One big card or multiple smaller ones?

[Kofman13]

I have a wedding coming up and all i have is a single 8gb sd card. It's usually fine because i usually never shoot over ~500 pictures in a single session but I'm going to need more space.
Now my thought is, should I buy something like a 32 gb card, or something like two 16gbz, etc. I kind of feel safer having more cards. I'd rather have a corrupt or damaged one card out of 2 then having corruption or some disaster all on one card and losing everything .

What memory card array do you guys have?

 

[dandaluzphotography]

Hi,

I've always read that the way to go is to use multiple smaller cards. In case one goes bad, you have all the others. If you have one big one, and it becomes damaged...

Danny

 

[Derrel]

I have 5x8 gigs and 6x 2-gig-ers and then a handful of oddballs like 512, 1 gig, 256.

 

[o hey tyler]

I just have one 8GB Sandisk EXTREMEMEMEEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME. It works for me, and hasn't been corrupted yet. I will opt to get another one soon though.

 

[480sparky]

I have four top-of-the-line "need for speed*" 16g Class 10s, four 16g Class 4s (for 'every day' shooting), and nine pre-Class 2gs (back-ups). [* = can clear my D7000's 10-shot buffer, shooting 14-bit RAW + JPEG fine/large, in about 13 seconds]

If you shoot with one card, and you have problems with it in the field, you have two choices...... quit shooting and recover the images later, or reformat the card and cringe every time you trip the shutter knowing you've destroyed an image you took earlier. Another scenario: You remove the card, take it to your computer, and do whatever voodoo you do. Then tomorrow you sally forth into the field and leave the card in your card reader at home..... now what? All you high-dollar gear is useless for lack of a memory card. Here's another take: You accidentally Trash an image with the camera's Delete function. Having a second card, you can swap them, keep shooting, and recover the image in post.

Another reason I have so many cards is I don't delete them from the card once I load them into the computer. I wait until I know my back-up process has them on at least 2 drives before I reformat the card.

Memory is cheap, and getting cheaper every day. Having multiple cards is the only way to go.

 

[SNBniko]

Where is the cheapest place to get CF cards? (Edited to clarify: Ones that write quickly, at least enough to handle bursts in jpeg)

Side note: And why is my camera bag's little memory pockets made for SD cards??

 

[tirediron]

I have a slew of 4Gb cards. Why 4Gb? Because that means each card backs up neatly onto a DVD and makes it much easier (for me at least) to remember about where an image should be.

 

[AUG19]

4GB SDs and old low capacity CFs. Spending a couple hours shooting for fun, I like the restriction of low capacity CF. I choose my shots similar to having just one roll of film (with the option of a few deletions too).

 

[Ginu]

I got a fleet of class 6 cards (16GB, 3*8GB, 4*2GB, 4*2GB, 4*1GB, 4*512MB). I'd like to try a class 10 SD card but I fear it will not affect anything on a D90

 

[imagemaker46]

I work with 2- 4GB cards and have a few odds and ends. I find it safer to work with smaller cards, I'm always downloading them anyway, so larger cards aren't necessary for what I shoot. If I was doing weddings I would still be working with several smaller cards. Cards can be corrupted, and having all the eggs in one basket is a risky way to work.

 

[480sparky]

............ I'd like to try a class 10 SD card but I fear it will not affect anything on a D90

If you shoot a lot and fast, you'll see the difference is how fast your buffer gets cleared.

 

[KmH]

I have a slew of 4Gb cards. Why 4Gb? Because that means each card backs up neatly onto a DVD and makes it much easier (for me at least) to remember about where an image should be.

Me too on 4GB cards max size, and for the same DVD reason, plus to limit lost images if a cards onboard controller gets AFU.

Often with entry-level cameras, max buffer write speed is slower than a class 10 card can accept data.

 

[Rancor]

Can someone fill me in on the 4/6/10 thing? As far as I know, when it come to speed, SD cards are just rated by MB/s and capacity. What am I missing?

 

[480sparky]

Can someone fill me in on the 4/6/10 thing? As far as I know, when it come to speed, SD cards are just rated by MB/s and capacity. What am I missing?

Click here.

 

[Rancor]

Now I want to get home to see what I have.