SD cards, small vs big

[ericdan]

A lot of people recommend getting many small cards instead of one large one. Reason being, if you lose one you lose less photos. I am thinking about which way to go.
Instead of carrying four 8GB cards and risk losing one of the ones that are not in my camera, why not get largest size card I can afford and always keep that in the camera?
One less thing to carry, hence less likely to lose it.

I never had any issues with data loss on SD cards. I have accidentally washed cards, I've dropped them in the freezer and still, the data was fine.

What do you guys think?

 

[L Gebhardt]

I use larger cards. Like you I've never lost data, but I have had small things fall out of the camera bag. I'm more afraid of losing a card on the ground rather than having one get corrupted.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

the only way,I ever lost images on my cards was by needless ly formatting the card in the camerain other wordsstupid operator errorno safety procedureis a match for my stupidity.

 

[ann]

I am on the side of using nothing larger than an 8gig card rather than larger.

Have a lot of them so I don't worry about running out of storage space when working, but I still hesitate about what can happen as in the digital world it isn't if it is when something is going to fail.

With that said, it really comes down to what works best for you.

 

[Joe Lipka]

Embrace the genius of "and." Buy more cards AND larger cards. Problem solved.

Then the next thing you have to worry about is how long it takes to get data off the big cards and on your computer.

 

[Pioneer]

Embrace the genius of "and." Buy more cards AND larger cards. Problem solved.

Then the next thing you have to worry about is how long it takes to get data off the big cards and on your computer.

+1

I use 8g and 16g and 32g cards. I use quality cards and download each night.

Of course, now that I said it, one of my cards will immediately self-destruct just to spite me.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I pretty much leave a 64Gb card in the camera all the time, in case I need space for video mainly, but I offload as soon as I'm done with a project, so it's not as if I have months of images accumulating on a single card.

 

[ericdan]

When I take my film camera on a trip I have 10-20 rolls of film with me. With digital I suddenly wonder how many 8GB cards I need…
I think I'll also just go for a 64GB card and call it even. Hat gives me flexibility to do video, too. Thanks david for the tip!

 

[Pioneer]

When I take my film camera on a trip I have 10-20 rolls of film with me. With digital I suddenly wonder how many 8GB cards I need…
I think I'll also just go for a 64GB card and call it even. Hat gives me flexibility to do video, too. Thanks david for the tip!

Memory cards are really not that big. I think to ensure a touch of redundancy I would at least pack 2.

 

[ericdan]

I'm more worried about losing one because the are so small!

 

[Pioneer]

I'm more worried about losing one because the are so small!

What?? They are easy to find. I though everyone knew!!

Always, always be looking for something else.

It never fails...

(I even bought a playing card sized metal case for mine. Think that would help...right? Naww, I have to go through airport security to find that silly thing. )

EDIT - But it will float if I ever crash into the Pacific Ocean.

 

[John_M_King]

Memory cards

I'm more worried about losing one because the are so small!

SD cards are in my mind too small. When I changed over from D300 (sold) and bought a D90 I found the SD cards less manageable than compact flash. Especially when you have fingers like a bunch of bananas. (I never have a problem with 35mm film. )

 

[omaha]

My D7000 holds two SD cards, and I have it set up such that every shot is automatically stored on both cards.

And if I'm traveling, I have my laptop with me and download the files daily. Assuming I have WIFI available, they are also then automatically backed up to Google Drive.

IIRC, mine are 16GB cards, but I don't really pay attention to such stuff. All I know is they are way bigger than I need. I tend to be pretty conservative in my shooting, and never have more than 300 shots in a day, usually way less than that.

BTW, just got back from vacation in Wyoming. Put someDead Link Removed.

 

[herrbarnack]

I normally shoot with 16 GB memory cards; these will hold about 500 images with my camera (24 mp, full 35mm frame). If I know that I will need more room than 16 GB gives me, I will use a 64 GB card.

When I traveled to Mongolia, I used one 16 GB card per day for my ten days there. At the end of the trip, I had ten 16 GB cards., each partially full> I was not worried about losing images via a corrupted memory card but was more concerned with losing one of the cards, which thankfully didn't happen. If I were to lose a card, I would have lost one day's worth of shooting. This would have been been horrific, but would be much better than losing a 64 GB card and 4-5 days' worth of images along with it.

 

[John_M_King]

I use small(ish) cards and now I have gone back to a D700 I can use CF. However in the past I have had a large card become corrupted and lost almost 3 days of holiday images so I try now never to have anything larger than 2gig. The cards are so small enven if I carried 20 it is hardly an onerous burdon.

My film based photographic life is still imprinted in me as much as I try not to waste exposures. In other words space on the card and take care with every exposure. If I get one that is 'off' I simply delete and do it again.

 

[Jim Jones]

Ben Franklin said, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket." However, Mark Twain lived into the early electronic age, and said, "Put all your eggs in the one basket -- AND WATCH THAT BASKET!"

 

[John_M_King]

Entered in errror

 

[RalphLambrecht]

A lot of people recommend getting many small cards instead of one large one. Reason being, if you lose one you lose less photos. I am thinking about which way to go.
Instead of carrying four 8GB cards and risk losing one of the ones that are not in my camera, why not get largest size card I can afford and always keep that in the camera?
One less thing to carry, hence less likely to lose it.

I never had any issues with data loss on SD cards. I have accidentally washed cards, I've dropped them in the freezer and still, the data was fine.

What do you guys think?

the biggest danger to the data on my cards is Because,I occasionally format cards,which shouldn't get formatted yet.Other than that,I never lost any data on either SD or CF cards

 

[Eric Rose]

The bokeh is better if you use a smaller card