Memory cards - how large is too large?

[FlyingSquirrel]

This is has probably been discussed quite a bit over the years, but technology is changing, so the answers probably are as well.

Basically, I am curious "how large is too large" in terms of GB for memory cards. Some people mention that having one huge card is like putting all of your eggs in one basket- that is, if it breaks/fails, gets lost, etc ALL of those pics are lost with it. So some people prefer to shoot several medium-sized cards (medium sized just meaning smaller than whatever would be considered huge, relative to what is available at this point in time).

The only type of card I currently use is Compact Flash, and the largest I own is a 32GB (I have a few 16GB also). I am thinking about buying some more cards for my Yellowstone trip. I am wondering a few things:

Should I go bigger than 32GB? I'm looking at a search result on a website and see up to 256GB. I found this cool calculator http://memorycardcalculator.com/ which gives you rough estimates of how many pics you can fit on a certain size card based on file type, MP, etc. For my 7D mk II body I could fit 4000+ pics on a 256GB card...seems too much to put in one spot IMO. I could see maybe going to 64GB. Opinions?

My 7D mkII also has dual card slots (one CF and one SD) and I was thinking of buying some SD cards to go along with my current CF cards - as I shoot, I can have every photo recorded to both cards simultaneously so I have a backup of all pics in case one card fails.

I also have no idea how many pics I will shoot per day on any trip, but I'd rather have more space than I need, than less.

Any advice would be appreciated, especially from someone that has experience with longer shoots and medium to large cards, etc. Thanks

[Mike Buckley]

The largest cards that I own are 16GB and I only bought those because I knew I would be "spraying and praying" during my first time on safari. If I hadn't gone on safari, my biggest card would still be 8 GB. The cards I use most often are 4 GB because they meet my needs.

Even when shooting a lot of photos relative to my typical requirements, I prefer relatively smaller cards for the reasons you mentioned. Also, I bought those cards a long time ago and have no compelling reason to spend more money on cards with greater capacity when I have no apparent need for them.

Having said that, if you have a need for some 2 GB cards, I would be happy to give mine to you.

[Manfred M]

I shoot 64GB cards all the time and have a few older 32GB cards that I sometimes take as spares. I stick with higher end Lexar or Sandisk cards only (based on their reputation). I learned my lesson regarding cheap cards years ago when I had one fail on vacation in the middle of nowhere in Iceland.

At the time I bought then, the 128 GB were too much of a premium price and 256GB cards weren't even on the market. For my workflow, fewer larger cards makes sense. I can keep them organized and all in one place. If I were to buy more cards, I would definitely look at as large and fast a card as I can afford.

The downside of the larger cards (other than cost) is a longer load time (it takes the computer longer to read 64GB than 8GB) and the whole card gets read before Bridge lets you download. I travel with a laptop and a couple of portable 2TB hard drives and back up my shots on both nightly. I store them and the full memory cards in different places to minimize risk of loss or damage.

[russellsnr]

Hi, Better with IMO two 8 or 16GB cards than as you said in the OP putting all your eggs in one basket. For what they weigh in your pocket. I use only 8 and 16 GB cards however if the day ever comes when I can afford a new Canon 50 MP camera

[Donald]

As important as size is speed. Manfred mentioned quality in the context of manufacturer. Allied to that is how fast the card is. That could be more or less relevant to you depending on what your needs are.

[LouiseTopp]

Thanks dat memory card website is very useful

[TheBigE]

Interesting topic as I am on the verge of purchasing a few more memory cards. Right now I have two SanDisk Ultra 16 GB at 40 mb/s. I was going to order a few more just to have as spares as I have had good luck with these cards.

My question remains largely with speed. Does anyone have any good thumb rules on when to move up to a faster speed card? I have done some action photos with my SD card and D5300 and have not seen any latency. Just curious, thanks

[Donald]

My question remains largely with speed. Does anyone have any good thumb rules on when to move up to a faster speed card? I have done some action photos with my SD card and D5300 and have not seen any latency. Just curios, thanks

I think you have provided the answer, Erik. Only when you perceive there to be a problem for you and you think your work could benefit from a different card, do you need to consider getting one. If you are satisfied with the performance of the cards that you use at trhe moment, then there is no need to consider moving to a faster card.

[Shadowman]

To me the limit on size is determined by what the camera is rated for and how much capacity I think I'll need. Anything under 32GB and I need multiple cards. I did one all day photo shoot (using 32GB) and needed another card finish out the day. When my camera can only handle a 4GB card and I only have a few available, I end up deleting images in the field or calling it a day.

[loosecanon]

Personally one is more likely to drop and damage or lose a card when changing it in the field than have it fail. Deleting images in camera is said to increase the risk of file corruption on the card.

The ability to record RAW to one card and jpeg to a second provides a measure of insurance for the lifetime trip.

I find that 32mb CF and 8mb SD reasonable for a day or two, Rarely do I have to change card in the day. At night I download images both onto computer hard drive and a external drive, and recharge the battery.

Larger cards would be good, but are expensive, and speed is more important than capacity.

[NorthernFocus]

I think discussing GB capacity nowadays is non-sensical. We shoot so many different camera bodies, RAW vs, jpeg, pro vs, amateur, etc., etc. that our needs vary widely. The trick is figuring out your own needs and then deciding how to fill them. What I find is that the size/speed of the cards that I buy has very little to do with technology and/or what I'd like to have and more to do with practical considerations, cost not being the least of those. Following are some of the things I consider, not necessarily in order of importance:

- I don't want all of my eggs in one basket. Nor do I want to be changing cards too frequently. For my own needs the happy medium seems to be about 500 shots per card.

- I want the fastest write speed possible to clear buffer and I don't want to spend all day downloading. But fast is expensive. Nowadays it is nearly a moot point as cards have gotten so fast. Similar to most electronics if you buy one generation behind state of the art, you get plenty fast at a reasonable cost. I'm still using cards as slow as 45MB/s and my fastest are 120MB/s. I can honestly say I have NEVER been in a situation that the write speed of a card caused me to miss a shot.

- Cost. This one always draws those comments like "so you're shooting $XX,000 worth of camera gear but won't spend $100 on a memory card?" To which I respond, yes, that's correct. While I do place enough priority on photography to spend my hard earned money on gear, I'm not in a financial situation to burn $100 bills. For what I shoot I've simply never seen the need to pay top prices for latest top end technology. In the USA if one is judicious about where one buys cards, last gen Sandisk or similar quality cards with more memory than needed can be had fairly inexpensively(i.e. well under $100).

How does that all work out for me? My two primary bodies are the D4(16MP) and D810(36MP). I use 16GB cards in the D4 and 32GB cards in the D810. And have no plans to go to larger cards.

One more comment regarding the data security issue. There is a much higher risk of losing a card or having gear stolen than there is of having a card fail. So the eggs in one basket thing isn't just a technical issue.

So there's my useless two cents

By the way, the calculator that you linked isn't very accurate.

[rpcrowe]

Hey ladies and gentlemen...

Just how hard and slow is it to switch a memory card? I am a guy who cut his teeth on press cameras with cut film holders with one shot on each side of the holder - but you had to remove and reinsert the holder to take the second shot...

Then I went on to 8-12 exposure roll film (depending on the format of the camera) and WOW! 220 film came out and I embraced that until, while having a drink of water during a reception, a bratty kid opened my twin lens reflex camera and ruined a roll of 220 film. Luckily, it was a fresh roll with no images. However, that was a rude awakening - I could imagine what would have happened if I had lost 24 exposures. I went back to 12 exposure 120 rolls.

I shot 35mm roll film for a while and started with 20 exposure rolls (at that time 35mm was supplied in 20 and 26 exposure rolls). I later shifted to 24 exposure rolls which replaced the 20 exposure rolls. The reason I used the smaller rolls was that if I did not finish a roll it was wasted...

Digital photography has solved many problems. Switching CF cards is simple and very quick. I use 4GB to 16GB cards and have a selection of 2 GB cards that I only use as backups. Carrying several 16 and a few 8 GB cards will give me a tremendous number of exposures. I don't feel that I need anything larger.

I have never had a CF card which was working initially go down but there is always a possibility. I shoot with two cameras wearing two different lenses. So if one on my cards did go down, I would still have approximately half my images (abeit those images from a single lens).

My main concern is the speed of the CF card both in writing and in reading. Fast CF cards with UDMA capability allow me to shoot more images without having to wait for my buffer to clear. There is a noticable difference between a fast UDMA cabable card downloaded with a UDMA capable reader and a slower, non-UDMA, card when I am downloading my images.

Finally, I strongly suggest that everyone have a secure way of storing their cards while shooting. IMO, losing a card is as more of a danger than the chances of having one crash. There is a plethora of CF and SD card storage methods available. I use a pair of CF card wallets, one for my fresh cards and one in which to place my cards with images on them...

BTW: I don't, when shooting, delete images individually or in groups using my camera. I download all my images and then reformat the card. After downloading the images, I use Bridge to delete the unwanted images. IMO, during the hassle of shooting, it would be too easy to inadvertently delete a wanted image.

Additionally, when traveling I always have a notebook computer with capability to download RAW images. I download and reformat the cards every evening and also charge my batteries. Because I usually do a lot of walking during a shooting day, I am almost always very tired in the evening. That is when I appreciate the extra speed of a fast UDMA card in the download phase.

I copy the images to a pair of small physical size but large memory capacity external hard drives. Each drive is about the size of my I-phone. When flying or traveling by bus or train to the next location, I carry one of these hard drives and my wife will carry the other. That redundancy is in the interest of safety...

[Adrian]

Memory is relatively cheap now as is speed. Just having a bigger card doesn't mean you are compelled to use it to capacity. I would not go more than a full days' shooting without backing up.

[Daisy Mae]

As important as size is speed. Manfred mentioned quality in the context of manufacturer. Allied to that is how fast the card is. That could be more or less relevant to you depending on what your needs are.

I go for the fastest speed i can afford and no more than 16GB

Speed over capacity....every time

[FlyingSquirrel]

Thanks everyone. Great advice, and most of it pretty much coincides with what I was feeling/thinking.

I totally agree, quality of the card is key. The cards I currently use are Lexar Professional UDMA 7 800x CF. I really like them and have never had an issue with them (yet). I am probably going to purchase the same cards again, but the SD model. Then I'll use the dual slot in my 7D2 to write all images to both the CF and SD.

On any trip such as my Yellowstone trip, I will not have any way to "download" the photos to a backup system, because I do not have a laptop computer. There are apparently small devices which read cards and act as storage, but I hear they are pretty slow, and pretty expensive. In my opinion, my best option will be:

When the card in the camera is about to be full and I have a minute to swap in fresh ones, I will take the "full" cards and store one on me (in my pack), and as soon as I can, put the other one in my car or my hotel or something. Basically just split them up so I have a copy of all images in two locations. I plan to bring as many cards as possible so I don't have to worry about downloading and formatting. Worst case scenario, I run out of space, and then I take some of the CF cards, reformat, and keep going (as the copies would still be on the SD cards since I'll be running dual card writing).

I would like to calculate approx. how many shots I can fit on the cards I have now, and get an idea of how much more space I should purchase. Dan, in what way is the calculator not accurate? Does it show too few, or too many, images for a particular set of criteria?
Here is one more I found: http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/de...-memory-device
Perhaps there are other calculators as well, for comparison?

[NorthernFocus]

...I would like to calculate approx. how many shots I can fit on the cards I have now, and get an idea of how much more space I should purchase. Dan, in what way is the calculator not accurate? Does it show too few, or too many, images for a particular set of criteria?...

Too few. Just look at a folder full of RAW images on your computer and come up with an average file size. Then do the math to figure how many per card of the size you use. The second link assumes TIFF file size which is also way conservative.