road, an external drive with a card reader is a good option, or the phone memory of an Android phone via an OTC adapter.
Note that Android will only be able to read cards with max. 32G. Small TF SD cards with 32G are a good option as they fit either in cameras via an adapter or directly in devices like action cameras or the Osmo pocket. At least for me, in the last couple of years the use of adapters was without problems, so far.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

CHG_CANON wrote:

Go bad? Camera cards fail all the time and yet vir... (show quote)

jdub82 Loc: Northern California

docsteve wrote:

ADD-TO ORIGINAL:
Opinions on micro cards that have an adapter??

I have heard several stories of malfunction issues with micro cards and adapters. (Including some members here on UHH who have encountered problems). It seems the problem is usually related to the connection between the micro card and the adapter. I'm sure there are those who have never had an issue with them, but why take the chance? Personally, I've chosen to steer clear of them.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

docsteve wrote:

Ok lots of discussion re: machinery and glass; what about the chips??
Do they go bad and how often?
Are they better the bigger they are ?
Are some brands better?
What should I look for in a deteriorating card?
Going on safari soon and do not want to miss the shot(s)!
Steve

There is NO telling when a card will go bad.
I use San Disk without issue.
I have used other brands, I just like San Disk. I believe most brands, if they do not work, will become unwelcome by most photographers.
I am not sure what you mean by deteriorating cards? I only fill my cards and then store them. Then I buy another. I guess if a card starts to miss shots or acts up it may be time to buy another.
When I go on a trip I always take an extra memory card. They are cheap. You should know right away if the card is not loading data. I always check about every ten or twenty shots to make sure everything is OK. Just look at some of the shots I have taken and if they look good I know they are loading on the card OK.
Good luck and keep on shooting until the end.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I've never had a card of any kind go bad. I stop using them as larger cards become available at lower prices. Of course, having two card slots is extra insurance.

knoxworks Loc: Western Mass.

I've always used San Disk cards and have never had one go bad, even after a decade or more of use. But I rarely fill up a card; I switch to an empty one instead. Also, I download my images after every photo adventure, even if there are only two images on the card, which is rare. :) I never go out to take photos with cards that have images on them.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

I have used the same two for years, no problem. If in doubt, take a couple extra. Quality is the same for small or large capacity. Your camera manual will tell you how many photos can be stored on a given capacity card.

elliott937 Loc: St. Louis

I agree with CH CANON. 14 years in digital, using the same group of cards, and never had a failure.

Canisdirus

Memory cards are pretty cheap ... so this is not an issue for me since i don't wipe my cards.
I fill one up ... catalog it ... copy it to another external HD (or two) ... and put it away.

Slip in a new one ...format ... and ready to go again.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Canisdirus wrote:

Memory cards are pretty cheap ... so this is not an issue for me since i don't wipe my cards.
I fill one up ... catalog it ... copy it to another external HD (or two) ... and put it away.

Slip in a new one ...format ... and ready to go again.

I couldn't do that.
One of the points for digital for me was I didn't have to keep buying "film" and filing "negatives & slides" someplace.

aellman Loc: Boston MA

docsteve wrote:

Ok lots of discussion re: machinery and glass; what about the chips??
Do they go bad and how often?
Are they better the bigger they are ?
Are some brands better?
What should I look for in a deteriorating card?
Going on safari soon and do not want to miss the shot(s)!
Steve

I agree with other posters that cards very rarely go bad. On the other hand if the pics you are shooting are irreplaceable, I would go with new cards.

cactuspic Loc: Dallas, TX

For me, the memory cards are more reliable than I am and the risk of image loss is greater due to lost cards than cards that have gone bad. Moreover, I do a bunch of focus stacking with a 50mp camera. Changing cards in the middle of a high magnification stack can alter camera position enough to cause problems when compiling the stack. My strategy is to use a whopping big card then download each evening I use 256gb and 128gb cards by Lexar and SanDisk. Aside from an off brand card malfunction years ago, the only images lost were on a card that I lost. I shoot between 40,000 - 70,000 images a year and must have reformatted the cards hundreds of times without issue. They are very reliable.