Memory cards

Photog38 · Jun 27, 2007

To put it simply, is it better to have several low capacity memory cards, or a few high capacity memory cards? I've heard that some people prefer to have several lower capacity cards because then they don't have to put all their "eggs" in one "basket". I'm trying to find out if it is better to buy several cards that are, say, 1GB, or just buy one card that is 2 or maybe 4 GB. I realize though, that after a while, you probably accumulate many cards.

ann · Jun 27, 2007

you are going to get lots of suggestions, for myself, i use 1GB cards so i don't have all my "eggs " in one basket. As i shoot only raw files, it isn't helpful to use anything smaller than a 1gb card

I have spent many years changing rolls of film quickly so changing a card is no big thing and takes less time than a roll of film and yes one4 does begin to accumulate cards; especially when one finds a great sale, hard to pass up lol

bytch_mynickname · Jun 27, 2007

I much prefer several smaller cards. All of my cards are 1GB, I have 9 of them.

Garbz · Jun 27, 2007

What do you mean eggs in one basket? The only thing I can think of is loosing the memory card. But since I only have one big one and it never leaves my camera it would be the least of my worries.

If you are worried about something going electrically wrong. I wouldn't. I have seen these things go through washing machines, get pulled out of the ocean, I even found one in the city one day, after 3 straight days of rain, and it worked fine.

tr0gd0o0r · Jun 27, 2007

I have seen these things go through washing machines

I can vouch for this one.

Perhaps i'm an optimist, but i think it is high unlikely that the card will fail. However, the answer to this question lies in personal preference. How frequently do you want to have to change cards. Also, if you're shooting anything other than raw, you won't often need more than one or two gigs.

darich · Jun 28, 2007

i prefer more cards with smaller capacity.

I've had a 256mb CF card fail for my Nikon compact a while back. Lost a few images.
I had a Lexar card lose images due to an issue with Canon cameras. Lexar replaced the card free of charge but i still lost images.
I currently have 4x1gb and 2x2gb cards. I have a Fuji 256mb card in my compact and have had 2 cards lose images as detailed.
So that's 2CF cards out of 9 I've ever owned. Maybe I've been unlucky but my cards are protected in a special wallet when not in the camera so i know they're not mistreated.
If it happened to me then it could happen to anyone.

More smaller cards is better - it takes next to no time to switch cards.

Alex_B · Jun 28, 2007

I have 4 x 4 GB .. all Sandisk, no failure so far.

cherrymoose · Jun 28, 2007

I bought 4 extra 2G memory cards for my Mediterranean trip (which I just got back from, oh my, I think I might die from 38 hours of sleep withdrawal-- it's a long story) and ended up only filling one and a half of the cards. So I now have 3 blank cards that I doubt I'll ever use, since it's not likely I'll be going on a longer trip any time soon. I'm thinking of selling them... but anyways, they do work well, and are pretty reliable... for memory cards.

Photog38 · Jun 28, 2007

Garbz said:
What do you mean eggs in one basket? The only thing I can think of is loosing the memory card.

Exactly. I've heard somewhere that it is better to use several smaller cards (512mb or 1gb) than a single large card (4 or 8 gb). That way, if one card is lost or damaged, you still have the others. Maybe this is being too paranoid?

ERS1121 · Jun 28, 2007

I too use several small cards, although that does not guarantee you won't still have a problem. I did a prom recently, half way through the card stopped recording images. I swapped cards and hoped for the best. The next day I tried to download the images from the first card and all I got was the "no images" message, 200 images gone. Luckily I found a card recovery program that did Get them all back. From now on several cards go with me.

Garbz · Jun 28, 2007

Hi ERS1121 and weclome to the forum.

The only thing that can happen to cards is that writing fails. When it does it does for good. The ability to update the File table is normally the first thing to go. I have never heard of a case where the existing data is not recoverable from the card. Even then flash memory has a large write/rewrite number so this "should" only happen to old cards.

Photog38, one could argue if you only have one card than it would be hard to loose since it's always in the camera. But if you are paranoid you could always take along a spare smaller one in case the large one stops working half way through the day. I hardly think it is justified for this reason though to carry 4 or 5 smaller cards rather than 1 large one and perhaps a backup. Unless you camera can't read large ones XD

sabbath999 · Jun 28, 2007

I went on a weekend trip to Kansas and I completely filled a 4gb card, shooting jpeg. Then again I take a lot of pictures.

DeepSpring · Jun 28, 2007

I have 3x1gb. Mainly because when I get enough money I just buy another one. Not patient enough to wait until i can buy a bigger one because recently ive had a need for more memory.

gubak · Jul 2, 2007

Photog38 said:
To put it simply, is it better to have several low capacity memory cards, or a few high capacity memory cards? I've heard that some people prefer to have several lower capacity cards because then they don't have to put all their "eggs" in one "basket". I'm trying to find out if it is better to buy several cards that are, say, 1GB, or just buy one card that is 2 or maybe 4 GB. I realize though, that after a while, you probably accumulate many cards.

There is one big problem with cards. They don't like to take they out and put they in the camera (especialy when the camera is on!) many times. If you have a card reader and you need to take the card out of the camera in order to download the pictures, it is recommended to format the card after puting it in to the camera!
So in the case if you have a card reader it's better to buy several low capacity cards!

Garbz · Jul 3, 2007

Hey Gubak can you provide a source for that information? The CF socket was designed to eliminate exactly the problems you described. They are guided so you can't bend pins, my extremely cheap fake "sandisk" card has been removed countless times and I can't feel any difference between it and a new card as far as the clamping on the connections is concerned. And as for the electrical issues The pin arrangement in the CF socket ensures grounding happens before any signal pins are connected (prevent static spikes) and the power is connected last (so as to not violate setup/hold times on the data), infact My electronics background makes me inclined to believe it's safer to plug them in while a the device is on than to power it down.