memory cards

[tomorrowstreasures]

Does any one have experience or opinions on brands of memory cards? Does one produce better color, more detail, and so on better than another brand? If so, what is your memory card preference? and why?

[Iguanasan]

It's just a bunch of ones and zeros so there's no influence on the output of your photos. I've used whatever I could get for a good price and haven't had a problem yet.

[jjeling]

Ive always felt the same way as Ig does. Although I do feel that some use better contact material and can sometimes improve the writing speed of your camera keeping the camera buffer free. I think the differences are usually marginal though. Unless you into sports photography and are wrapping off pictures faster than you can push the shutter than it probably does not matter too much. Cheap cards does not affect me as I usually take abstract shots that take longer to compose and set up than it does to write onto the card.

[tirediron]

I usually stick with the Lexar Professional or SanDisk Extreme IV series; the higher write speeds are a definite asset when shooting things like dance recitals, and I have seen some 'no-name' cards where the build quality really does look suspect.

[casil403]

At a digital camera course I took last year, the instructor said to get the best quality memory cards available for the writing speed.
He said too that many of then have back-up programs that allow you to be able to retrieve photos if a mistake happens and you lose them. I dunno if he was right or not, but I figure it's better to be safe than sorry?

[jjeling]

I take too many pictures to worry about losing a couple. Not only that, I usually carry 4, 5 or 6 cards with me. Call it overkill if you wish, but I have yet to run into any problems where Ive had to use a seperate card because of a write failure or a loss of data. I do not take many sports pictures so the need for fast write speed is not a high priority.

[Mad Aussie]

What JJ says about the buffering is spot on TT. Unless you are shooting long bursts then most cards will keep up.
The card doesn't affect the photo quality as IG said.
My policy is to buy something middle range. My choice is the Sandisk Ultra or Extreme series. I'm not paying too much for something that doesn't deliver and I'm not risking those precious shots with something cheap.

[tomorrowstreasures]

great feedback here! thanks so much.:)

[BlueX]

There is a benifit to faster cards if you shoot in burst mode. A regular sandisk sd card cannot keep up with the 2.5 fps of my d40 but the extreme III card can (easily). You will also see a difference when uploading the pics to your comupter, if you have a card reader that can tranfer the files fast enough.

As far as quality, I have never run into a bad card. If you buy a card and it works, chances are you have a good card. Except for the Hoodman cards, most are made in china anyways. I have used sandisk (regular, ultra II and extreme III), lexar, sony (memory sticks), kingston and a-data. All without problems. I currently have a 8gb a-data "turbo" in my camera with a 16gb a-data and a 2gb extreme III as back-ups. The a-data cards were so cheap, I said "What the heck!" and they are as fast as the extreme card. I originally bought them for video capture in my canon s5 but have since used them in my d40. I usually stick with the popular brands to be safe, but I researched on the web and most people have had good luck with these other brands too.

As for data recovery, that is handle by software, not the card it self. The sandisk extreme card came with a recovery utility software disk when I bought it, but I have never used it. I understand it can recover things from other types of disk too, like hard drives. You can also download various versions for free.

[Barefoot]

I guess any card can fail, but Lexar and SanDisk offer proven reliability and since they’re not something you have to buy over and over, why not get the very best you can afford. I use only SDHC media as opposed to SD for the quicker write times so that I’m not standing there waiting for the buffer to clear and they download images to the hard drive faster.

Not too long ago, I decided to try an 8G SDHC card from Transend. I’m not a real big fan of bargain brands, but based on some of the reviews I read I felt comfortable giving them a shot. I haven’t used it for anything of a critical nature yet. If, after another six months or so, it hasn’t given me any trouble and the majority of the reviews remain favorable I may recommend them to others. They are about half the price of the 4G San Disk I usually buy.

I’d be interested in hearing the capacity of the cards that members are using most. I tend to go with 4G cards so that if one does give a problem, I won’t have possibly lost as many images. It’d be a damn shame to have a full 16G card take a dive on you! I keep my eye on the frame count and change before they reach max.

What about you guys?

[jjeling]

I usually transfer the data off the card and onto two seperate external hard drives as soon as I get home. I really only use two memory cards, and have a couple as backups. Nothing is kept on my computer hard drives. If the computer crashes, I do not want to lose the images. As long as the external hard drives remain working, the images will always be there. Each time I get a new hard drive, I copy the best images so I have 3 or 4 copies of the best images and do not worry about running out of space this way.

[Iguanasan]

I have an 8GB SDHC card that I keep re-using. I never fill it. I usually dump my photos to disk almost daily so it never really fills up. The card I'm using now is one I got for Christmas. I've taken about 1200 photos with it (I'm averaging about 400/month) but usually have at most 200 on the card at once. Why do I feel like I should be knocking on wood?:confused:

[jjeling]

400 a month? Maybe I should slow down. Since I got the new camera on Monday, over 600 actuations.............

[Iguanasan]

400 a month? Maybe I should slow down. Since I got the new camera on Monday, over 600 actuations.............

Wow, 600 since Monday!

I expect an increase in the spring but so far 400 is my average. I don't really get out as much as I would like because I don't enjoy shooting in the cold very much. How much, I wonder, are others doing? Am I not practicing enough?

[jjeling]

No, I think this is just an obsession to me. 600 is probably a lot to anyone in three days if they arent doing this as a job. Plus it was 70F here the past couple days. How could I not go out and take the camera with me?

[Iguanasan]

N... Plus it was 70F here the past couple days. How could I not go out and take the camera with me?

Well, it warmed up to 5C (41F) today and the wind was still kind of cold. If it was hitting 70F I'd probably be out doing some more shooting myself.

PS: I hope you have a big freaking hard drive! ;) 1.5TB drives are selling for $150 bucks now. Stick a few in a Drobo and you'll be all set.

[jjeling]

I have about 700gb in hard drive space. About 30gb of pictures, and around 45gb of music. I like taking shots at different DOF to see which one turns out best. When I find it, Ill keep that one picture and a few others around it and discard the rest. A terabite of space is a bit much for me at this point. In the near future Ill be getting one, but would rather use $150 for a battery grip or some lights or whatever else I can think of at the time.

[Mad Aussie]

I never bu ya memory card over 4gb and actually prefer to use 2gb cards with my 10mp camera.
The reason is for safety. If I'm shooting an event and I take say 1200 - 2000 photos, I'd rather they were spread across several cards instead of one large one in case that card fails or is lost or damaged in some way.
Most professionals I know do the same thing for the same reasons.

[Barefoot]

How much, I wonder, are others doing? Am I not practicing enough?

My D90 was bought in November of last year. The last shot I made yesterday was #8856.

[Barefoot]

If I'm shooting an event and I take say 1200 - 2000 photos, I'd rather they were spread across several cards instead of one large one in case that card fails or is lost or damaged in some way. Most professionals I know do the same thing for the same reasons.

That’s just how I look at it, too. I know people who use 16G cards for events and in my view, that’s an invitation for disaster. I’ve been told that many, if not most, failures occur during the transfer to your hard drives at home. Irregardless of recovery software, that’s a chance I’m not willing to take.

Do you shoot raw+jpeg, and if so what size jpeg?

[Mad Aussie]

I'm selective on RAW. If I see no need for it then I don't use it.

I don't RAW for events like Mountain Biking ... really no point. I get sale-able photos without the hassle.

If I'm shooting landscapes, storms, portraits or similar then I use RAW+Jpg.

For nature shots it varies depending on what I'm shooting.

[tirediron]

I normally use 4gb cards; that way when you add in the < 10% of images that actually get selected for PP, and converted to tifs, it neatly fills a DVD.

[Iguanasan]

My D90 was bought in November of last year. The last shot I made yesterday was #8856.

December, January, February, March = 4 months, 8856/4 = 2228/month. Whew! You people are busy! :eek:

[Barefoot]

Busy? I guess so.

Talented? Hardly so. I've got two good shots to show for it all. :D