Does anyone buy high capacity memory cards?

[dod]

Granted it's not that common however, if I was doing a paid shoot for someone would I rather risk losing all the shots on a 8GB or larger card or just a portion if they are split over 2 or more. For me the choice is as I have said.

I understand the rationale, it's the same one which has been used since the cards started getting bigger.

Can't help thinking though if we fast forward two years we'll be saying, "I'd far rather use two 64GB cards than one 128GB card"

 

[lawrenceots]

I shoot Jpeg/Raw and video and just use 8 gb micro SDHC.... Mainly because every time I sent my phone back to swap, I'd keep the 8gb it came with and get another one!

 

[tdodd]

32gb Transcend, have done for a year. Its 133x speed but thats plenty for most things in my D700.

I use the same cards in my 50D and 1D3. For the money (£54 each) I felt that the capacity was of far more use than the extra speed. I've been using mine since October last year and I've had no problems.

It is inevitable that file sizes will continue to grow, especially with the inclusion of video in DSLRs. I understand all the arguments against having all my eggs in ine basket but that argument was made when 2GB cards came out, then 4GB, then 8GB, then 16GB and so on and so on. I just figured I'd get ahead of the game and "limit" myself to 32GB before the 64GB cards came out. I have no regrets.

One key advantage of only having one card per camera (I do have some other cards as well, including a couple of 8GB Extreme IIIs) is that I don't have to "manage" my cards or wonder which ones are ready to use, or not, or where to stash them all. The card is either always in the camera or in the computer - nowhere else. Once I have downloaded the card I delete the files and pop it straight back in the camera, before I forget!

 

[cymruchris]

I only shoot in RAW - and have 16/8/4 and 2gb cards - the 16 I use for my own personal work non-paid, and then use a mix of the others if paid, so that there's less risk of losing something important...

 

[chris321]

I use Sandisk (because they're supposed to be good) 4GB cards (so I don't lose ALL my shots should one fail). I find it's a good compromise between peace of mind and convenience.

 

[Raymond Lin]

I'd love to get an idea of how many people (even out of the people on this thread) have had a genuine card fail....

Personally I've never had a card fail, and currently shoot with two 16GB and an 8GB.

I've had 1 Sandisk 8G extreme 30mb/s failed.

Was in HK for a week, 4th day in, 4Gig used up in the card. Was in a Japanese restauraunt and I was taking snaps of the food and friends/family when all of the sudden i got an error on my 30D (it wasn't error 99). I couldn't do anything about it being so far away from home. So I used my spare 4Gig card and carried on.

Got back to England, managed to recover all my photos from the card, but the card refuse to be formatted at all. Tried to format it from the PC, 30D and 5Dii. It was basically dead as if i can't format it, it is useless. I RMA it to Amazon and they sent me a replacement.

I dread to think that happen in a paid job, would scare the crap out of me.

 

[Blue Eagle]

I use 8Gb and 16Gb cards....I just shoot raw.

Same, 12-18meg a shot means i get about 1000 to a card. Just means I can leave several shoots worth on there, while a proper backup is made on the computer.

 

[AliB]

I'm the same as a few have stated already. I shoot with two cameras and I've got 1x 8GB and 5x 4GB Sandiscs. I keep the 8GB in the 1Ds, thanks to those big file sizes it munches through it at a fair pace. I also stick a little SD in it and write JPEGs to that. It provides that instant backup and although the files would never make A1, I won't be missing them altogether. Just a little bit of piece of mind since I've never had a card fail.
Once the 8GB is getting somewhere near, I'll swap to the 4's.

The other trick I have is to actually use both cameras. If I'm shooting a wedding, I'll shoot bridal prep using both, that way if anything happens to either card or camera I still have a quantity of pics on the other. One on each shoulder and spread the load. I do the same with two different focal lengths during the ceremony and a second shooter is even more insurance!

The 5D gets the 4GBs and gets used throughout the day. I find that because it is lighter, I actually prefer using the 5D if I'm doing any one handed off camera flash such as first dance.

As for managing the cards, I have two in the cameras and I have a waterproof case for the spares. I keep them turned face up if they are formatted and ready to use and face down if they are used. Easy peasy card management.