Which is better? 1 2GB or 2 1GB

ksmattfish · May 7, 2005

Assuming that I will be lured to the darkside (digital photography) sooner or later, when shopping for storage media what are your thoughts? Get one 2GB card or two 1GB cards?

oriecat · May 7, 2005

ksmattfish said:
Assuming that I will be lured to the darkside (digital photography) sooner or later

No, Matt, noooooo!! Use the Force! Don't give in to the Darkside! :mrgreen:

Meysha · May 7, 2005

I would say get one 2GB card (if the prices aren't that different). I hate fiddling around with these little cards and you might lose one if you have too many.
Think of how much of a pain it is to carry around extra film, and if you leave the extra film at home! :shock: What ya gonna do then? At least this way you'll know it's in your camera all the time and not being shoved into the VCR by a toddler.

kelox · May 7, 2005

Matt, and now your training is complete!!!!!!
I would say mix it up(as much as your budget will allow). I have several cards of different sizes. The concensus for getting several smaller cards is that if you have one or two larger cards and the one you have with you(you will find yourself at some point somewhere with only one) and it dies on you, then you are screwed. I have everthing from 64MB up to 1GB and several of each. It can be a pain swapping out cards, but in the end it is the comfort that if one card goes, then you won't loose all your shots, just the ones on the card with the problem. Hope I helped with this one.

mentos_007 · May 7, 2005

nope... I'd say go for 2 - 1GB cards... why? because 1GB card is faster that 2GB card. And imagine what would happen if the card crashed down??? all the shots would be damaged? nope... you'll still have the second one

Ghoste · May 7, 2005

Don't put all your chickens in one basket =p.

photobug · May 7, 2005

Look at it from the archive point of view. What do you plan to archive to? Right now I'm using a portable CD burner to archive files with. I use 512 Mb cards, because they fit on a CD without having to mess with spanning disks.

Once DVD gets sorted out it'll be a different story, but for now that's how I'm running.

And, while card failures are very infrequent, losing a card is possible. Would you rather lose 1 or 2 Gb worth of memories?

ksmattfish · May 7, 2005

oriecat said:
No, Matt, noooooo!! Use the Force! Don't give in to the Darkside! :mrgreen:

Don't worry, Orie. I'll never give up my darkroom, and will continue to use film for most of my personal work. Some of my wedding clients come to me because I'm the last guy shooting film in these parts, but many really don't care. I'm having a harder and harder time getting good color lab work done, and since the labs have all gone digital anyway... All of the commercial work I'm doing ends up as a fairly low res file. A lot of the jobs I do don't need the quality of medium format, but they need the speed of digital. I still have a lot of qualms about digital. It's not just the cameras; I have come to distrust overly complicated, electronic gizmos. I just like simple, metal, no battery devices.

ldman:

Card failure is one of the main reason digital terrifies me for shooting weddings. I was thinking "don't put all yer eggs in one basket". On the other hand, is there a problem switching cards out all the time?

Digital Matt · May 7, 2005

That is going to depend on what camera you are using I think a bit also, in addition to some of the points mentioned here. If you are using a 6 or 8 mp, 2 1 gig cards might be enough, but if you are using a 16mp, you might find that you don't want to use a 1gig ever, because it fills up rather fast. Although, you are coming from shooting film, so taking 100 shots in a row without changing anything will be quite a luxury to begin with.

danalec99 · May 7, 2005

RAW/Jpeg? - If RAW, you will like a meaty card.

Don't put all your chickens in one basket =p.

Few months ago, the issue was one 1Gig card vs four 256mb cards.

PS: I'm waiting for the 4 Gig's price to come down

.

tr0gd0o0r · May 7, 2005

i'd also say the 2 1 GB cards. I am constantly leaving cards in my card reader then heading out hte door w/ my camera to go shoot. If i have another card with me then i can just leave the one in the card reader and if i forget oh well, i can still shoot. Also as far as loosing cards. They make CF card wallets that hold far more than just 2 cards. I keep mine in my bag and i always have an extra card with me (i only have 2 right now). Also as far as changing them out. How much trouble does changing a roll of film ever 12,24, or 36 shots give you? I'd argue that changing the CF card will probably take less time (although if you're a master at it I may be wrong) and you won't have to do it nearly as often.

Jeff Canes · May 7, 2005

tr0gd0o0r said:
---They make CF card wallets that hold far more than just 2 cards. ----

Card wallets are the best, that way you can lose all your card in one shot like I did. Four 1gb card gone. I WILL NEVER US A CARD WALLETS AGAIN.

terri · May 7, 2005

oriecat said:
No, Matt, noooooo!! Use the Force! Don't give in to the Darkside! :mrgreen:

It's somewhat nauseating to hear Matt even having this discussion, isn't it, Orie?

I must leave this thread!

:lmao:

Corry · May 7, 2005

One thing to worry about constantly changing CF cards is damaging the prong thingies inside. I'm personally more afraid of that than the card failing and losing the pictures.

Digital Matt · May 7, 2005

I've swapped cards out of my Rebel 2-3x a day for over a year and never damaged any part, but once, while out photographing I pressed the button to pop the card out, and it launched out, fell off a cliff, and into a river.