Wedding Togs - What size memory card....

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gpc1

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Greg
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do you use....

What do you feel gives you the best balance between capacity vs risk of failing.

ie would you use a 64gb card.....eggs in one basket......or do you use 4 x 16gb but risk missing a shot as the card gets full (proper planning would most likely avoid this though)

I need to upgrade my CF cards as i use 2gb / 4gb which fills in no time (5D2 Raw shooting). Toying with 16gb max.

general discussion re thoughts? Obviosuly price / speed factor into it as well...
:shrug:
 
2 x 32gb cards in each camera. Change them once during the day
 
I use 4gb cards, and swap them regularly, not just when they are full. Better to loose a few from throughout the day rather than all from any one time!
Saying that, touch wood I've never had a card fail but you never know.

One day if I can afford the move to 5dmk3's with dual cards, I might become a bit more relaxed. But until then.. .. ....

Six 4gb cards I find ample for an average wedding shooting 5d2 full size raws.
 
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cant for the life of me understand why this thread is aimed at weddings only?

I used to use 8gb cards ... until i got into using backup cards.. now I use 16 and 32 gb cards both at once...

not for weddings.. but the same thing applies to any work that involves lots of photos and critical not to lose them..

thats the trouble with sedding togs.. they believe the whole world of photogrpahy revolves around them.............. joke! :)
 
KIPAX said:
cant for the life of me understand why this thread is aimed at weddings only?

I used to use 8gb cards ... until i got into using backup cards.. now I use 16 and 32 gb cards both at once...

not for weddings.. but the same thing applies to any work that involves lots of photos and critical not to lose them..

thats the trouble with sedding togs.. they believe the whole world of photogrpahy revolves around them.............. joke! :)
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lol....me me me and more me...all about me and my wedding...!!

Take your point KIPAX...i guess its because im thinking in terms of shooting my next wedding and that fear of the MEMORY CARD FULL flashing up just as the boquet is being tossed would be a real :eek::nono:!!

But yes, sports togs, landscapes etc . Its all the same i guess. I am looking on amazon at the moment and was just about to hit the buy button on a lexar 16gb
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lexar-Profe...8&qid=1375350419&sr=1-2&keywords=lexar16gb+cf

Then thought about asking on here first. Also, write speeds...im miffed on these...does 800X really matter for a 5d2. better when it comes to uploading i guess but at 4.5 fps in burst would there still be a buffer issue at, say, 200x....:thinking:

I have never had a card fail (touch wood) but have, through poor planning on my part, hit a full MC mid ceremony. A lot of fumbling and a quick swap over wasnt ideal! But thats another valuable lesson learned!!
 
5D MK III (main body) - 4GB cards for bride getting ready shot, 8GB card for the ceremony, 4GB cards for the rest of the day. Also have a 64GB SD card in the other slot writing every shot as a back up

6D (2nd body used mainly for candids) - 32gb card and usually leave that in until about half way through the day and then swtich it for a 16GB
 
heard lexar good.. I first used sandisk and have stuck wiht them ever since.. had two card failures in ten yrs but manage to get the pics recoevered so no loss...

some cards have had hissy fits... just been a little awkward say.. they go staright in bin.. take no chances.

i only started using backup cards in the last yr and now i get paranoid and cant go out without 2 cards in each camera :)
 
ajax_andy said:
5D MK III (main body) - 4GB cards for bride getting ready shot, 8GB card for the ceremony, 4GB cards for the rest of the day. Also have a 64GB SD card in the other slot writing every shot as a back up

6D (2nd body used mainly for candids) - 32gb card and usually leave that in until about half way through the day and then swtich it for a 16GB
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I Like this approach 5D3 is on the cards for next year once finances allow. Heard nothing but great reviews of this camera....great images BTW ajax. Im always looking at other wedding togs sites and admiring the technique and processing. Lovely tones and detail. Something i really need to learn.
Rgds
 
Having had a card fail, I've always been a many smaller kind of guy but now I can have a backup on the 2nd card, I'm considering a larger main card as well. Since my backup cards will be 16GB (I have several 16GB SDHC cards), it makes sense to me to have 16GB as the main card's capacity too. NB, I'm not a wedding shooter!

WRT running out of space on a card mid-shoot. Unforgiveable IMO. It's not as if a card suddenly goes from 100 shots left to full in the blink of an eye and it takes seconds to swap the card(s) for fresh ones and I'm pretty sure everyone can find the few seconds required to do the swap when nothing's likely to happen. If you break the event down to separate sessions (bride's prep, arrival at church, ceremony etc), and look back at past shoots, you should be able to plan when card swaps will be most possible while not missing a shot. You might even find that some sessions can be shot on smaller cards (as per Andy's post above) so your older ones needn't be shoved in a drawer!
 
gpc1 said:
I Like this approach 5D3 is on the cards for next year once finances allow. Heard nothing but great reviews of this camera....great images BTW ajax. Im always looking at other wedding togs sites and admiring the technique and processing. Lovely tones and detail. Something i really need to learn.
Rgds
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Thanks Greg :)

Yeah it's a great camera... I kind of want to sell the 6D and have another 5D MK III in its place but that's more a want than a need, and from a business point of view I shouldn't buy stuff I don't need sadly.
 
gpc1 said:
...i guess its because im thinking in terms of shooting my next wedding and that fear of the MEMORY CARD FULL flashing up just as the boquet is being tossed would be a real :eek::nono:!!
!!
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In that respect I would say you'll need to be checking your camera more often, event togs will be constantly checking the info from the camera- settings- iso, app, shutter, battery, shots remaining. This is good practice and once you know what you are looking for, the quicker it is to disseminate the info. The times where you accidentally knock a dial or changed ISO for a low light shot then forgot to change it back happens more often than not.

Then it's a matter of planning and finding a gap in the proceedings to change/swap, which is the same case with battery or lens.
 
I tend to go in circles with the whole back up and card size thing. It's a fine balance between too many images on one card in case of an error, ensuring a card is safe when it's out of the camera / the convenience of larger cards.

Personally I prefer a medium sized card and replace more often. Currently favouring 16GB & 32GB cards but swap them when they are probably only about 60% full.

I guess some of it depends on what you are shooting and how vital those shots are, whether you have dual slots, jpeg or raw and how many images you're likely to get per gb.
 
16gig cf cards in 2 5d3 bodies. Got about 6 of those, then a few 8 gig ones and a couple of 4s as back up (or emergency ones if i end up shooting A LOT). Better to have way more than you need, same with batteries really. I may start putting a 64gig sd card in the other slot, although i'm put off by how it slows the shooting.

Also, when changing the cards, i always keep the full ones in my pocket (in a sturdy card holder from 7dayshop)
 
simonblue said:
How did we get buy with film 36exp 35mm or 12to15 shots large format :D
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How long before people let go of this. :nuts:

How weddings were shot in the old days bears no relation to how they're shot today.

And it's not just different, it's better in every respect. Not the numbers but the quality, the average wedding photographer today produces a product that's incomparable to 20 years ago.

Back to the OP, horses for courses, I use 16s in the 7d. Smaller in the older cams.
 
8gb max for me swap them out at natural breaks in weddings, after preps, after ceremony and if running low on space before first dance swap again.
 
Dual 128gig sandisk, 2nd slot as backup. xD
 
Phil V said:
How long before people let go of this. :nuts:

How weddings were shot in the old days bears no relation to how they're shot today.

And it's not just different, it's better in every respect. Not the numbers but the quality, the average wedding photographer today produces a product that's incomparable to 20 years ago.

Back to the OP, horses for courses, I use 16s in the 7d. Smaller in the older cams.
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With due respect Phil thats rubbish,are you telling me thats the photographer 20 years ago didn't produce great wedding photos,i will agree thats for the last few years people have been spending more money on wedding than ever before,so expect more,but 20 years ago their were some client who would spend a lot on a wedding and expect the best.
Also you are going to fine as money get tighter in theses days,people are going to be spending less & less on wedding.
A good photographer will take time and care whether 20 years or today.

:)
 
simonblue said:
With due respect Phil thats rubbish,are you telling me thats the photographer 20 years ago didn't produce great wedding photos,i will agree thats for the last few years people have been spending more money on wedding than ever before,so expect more,but 20 years ago their were some client who would spend a lot on a wedding and expect the best.
Also you are going to fine as money get tighter in theses days,people are going to be spending less & less on wedding.
A good photographer will take time and care whether 20 years or today.

:)
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How can you start 'with all due respect' before extrapolating; 'are you telling me thats the photographer 20 years ago didn't produce great wedding photos' from; 'the average wedding photographer today produces a product that's incomparable to 20 years ago':cuckoo:

There were some amazing wedding photographers 20 years ago, I used to see the Kodak wedding awards and weep. But the average was dire by modern standards, many pro photographers were 'pro' because they could literally focus and expose.

Have a look through some old wedding albums (something I happened to do for fun recently) you'll be gobsmacked by the quality and not in a good way. I can promise;)

Seriously, the last 'old time' pro who used to boast round here about 'the good old days' had to admit there was no such thing when I asked him to do the same. Not too much difference between his age and mine, I'd just taken the ridiculous step of continuing to learn;)

It's not about taking time or taking care, brides in the 80's didn't expect getting ready shots from a dingy hotel room, shots from the ceremony, or anything other than a fake cake cut from the reception. Just posed couple and group shots, outside church, in the local park and the cake cut at the reception venue.

If I delivered 35 images tomorrow the bride would think I'd gone mental:eek:. I could do it, with film too, just like I did, shooting a 2hr stint, but would anyone book me?
 
Phil V said:
How can you start 'with all due respect' before extrapolating; 'are you telling me thats the photographer 20 years ago didn't produce great wedding photos' from; 'the average wedding photographer today produces a product that's incomparable to 20 years ago':cuckoo:

There were some amazing wedding photographers 20 years ago, I used to see the Kodak wedding awards and weep. But the average was dire by modern standards, many pro photographers were 'pro' because they could literally focus and expose.

Have a look through some old wedding albums (something I happened to do for fun recently) you'll be gobsmacked by the quality and not in a good way. I can promise;)

Seriously, the last 'old time' pro who used to boast round here about 'the good old days' had to admit there was no such thing when I asked him to do the same. Not too much difference between his age and mine, I'd just taken the ridiculous step of continuing to learn;)

It's not about taking time or taking care, brides in the 80's didn't expect getting ready shots from a dingy hotel room, shots from the ceremony, or anything other than a fake cake cut from the reception. Just posed couple and group shots, outside church, in the local park and the cake cut at the reception venue.

If I delivered 35 images tomorrow the bride would think I'd gone mental:eek:. I could do it, with film too, just like I did, shooting a 2hr stint, but would anyone book me?
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Ok Phil,i shot wedding over 30years ago i took a lot of pride in what i did,and i did more than an 2hr stint i did before the wedding, the wedding,and the reception sometimes staying till it was all over a long day.
Ok their were a lot of studio around who did the 2 hour stint,but a lot of it was due to being not a lot of money about in those days.
Plus i have seen some pretty dire wedding shot theses days as well :)
 
simonblue said:
Ok Phil,i shot wedding over 30years ago i took a lot of pride in what i did,and i did more than an 2hr stint i did before the wedding, the wedding,and the reception sometimes staying till it was all over a long day.
Ok their were a lot of studio around who did the 2 hour stint,but a lot of it was due to being not a lot of money about in those days.
Plus i have seen some pretty dire wedding shot theses days as well :)
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I was proud of the work I did then too, but that doesn't mean I think its as good as or better than what I shoot now. If you really were shooting all those parts of the day, you were at the cutting edge :thumbs:. The average wedding photographer was only doing a couple of hours, and many were shooting 2 or 3 weddings on a busy Summer Saturday. So I would say your experience is far from 'average'. The 2 hour coverage had nothing to do with a lack of money, it was just what the market expected. I have read interviews of Litchfield discussing Charles and Di's wedding, and he did no bridal prep and left at tea time, I'm sure that wasn't a budget decision:D.

Please do the actual test rather than the rose tinted memories; My sisters were married in the early 80's, I was married in the late 80's and again in 2000, my mates were married in 1997, My FiL was married in 1999. I've examined all these photo's recently.

And I also very regularly do a check of my local competition, these are all fairly 'average' wedding photo's. And there's nothing you can say to convince me that things were in any way 'better' in the film days. And believe me, I'm far from full of praise of a lot of working photographers nowadays, some of who'm are appalling :shake:.

As I alluded earlier, a recent contributor ranting about 'digital wedding photographers' turned out to be technically flawed both in theory and practice - but he managed to 'convince' many for a short while that he was a genuinely great 'old time' wedding photographer who could knock all these modern guys into a cocked hat :suspect:.

I'd hope we're not going to see a repeat of that :).
 
2x32gb in my main camera. Raw to card 1, jpg to card 2. If I for some reason need more than 32gb then I have some 16gb in my bag. I never take card 2 out ever.

If card 1 fails, I have card 2. if card 2 fails I'm not too bothered.

For me you also have to trade the risk of a card getting corrupt against losing one.
 
rampanthamster said:
yeah, but i meant if one failed early on in the day, it'd surely be wise to stuff another one in there straight away to still have back up.
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Certainly:thumbs:, my answer was a little tongue in cheek - I was working on the assumption that if someone had gone to the trouble of buying a camera with twin card slots, and chose to use them in the most secure way possible, he'd have backups too:D.
 
Closely related to the OPs question. What card reader do you guys use? I use SD and my pc has a reader built in. I also bought a USB card reader for about £6. But when you look at the quality of the pins, they look like £6's worth!!
The interface, ie pins, can be the Achilles heel when it comes to failure modes. Solid state electronics, ie the memory chip, are generally robust with numerical failure rate low. The other killer is moisture, and plastic encapsulating. Plastic to metal will fail eventually, and allow moisture (it's all around us, in the air most of the time) which can lead to inadvertent circuits being formed, and bingo!
 
I've just got one of the Sandisk USB3 readers, can't fault it and its about a third the price it was at launch.
 
Phil V said:
I was proud of the work I did then too, but that doesn't mean I think its as good as or better than what I shoot now. If you really were shooting all those parts of the day, you were at the cutting edge :thumbs:. The average wedding photographer was only doing a couple of hours, and many were shooting 2 or 3 weddings on a busy Summer Saturday. So I would say your experience is far from 'average'. The 2 hour coverage had nothing to do with a lack of money, it was just what the market expected. I have read interviews of Litchfield discussing Charles and Di's wedding, and he did no bridal prep and left at tea time, I'm sure that wasn't a budget decision:D.

Please do the actual test rather than the rose tinted memories; My sisters were married in the early 80's, I was married in the late 80's and again in 2000, my mates were married in 1997, My FiL was married in 1999. I've examined all these photo's recently.

And I also very regularly do a check of my local competition, these are all fairly 'average' wedding photo's. And there's nothing you can say to convince me that things were in any way 'better' in the film days. And believe me, I'm far from full of praise of a lot of working photographers nowadays, some of who'm are appalling :shake:.

As I alluded earlier, a recent contributor ranting about 'digital wedding photographers' turned out to be technically flawed both in theory and practice - but he managed to 'convince' many for a short while that he was a genuinely great 'old time' wedding photographer who could knock all these modern guys into a cocked hat :suspect:.

I'd hope we're not going to see a repeat of that :).
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Agree we to tend to look back with tinted glasses,a great photographer is still great weather they were shooting 30/40 years ago with film or today with digital :)
 
I use 2 x 32GB in each camera. I record medium RAW to both (5dmkiii full raws are way too big for weddings IMO) so I have an immediate backup if one fails. The cards are never touched during the days shooting until I get home when one of the cards is backed up to 2 HDD's.
 
Same here. 2x32gb in each camera. The only way I'll lose the photos is if I lose my cameras and they're ALWAYS with me during the day. It would be extremely unlikely that I would suffer 2 card failures and even then, card recovery software works well in many situations.

I don't like the idea of shooting multiple cards during one shoot. I would be more likely to misplace a card than have one fail on me.

There's valid arguments for both methods but I feel that most pro cameras now having backup card slots pushes the logical methodology more towards the 'single large card' side.
 
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