A memory card question

I'm desperately trying to cleanup my digital workflow. I'm still firmly anchored in the analogue space, but digital definitely has its benefits and I feel like I am getting in my own way.

How many memory cards should I have going? I already have a weird file naming/numbering issue happening, so I think I need at least 1 fresh card and to start from a different number or something. in my head it makes sense to have at least one backup I would think.

I used to download by tethering dslr directly to the computer, but I've switched to a card reader.

I've read through the UHS-1 vs. UHS-II pros/cons (eos 6DmkII is UHS-1 anyway) so we don't need to get into all of that.

I may be posting more questions over here as I try and get my process ironed out.

I've always used a single card. That's all. Well, that's not really true - back when I started out in digital, cards were small and wouldn't fit that many photos, so I carried two or so, and a portable hard drive to back up the card to. Of course I didn't use the latter much, and as soon as memory went down in cost, I just bought a bigger card. That's what I use now. None of what I do is 'mission critical'. If it would be, I might carry one or two spares. And/or use a camera that records images onto two cards simultaneously. As it is, in the past 15+ years or so of shooting digital onto a single card, I've lost maybe one or two frames to data corruption. The other tends of thousands of frames are happily clogging up my network drive.

I have 2 cards for my Nikon Df and one card for my Nikon D850. I never ran out of space. I always have a chance to transfer all the images to the computer SSD before the card is full.

MTGseattle said:

I'm desperately trying to cleanup my digital workflow. I'm still firmly anchored in the analogue space, but digital definitely has its benefits and I feel like I am getting in my own way.

How many memory cards should I have going? I already have a weird file naming/numbering issue happening, so I think I need at least 1 fresh card and to start from a different number or something. in my head it makes sense to have at least one backup I would think.

I used to download by tethering dslr directly to the computer, but I've switched to a card reader.

I've read through the UHS-1 vs. UHS-II pros/cons (eos 6DmkII is UHS-1 anyway) so we don't need to get into all of that.

I may be posting more questions over here as I try and get my process ironed out.

Click to expand...

What does that mean? Are you referring to going out with an extra card in case you run out of memory on the first. Or a second card to copy the day's photos to a backup card? Or something else?

More or less, I only use one card. The caveat there is that both of my current digi’s have 2 card slots and i have card in both. The cameras are set to write RAW to one card and jpg to the other. I’ve never come close to filling a card. I reformat occasionally, after offloading the images.

They are like batteries.
It is good to have a backup on hand/in the bag.
If you are on a long trip, you may want more.

With my now very old Sigma SD 10s which can only a card with 2MPs I carry 3 or 4, with my newer bodies Sony, and Sigma I carry 2, a primary and a back up, I had a CF card stop working during a shoot, lost all the data.