Is it necessary to format a CF card after every photo transfer?

[Joshonator]

Well it's certainly not necessary, I've gone years without formatting without problems.

 

[480sparky39 38]

So basically, if a card has a lifetime of 100,000 formats, I'm pretty safe with loading a card into my camera, taking two shots, then reformatting the camera, taking two more shots, reformatting, taking two more shots, reformatting..........

The shutter of my camera has a rating of 150,000 cycles. I'll wear the camera out long before the card dies. And that's formatting every two shots, which would be incredibly silly. I typically shoot 50-300 frames before I format.

And if a card somehow dies a premature death, I've got 17 more in the bag. I don't think I'm going to lose any sleep over this.

 

[Psytrox]

Also, by the time you've rewritten your SD-card so many times that it no longer works, it's probably about time to invest in a new and far more better SD-card anyways

 

[480sparky39 38]

Also, by the time you've rewritten your SD-card so many times that it no longer works, it's probably about time to invest in a new and far more better SD-card anyways

As well as a newer camera. And you can pick up those 5-2000mm f/1.4 zoom lenses while you're at it.

 

[KmH]

It is a best practice to reformat the card in the camera it will be used in after every download to ensure the File Allocation Table (FAT) in the controller is properly configured.

CF and SD cards use flash memory. It's 100,000 cycles, not 10,000 cycles.

From: Flash memory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

flash memory has a finite number of program-erase cycles (typically written as P/E cycles). Most commercially available flash products are guaranteed to withstand around 100,000 P/E cycles, before the wear begins to deteriorate the integrity of the storage.

 

[CCericola]

Wikipedia FTW!!