What size memory cards do you normally use? (Page 6): I checked four cards recently. One card was in very bad shape. Every picture was very blurry and some could not be viewed at all.

Mark Goostree Loc: Nashville, Tennessee

I checked four cards recently. One card was in very bad shape. Every picture was very blurry and some could not be viewed at all. It was the lowest capacity card of the group... and they are useless. I just hope those are on my external hard drive.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

User ID wrote:

"Valid technical reason" is in the mind of the beholder. In the real world, half full is just about right. No reason to be concerned about "wasting space". I have that space to leave it empty. Its not wasted, its intentionally empty.

Nope, technical facts are facts.

You said “Learn how solid state memory works. Im not about to do that much typing. Learn that and youll know the "why" of it.”..[/quote]

I know exactly how NAND flash memory works, and I know of no reason why to stop at half full - now let’s hear your explanation (if you have one).

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

User ID wrote:

"Valid technical reason" is in the mind of the beholder. In the real world, half full is just about right. No reason to be concerned about "wasting space". I have that space to leave it empty. Its not wasted, its intentionally empty.

So one should buy cards twice as large as one wants to use???

More like just not utilizing the card's capacity.

People come up with the strangest things sometimes.
Their logic totally escapes me.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

steve49 wrote:

I have pretty much always used 32g cards. Big enou... (show quote)

I feel the same as you. I have no need for "Giant" capacity SD cards. I use 64GB ones in my 24MP and 36MP camera bodies, and I use 32GB cards in my 16MP and 14MP cameras. I have a few extras of each and a few older slower 16GB one laying around. I don't so far go on multiday Photo trips. I go on Day Trips and have never filled a card even back in the 8GB days. I shoot slowly and carefully like I did with film. I don't really shoot sports or BIFs to need to "Spray and pray!"

User ID

TriX wrote:

I know exactly how NAND flash memory works, and I know of no reason why to stop at half full - now let’s hear your explanation (if you have one).

You want good advice ? I gave it. You want argument ? Look elsewhere. Try the mirror.

RKastner Loc: Davenport, FL

steve49 wrote:

Thanks for the replies.
128g will have maybe 4,000 frames?
Do you erase and keep using the card? Curious how you manage the flow.
You download the card every once in awhile in normal use?

I always find it daunting to look at several thousand photos to edit or select for processing.

My workflow is that I download the RAW files onto my MacBook Pro at the end of the day, then format the card. I may not process the images for a while.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

User ID wrote:

You want good advice ? I gave it. You want argument ? Look elsewhere. Try the mirror.

It’s not “good advice”, it’s bad advice based on an obvious misconception of the mechanism and technology of NAND flash storage, which you now are unable to articulate and have to hide behind snarky replies.

OldCADuser Loc: Irvine, CA

My photo archive currently has 56,186 images. I've got two copies which are always accessible, one is on a 3TB portable drive, which travels with me. The second is on a 4TB drive, which when I'm at home is connected to my MacBook Pro, but which goes in the safe when we're on the road (it's also my system backup). These two drives are always up-to-date.

A copy is also on an older 2TB portable drive that I update ever couple of months and which is always in the safe. And then once or twice a year, I offload a copy onto some large USB memory sticks, which I mail to my son in Texas, as my 'catastrophe copy' (he mails me back the old memory sticks which get refreshed for the next time).

I used to use DVD-ROMS, but dumped those about three-years ago.

I think I've got myself pretty well covered.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

steve49 wrote:

I have pretty much always used 32g cards. Big enou... (show quote)

I use the smallest I can easily purchase, which has been 32G for a while.
I don't want all my eggs in one basket.
Lose one card for whatever reason and all is not lost!!!

ClarkJohnson Loc: Fort Myers, FL and Cohasset, MA

I guess most folks here aren’t birders. I use 128gb CFE Type 2 cards in my Z8 and Z9, and at 20 fps it is easy to fill one in a morning (3k +). I use the second slot in each camera for overflow. At home, I use Photo Mechanic to select only the shots I want to keep, then reformat the card. It is so much easier to select images than deleting all the unwanted ones later! I have no particular brand preference for the cards, but I seem to have settled on Delkin, Lexar and SanDisk. For SD cards, I use SanDisk.

starlifter Loc: Towson, MD

I use a 256 gb SD and a 120 GB in my D 850. Normally I'll use the 2nd care in back up mode. In a pinch I'll use the second card for overflow. So far I've not filled anything up on any trips or outings.

steve49 Loc: massachusetts

Yes,
Shooting birds is it's own level of use.
There is always a lot of chaff in the shooting.... pretty easy to fill a 32g card in an hour or 2.

Across instagram there are so many great bird in flight photos.
It's impossible for me to imagine how anyone could take photos like
These 30 years ago before modern equipment.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

steve49 wrote:

Yes,
Shooting birds is it's own level of use.
There is always a lot of chaff in the shooting.... pretty easy to fill a 32g card in an hour or 2.

Across instagram there are so many great bird in flight photos.
It's impossible for me to imagine how anyone could take photos like
These 30 years ago before modern equipment.

Yup.

Spray-'n-pray comes in handy with cheap memory, no?
Film, not so much.

billt1970 Loc: Gambrills, Maryland

Bill_de wrote:

On my cameras with 2 slots I typically use a 128 for raw images and 64 for jpg.

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Same here. BT

jackpinoh Loc: Kettering, OH 45419

steve49 wrote:

I have pretty much always used 32g cards. Big enou... (show quote)

The card size I use depends:
1. Am I using my 20Mp camera or my 60Mp camera
2. Is my drive mode single AF or continuous, and, if continuous, how many frame per second and for how long bursts
3. Am I shooting in high resolution mode
4. Have I selected uncompressed or compressed files and full resolution or reduced resolution file size
5. Am I shooting RAW only, JPEG only, or RAW plus JPEG
6. Am I saving the images to both memory cards at the same time for backup or to only one card at a time

Your Canon R6 is a 20Mp camera. The fact that it is a full frame camera is not relevant. It is the number of megapixels the sensor contains that is relevant. You appear to be mostly a landscape photographer with a relatively low megapixel sensor camera. Your card size requirements are minimal.

If I am using my 50Mp Sony A1 in 20 fps continuous mode to shoot uncompressed images of birds in flight in a target rich environment, I assure you that a 32GB memory card is insufficient. It would only hold 250 RAW uncompressed images and would fill up after about 12 one-second bursts (only 10 if I am shooting RAW plus JPEG.