Memory Cards?

[Ediacol]

Hello!

I am looking to purchase my first DSLR and I was thinking of going with a D3100 for starters.. I was wondering which kind of memory card I should get? I know absolutely nothing about DSLR cameras or memory cards or anything like that :thumbdown: I had a point & shoot camera a few years ago and the memory card ate all of my pictures since, I've just been using my iPhone but.. that's not even a real camera so can anyone give me an idea or two of kinds that you guys use and which are more reliable? Thanks for reading!

 

[The_Traveler]

do you mean what brand?

if so

SanDisk
Kingston
Transcend
Verbatim

I've used all these and never had a failure but they do occur at some unpredictable times.
D3100 probably uses SD cards.
Get the speed and size you can afford.

I shoot with 8 gb cards and that is certainly large enough for me since I download them every night and have never filled more then 1 or 2 in a day.

 

[mhbethea]

I have a 3100 and u use a class 10 card mostly 4-8gb works fine for me.

 

[480sparky]

If for only the occasional shots, Class 4 or 6 will work. For video, jump up to Class 10.

 

[Ediacol]

Thank you all very much! I think San Disk was the one that ate my pictures so I think I will try something new this time!

 

[MTVision]

Thank you all very much! I think San Disk was the one that ate my pictures so I think I will try something new this time!

All memory cards corrupt. Just make sure you eject it from computer vs just pulling it out. Also reformatting the card, in camera, everytime will help. Eventually memory cards fail so you should use a smaller one such as 2-4gb.

The manual for your camera will have a list of recommended memory cards as well.

 

[480sparky]

Never have just one large card. Better to have four 4g cards than one 16g.

 

[NickA]

Look into the Eye-Fi SD card. It's awesome; I love it. It can actually back the files up to your iPhone (or iPad, Android phone/tablet, computer, laptop, etc.) wireless while you are taking pictures. You'll never have to worry about losing the pics on your SD card.

 

[Bo4key]

I two Panasonic class 10 SD cards, 4gb and 8gb. Never had a problem with either.

 

[Iluxa007]

As some stated, get the Sandisk with at least 30mbs because the videos will stop recording if anything less. I’ve been through too many of them. Now I own only 16GB 60mbs and 32 90mbs CF’s... they never fail on me.

 

[KmH]

Page 177 of Nikon's D3100 user's manual lists the Approved Memory Cards for the D3100;

SanDisk
Toshiba
Panasonic
Lexar (Platinum II and Professional)

They state that Class 6 or faster write speeds are required for doing video.

SanDisk is probably the best you can buy with Lexar a very, very close second.

Most memory card problems are caused by user error.

 

[killbill]

Just picked up my very first DSLR last night....the D3100 I got a Class 10 Sony 8GB card. Battery charged ....and ready to play with it today.

 

[jrizal]

The Sandisk Extreme and some Lexar SDHC cards (both class 10) have better read speads compared to other class 10 cards albeit more expensive. You can get a regular class 10 for $15 at Amazon. For Jpegs, a class 6 would suffice, but for video and RAW/NEF, a class 10 is better - the faster the better such as Sandisk and Lexar.

 

[Imageon]

I use SanDisk Ultra. Use em like re-usable film. I have several cards and rotate them. Camera-computer then back to camera. Formatting them each time I put them in the camera. If you use them in this fashion you don't probably need much more than 8 gig.
If you do a lot of motion better get more gigabytes at about 30MB/s.
MK

 

[Solarflare]

With all these people agreeing about how unreliable memory cards are, I wonder why having two card slots and being able to do write on both at the same time isnt a standard feature of cameras.