Huge SD Cards.

[KenC]

I don't even remember what I have in my SLR - it's either an 8 or a 16 - but even shooting 15 MP RAW files it is more than enough for a few days worth of shooting. However, I transfer files to my computer every day and then back up to external hard drives within a week. No one should walk around with a card that contains the only copy of hundreds of images representing several day's work. If you're in the mountains or otherwise away from a computer, there must be some other way to copy the files. Isn't there a sort of portable hard drive that has software that allows this?

 

[KmH]

I shuddered at the thought of losing 200 images on a card, let alone 2000, so I subscribe to the smaller, multiple card approach.

Losing just 36 shots on a roll of file for some reason was way more trauma than I was comfortable having to deal with.

When was the last time you watched a quality finished video that had longer than 15 second video sequences? No doubt, longer sequences get shot to put the video together, but the sequences aren't that much longer when shot. again making the smaller, but multiple card approach senseable.

 

[sm4him]

I definitely subscribe to the multiple, smaller capacity card camp. I've had too many cards fail on me to risk having it happen with a nearly full 16 or 32gb card. It doesn't happen very often that a card fails, but it DOES happen. I also lost a card on a trip to Charleston last year--fortunately, that was a 4gb, and I *think* I had downloaded most of the pictures from it the day before, so I didn't lose much.

Several have mentioned going places where they have no access to a computer. I do that too. Hiking in the mountains, or sometimes just a long trip where I may TAKE my computer but never get around to using it. But that is even MORE reason, for me, to use several small cards. If I go hiking and take a 32gb card, and come home only to find it's failed, I may lose ALL my photos of that trip. But if I take maybe two 8gb and three 4gb cards, they take up pretty much no space or weight at all. But now, even if I get home and find out one of them has failed, I still have several other cards with my photos on them, so I don't stand to lose nearly as much.

I DO have a couple of 16 and 32gb cards that I use as temporary photo backups. Download from the 4gb card onto computer, backup onto external drive and then backup onto the 32 gb card. It's a fairly inexpensive second backup option.

I don't really shoot video, however, and I could definitely see where the larger cards might be more important for that.

 

[EDL]

A lot of folks are surprised to learn that flash memory does, in fact wear out. Most assume that because it is all electronic that it should last forever and that's not the case with current flash (NAND and NOR) memory technology.

It wears out because the structures that create the logic gates in the memory cells undergo a small, but permanent physical change every time it is written to/erased. Think of the element in a light bulb. Not the same exactly, but you get the idea.

Sometimes people assume their cards are bad but it's just due to format corruption...to the point the camera or device will not read it or re-format it (I get this a lot my ancient smartmedia cards for my Oly C3030). There are programs that can recover files from corrupt cards (and there are some decent free ones out there) and it's possible to also reformat the cards and get it working again using some of these utilities. When those fail, with a bit more patience and work, you can even use a HEX editor to "wipe" the cards (write all zeroes or ones to the card) and get the camera or device to reformat them.

The issue is how do you determine if the bad card is just a corruption issue or worn out memory cells? I've managed to check my smartmedia cards by using the HEX editor to write all zeroes to the card. I had one card that failed the write on a section and I attributed this to worn out memory cells for that block, but if the card will accept all zeroes across all its cells then it should be formattable and usable again.

Unfortunately, there's no way, at least not that I know of, to determine ahead of time when/if a memory card is about to die. So, the use several cards idea has merit.

 

[KenC]

How about this for those times when you don't want to carry a computer?

Digital Foci PST-251 Photo Safe II (320GB) P19-320 B&H Photo

 

[cgipson1]

You should get a decent body that has at least two slots... that way you can mirror your cards! It is extremely unlikely you would lose both, unless you do something really stupid.... and then your camera is probably toast too!

I have a couple of 8GB cards... and three 32gb cards (two SD and one CF)... and have never had any problems with them!

 

[Solarflare]

The OP is wrong.

I never ever remove my memorychip from my camera. Why would I ?

I always download my pictures from the camera after a day of shooting pictures. Thats because then the chip is full. After that I format.

And I got a 32GB card for my D5100 because I know a 16GB was enough for my old G11, while a 8GB wouldnt have been enough for it. And the D5100 has 16 instead of 10 Megapixel resolution, so the RAW files are substantly larger and 16GB could not be enough.

 

[480sparky]

I shoot using 16g cards and usually will fill it up in a day's shoot, if not in less time. Yeah, I could get 32 or 64g cards, but why?

Change out the cards, and keep on shooting.

 

[cgipson1]

I shoot using 16g cards and usually will fill it up in a day's shoot, if not in less time. Yeah, I could get 32 or 64g cards, but why?

Change out the cards, and keep on shooting.

hahaha... get a D800.. you will know why!