Last year I took over 900 pictures in one holiday using a Kodak 64gb class 10 micro card (with adapter) on a Canon EOS 70D. It took me ages to download on to my laptop and it kept stopping telling me the computer had run out of space (which it hadn’t). Would anyone advise using smaller capacity cards? I have one unused 32gb spare and feel the need to start afresh with new cards for my next big holiday in a couple of months. I will be taking mainly mountain views for half the holiday with a telephoto lens. Anyone got any preferences on the best capacity to buy?
Memory card capacity
- Thread starter Ldutch
- Start date
Nikon f1.8
Suspended / Banned
- Messages
- 1,724
- Name
- Paul
- Edit My Images
- Yes
All my cards are 32gig in size. Personally I think they have the best bang for buck when it comes to pricing.
when you say ages to download, how long would that have been, I use a USB 3 adapter for my SD cards and that is pretty nippy in the transfer department.
when you say ages to download, how long would that have been, I use a USB 3 adapter for my SD cards and that is pretty nippy in the transfer department.
Cards need to be appropriate for use requirements. write speed and capacity. The capacity will of course depend on the file sizes created.
Example: if you have the Nikon D850 or the Canon 5DS that have MPs approaching 50 which will be 80-90 Mb files a 32GB card will have a 400-500 capacity.
If you don't plan on taking more than 500 images without have access to transfer to computer or storage then you might need to up to 64 or 128.
Example: if you have the Nikon D850 or the Canon 5DS that have MPs approaching 50 which will be 80-90 Mb files a 32GB card will have a 400-500 capacity.
If you don't plan on taking more than 500 images without have access to transfer to computer or storage then you might need to up to 64 or 128.
Canon f1.8 - my laptop has a card slot so I use that and when I say ages that means hours. It stops and re-starts from the beginning which means I have to get rid of the duplicates before I can get the rest on. With around 900 pics, that is a lot of duplicates. I think it is the rubbish laptop, to be honest. It came with windows 8 and upgraded to 10 and has never really done what I wanted. Maybe I should get rid
I won’t have access to the laptop while I am away. So probably the higher capacity cards might be needed.
I won’t have access to the laptop while I am away. So probably the higher capacity cards might be needed.
MatBin
Suspended / Banned
- Messages
- 5,334
- Name
- matt
- Edit My Images
- Yes
I remember a while ago one of our works machines saying it had run out of space and like yours it hadnt BUT there was a limit on the number of directories (or files) it could index and as such thought it was out of space. Not sure if that is still an issue with more modern operating systems?
Matt
Matt
john.margetts
Suspended / Banned
- Messages
- 2,996
- Name
- John
- Edit My Images
- Yes
I prefer more low capacity cards. Less to lose if one fails. Mine are 32 Gb which hold plenty for a day's shooting and if we are away for a couple of days I don't need to worry about downloading until I get home.
I use 8 or even 4gb cards, simply because if I lose one or one goes faulty I only lose a small number of shots. I change cards either per session/ subject or at least per day.
So, if I'm on holiday and go on a half day tour, that'd be one card at least, regardless of how many shots I take. Visit a special place, again, at least one card, etc. Cards are backed up at least daily, then locked and remain unused for the rest of the trip.
A holiday is expensive, maybe once in a lifetime, and the cost of cards is small in comparison.
So, if I'm on holiday and go on a half day tour, that'd be one card at least, regardless of how many shots I take. Visit a special place, again, at least one card, etc. Cards are backed up at least daily, then locked and remain unused for the rest of the trip.
A holiday is expensive, maybe once in a lifetime, and the cost of cards is small in comparison.
These last few responses have given me a few good pointers. We are talking about a trip to India, here. We did it last year and thought it would be the last big trip so I was snapping away like there was no tomorrow on one card. I didn’t even give a thought to losing everything to a dodgy card. We caught the bug and are doing the other side this year in the tea plantations and the lower Himalayas in the second half of the holiday with half a chance of picking up Everest in the distance. It might be worth taking a few low capacity cards just for that, maybe taking a few on two cards to make sure i’ve got it.
kissfoto
Suspended / Banned
- Messages
- 1,777
- Name
- Ian
- Edit My Images
- Yes
Sounds a good idea to me !!!
Jelster
Suspended / Banned
- Messages
- 9,986
- Name
- Steve
- Edit My Images
- Yes
I have an X-T2 and a 4 year old Macbook Pro.
I use 2 x 64GB 95mbps cards in each body, and when on holiday as I was recently, I downloaded the cards everyday and backed them up to a portable 2TB drive that I have.
I can't fault the system, works perfectly, and 64GB cards allow me to shoot some video if I need to. I shot a wedding while I was away, all the images downloaded the same evening, worked some the next morning so the couple had them by lunch the next day.
I use 2 x 64GB 95mbps cards in each body, and when on holiday as I was recently, I downloaded the cards everyday and backed them up to a portable 2TB drive that I have.
I can't fault the system, works perfectly, and 64GB cards allow me to shoot some video if I need to. I shot a wedding while I was away, all the images downloaded the same evening, worked some the next morning so the couple had them by lunch the next day.
kendo1
Suspended / Banned
- Messages
- 7,574
- Name
- Ken
- Edit My Images
- Yes
You set the camera up to save to the card you want or use one as a back up, or one for video - whatever your preference.
To be honest Wontolla, I bought one for my phone and went to order an ordinary card from the same dealer and pushed the wrong button. I got asked by so many people to put the pics on Facebook as I was going along, I thought the easiest way to do it was to use the micro and swap the cards over to post the pics but forgot the key thing to open the slot on my phone
Last edited:
Nikon f1.8
Suspended / Banned
- Messages
- 1,724
- Name
- Paul
- Edit My Images
- Yes
70D only has one slot so I wouldn't worry about it.
I just gained another bit of information, Canon. Don't think my level of photography would be up to running with 2 slots. I have had the camera nearly 2 years and still find myself shoving it on to automatic most of the time because of lack of confidence in my abilities
What is the target for the images, is it an internal or external hard Drive/usb drive etc?
On my laptop if I write a few hundred files from sd card to laptop hard drive, or from laptop to external hard drive, it takes a couple of minutes.
If I copy those same files from sd card to my external hard drive directly via the laptop it takes over an hour....
I therefore do it in two hops.
On my laptop if I write a few hundred files from sd card to laptop hard drive, or from laptop to external hard drive, it takes a couple of minutes.
If I copy those same files from sd card to my external hard drive directly via the laptop it takes over an hour....
I therefore do it in two hops.
rob-nikon
Suspended / Banned
- Messages
- 7,077
- Name
- Rob
- Edit My Images
- Yes
It looks like your camera wouldn’t benefit from faster memory cards as the camera limits the write speed to 35mb/s.
https://www.cameramemoryspeed.com/canon-70d/fastest-sd-cards/
Faster cards may help but increase the read speed when transferring data from the card to the computer but I feel the problem really lies in the computer if it’s takng hours to transfer the data across. What is the transfer speed your computer is showing when it’s transferring the data? My previous PC slowed down hugely writing to the internal drive, transfer rates were in KBs rather than MBs.
https://www.cameramemoryspeed.com/canon-70d/fastest-sd-cards/
Faster cards may help but increase the read speed when transferring data from the card to the computer but I feel the problem really lies in the computer if it’s takng hours to transfer the data across. What is the transfer speed your computer is showing when it’s transferring the data? My previous PC slowed down hugely writing to the internal drive, transfer rates were in KBs rather than MBs.
Answer to both Mozthecat and Rob-Nikon
The transfer is direct from the card to the computer's hard drive using the computer's built in sd card slot. I have never been entirely happy with the laptop ( Fujitsu) and don't use it that much except for stuff that can't be done on my iPad because it is such a pain to use. I actually had to download all the pictures already stored on it to a memory stick when I came back from India last year to free up space so I could transfer the holidays pictures I took from the card onto the computer to see what I had. Even then, it kept stopping to tell me i had no space. Once i got them onto the computer, they were quite good so the problem isn't with the cards.
I think using several smaller capacity cards rather than higher capacity will probably solve the download problem as there will not be so many pictures to download.
The transfer is direct from the card to the computer's hard drive using the computer's built in sd card slot. I have never been entirely happy with the laptop ( Fujitsu) and don't use it that much except for stuff that can't be done on my iPad because it is such a pain to use. I actually had to download all the pictures already stored on it to a memory stick when I came back from India last year to free up space so I could transfer the holidays pictures I took from the card onto the computer to see what I had. Even then, it kept stopping to tell me i had no space. Once i got them onto the computer, they were quite good so the problem isn't with the cards.
I think using several smaller capacity cards rather than higher capacity will probably solve the download problem as there will not be so many pictures to download.