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Memory cards...dumb question time
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May 26, 2021 17:12:05   #
flyboy61 Loc: The Great American Desert
 
I have a number of old, old memory cards, a 4 GB, and 3 8 GB that have been with me since my first digital camera...the D 50, D 90, and now are doing well in my D 7100. What is the actual service life of a memory card anyway, and after 1000s of photos, do they lose reliability or picture quality? I am thinking of retiring my old ones. The smallest I can get now seems to be 16 GB; an embarrassment in riches. Thanks!

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May 26, 2021 17:20:45   #
Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States
 
Picture quality does NOT degrade. Files can become corrupt and unusable (the reliability part).
My smallest & oldest is 8Gb, and I use it for "testing" and playing around.
It's almost 11 years old. I will use mine until they present a file failure (saving/viewing).
I'm currently using 8s and 16s, maybe a dozen in total.

Service life??? Years..... Like many electronic devices.
Unless you zap one with static electricity.

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May 26, 2021 17:43:36   #
CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City
 
The problem with old / small cards is not their ability to function. Rather, they have relatively (to extremely) slow read / write speeds, simply due to being earlier technology built to earlier and smaller file size standards. A sports / wildlife capable camera like your D7100 is negatively impacted when high frames per seconds are captured and need to be written from the camera buffer to the card due to the card's slow write speed. Newer cameras featuring the industry standard 24MP sensors also fill these cards very fast in RAW. If roughly 1000 24MP RAW files fill a 32GB card, that's around 175 RAW files to a 4GB card. I might fill that card in 30 minutes of shooting, unless it takes 30 minutes to clear the buffer to the card ...

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May 26, 2021 18:31:03   #
DCORBELL Loc: Maryland
 
Since going to a Nikon D850, I purchased a Lexar Pro 2000x SDXC 90 II that can do up to 300/ read.
Fantastic card

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May 26, 2021 19:05:53   #
Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States
 
CHG_CANON wrote:
The problem with old / small cards is not their ability to function. Rather, they have relatively (to extremely) slow read / write speeds, simply due to being earlier technology built to earlier and smaller file size standards. A sports / wildlife capable camera like your D7100 is negatively impacted when high frames per seconds are captured and need to be written from the camera buffer to the card due to the card's slow write speed. Newer cameras featuring the industry standard 24MP sensors also fill these cards very fast in RAW. If roughly 1000 24MP RAW files fill a 32GB card, that's around 175 RAW files to a 4GB card. I might fill that card in 30 minutes of shooting, unless it takes 30 minutes to clear the buffer to the card ...
The problem with old / small cards is not their ab... (show quote)

Haha. My cards are old, my camera is old, they speed match.

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May 26, 2021 19:34:22   #
jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA
 
The only old CF cards I retired were the 128, 256 and 512mb cards when I had my original Canon 10D. Not because they were old, but a friend never returned that camera and they're way too small to be useful with anything else. I still use the 1, 2 and 4gb cards in my old 40D.

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May 27, 2021 07:31:27   #
jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana
 
You can buy all the 8g cards you want from Amazon. I get them there all the time.

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May 27, 2021 07:46:53   #
Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina
 
I have a couple 256mb cf cards from about 2002. They can hold another a dozen shots each with my 2016 camera body. Would almost be like shooting a roll of film number wise...

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May 27, 2021 08:37:54   #
lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA
 
flyboy61 wrote:
I have a number of old, old memory cards, a 4 GB, and 3 8 GB that have been with me since my first digital camera...the D 50, D 90, and now are doing well in my D 7100. What is the actual service life of a memory card anyway, and after 1000s of photos, do they lose reliability or picture quality? I am thinking of retiring my old ones. The smallest I can get now seems to be 16 GB; an embarrassment in riches. Thanks!


If you have any really old digital cameras you might keep 2, 4, 8 GB SD cards because it is likely newer 32 or 64 GB ones will not work in an ancient camera.

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May 27, 2021 08:40:50   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
Retiring the old ones is probably a good idea. Not only is their capacity smaller, but so is their technology.

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May 27, 2021 08:46:38   #
Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States
 
lamiaceae wrote:
If you have any really old digital cameras you might keep 2, 4, 8 GB SD cards because it is likely newer 32 or 64 GB ones will not work in an ancient camera.

SO TRUE!

I scarfed up some smaller memory sticks for my H-1 before the smaller sticks disappeared.
4Gb max.....

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May 27, 2021 08:53:36   #
Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States
 
jerryc41 wrote:
Retiring the old ones is probably a good idea. Not only is their capacity smaller, but so is their technology.

But if they still work, why?
Just because they're "old technology"???

Gotta have newest, latest, and greatest?

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May 27, 2021 09:03:06   #
Bill_de Loc: US
 
jerryc41 wrote:
Retiring the old ones is probably a good idea. Not only is their capacity smaller, but so is their technology.


I have a 4gb Hitachi Microdrive from 2004. I used it in a D1x as microdrives back then were a lot cheaper than solid state. To make sure I'm not lying I just installed it in a (then state of the art) FlashTrax. The NEF files popped right up on the screen just like they did over 15 years ago.

I bought the FlashTrax for a trip too Alaska, and do have the pictures backed up elsewhere.
But, what is it about today's solid state products that would fail when an old card sized disk drive keeps on ticking?

---

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May 27, 2021 09:21:04   #
olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida
 
flyboy61 wrote:
I have a number of old, old memory cards, a 4 GB, and 3 8 GB that have been with me since my first digital camera...the D 50, D 90, and now are doing well in my D 7100. What is the actual service life of a memory card anyway, and after 1000s of photos, do they lose reliability or picture quality? I am thinking of retiring my old ones. The smallest I can get now seems to be 16 GB; an embarrassment in riches. Thanks!


Same here, I'm old, many of my cards are years old (back to <2GB), up to current , mostly 32 and 64gb now. As mentioned in another thread, I have cards that have survived RC Aircraft crashes that destroyed just about everything else on board......even if the camera and transmitter didn't survive.......as Chg Canon noted, speed (read/write) would be slower. I have not had one fail in all the years of digital.

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May 27, 2021 09:36:18   #
lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA
 
Longshadow wrote:
SO TRUE!

I scarfed up some smaller memory sticks for my H-1 before the smaller sticks disappeared.
4Gb max.....


I gave away 3 low capacity SD cards I still had to another UHH'er who was looking for at least one for an old camera he had and needed a card for so he could continue using it. The donation was well worth it as he has other non photo things that he has been giving me. It seems a lot of people have things they don't need but others can use.

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