DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I have been using my 4 camera cards (2 bodies, 2 slots each) for probably 15 years now. None of them has become useless or even noticeably diminished capacity. True, the cost is fairly small but I have never found it to be a problem. If a card dies, I am using the dual slots as backup so I'm covered. If I haven't lost a card in 15 years it is unlikely I will lose two in one shoot.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

On my list of requirements for my next camera: dual identical card slots with identical specifications. I like the idea of redundancy when I need it, and the ability to seamlessly record video from one card to the next when the first is full.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

It probably doesn't add much to the cost of a camera and it's obviously a useful feature. I can't think of a better way to carry a spare card.

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

64 GB is more than adequate, even for my 61MP Sony A7R V.

bwa

Canisdirus

If you don't know what the speed of your cards are...or know what it means.

Back to basics for you then.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Yep. Although card failures are rare, they do happen. Pro event photographers need redundancy to ensure they walk away with usable images. If I covered weddings or photojournalistic assignments or corporate events, I'd want dual slots, saving the same content to two cards, simultaneously.

Years ago, in "the film days," I worked in a lab. One of our customers had 11 teams of photographers making school portraits. I was drafted to call him when TWO of his photographers sent us blank film for processing. In one case, a 100' roll of 46mm film showed up a week later with double exposures running through half of it. In the other, the photographer had failed to load 35mm film properly. When she realized that the leader hadn't engaged, she sent the film in anyway.

The cynic in me says they'd find a way to screw up a job with dual card slots, but it would be less likely to result in a total failure.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Yep, foolproof probably doesn't exist, but Murphy-resistant is a possibility.

Basil Loc: New Mexico

I agree with you about the possibility of losing a lot if a larger card fails. There is a definite risk. Even though I've never, in many years of shooting, had a card go bad such that I lost everything, but I do take a laptop with me and backup my images often to an external drive. I suppose it's just personal preference, but I just like having the larger capacity as I like to keep images on the card as an additional backup, at least for a while, till I get home from a trip and get images backed up onto my BackBlaze backup as well. What I typically do is have folders for each month of shooting. I name the folders OCT23, NOV23, DEC23, etc. Probably not the most scientific way to do it, but it works for me.

I just took a look at some of my shoots at Bosque Del Apache and saw that I had in the neighborhood of 1200-1500 shots in a single day. When I shoot RAW, I'd say the average file size is around 45MP, so on a 128GB card I could get at least a couple days shooting without changing card.

Bill_de Loc: US

Plus, it is very hard to reuse film!

---

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Not a rebel. MANY feel most comfortable re-formatting.
I don't think the number of times it was formatted has much to do with a failure as much as total writes in general.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

When I bought my first digital cameras, they used Compact Flash Cards. They were relatively expensive and didn't come in particularly large sizes. Nor would my cameras use large cards. I remember a firmware update that increased the compatibility of my D200 to include 4 GB memory cards. Somewhere along the way, a thought came into my mind that it would be smart to choose memory cards that would hold about as many exposures as the battery would provide power for. That led to my having a number of 2 GB (and later, 4 GB) memory cards. As time passed, I got a D300. Firmware updates got it up to 16 GB cards, which was fortunate, since my local memory seller was moving away from the now outdated 1 and 2 GB cards.

Eventually, I moved to cameras that offered two card slots and had lots more resolution. I also started collecting raw files as well as JPEGs. Memory cards got bigger. My retailers continues moving up the scale of minimum sizes of cards offered for sale.

Now I have a 325 GB CFE Type B (for raw) and a 256 GB SD in my D850. That's about 3300 exposures. Less if I happen to store a couple of video clips. Same arrangement in my D500. 6800 exposures, which is complete overkill, but it maintains consistency amd avoids confusion. A backup for each camera wilol eventually be equjipped the same way. Right now, one of them still has about half half as much memory in each slot.

RightOnPhotography Loc: Quebec,QC

My files are about 50Mb each. I have 2 slots in my Nikon Z7ii. In slot 1 I have Sony XQD 64Mb and in slot 2 - SD 64Mb.
Slot 2 is set as "overflow". I have never run out of space.

tillmanb

I use a 512GB and a 1TB in a Canon R3. I do that because I cannot ask for a performance to stop while I change cards. The speed of the 1 TB card is inadequate to keep up with the camera. I rely upon the 512 GB card not filling up. I shoot only RAW and have had as many as 35,000 shots in a day. My second camera is a 1 DX III my second shooter uses two 128GB cards. I use only Sandisk cards.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

I have cards of all sizes and 4 types I have accumulated over the years. But lately I have only bought 128GB.
Between myself, my wife and our special needs son (he has a little pocket zoom) we have 9 cameras and my wife has a Camcorder that use cards, I get her 256GB. I also have an old camcorder that uses tapes.
The wife loves video and chews up cards at a high rate. Jon will click at random and sometimes will push the video button and forget to turn it off so he can go through a card fast at times.
I do a lot of birds and usually use burst, so I can go through a card in a hurry. Birds in flight can use up cards in a hurry on hi-speed burst trying to get "that" pose/composition.

I have about 15 128GB, 2 or 3 256GB and about 20 various sizes from less than 1GB to 64GB of 4 types and various ages back to the 90s. I probably forgot some, in fact, I just remembered somewhere I have a 1TB card for emergency backup of images I import onto my laptop when traveling.

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

My Canon 5D Mark IV has a CF slot and a SD slot. I usually buy 64 Gig cards when on sale. It is easier to manage and work with. I don’t re-format the cards. I label the cards and put them away.