How much memory card capacity do you have?

[pjmeade]

Just a straw poll, I was just wondering how many Gigs of card memory people

carry with them.

 

I'm going off to an air show in a couple of weeks and bought an extra couple of

gigabytes of memory so I could shoot lots. I'll have 7 G in cards, which should

give me >900 RAW files from a 20D. What sort of memory capacity do you take

with you when you go out for the day?

 

Cheers. Pete

[thomas_sullivan]

5 G, RAW 20D also

[ryan_brenizer]

Also 5G, and sometimes an 80G laptop.

[phule]

With the DSRL, two 2GB and one 1GB card. But I would like to add two more 2GB cards and leave the 1GB in my P&S

[phule]

DSLR

[chuck_c_charlottenc_]

Pete,

 

1 2GB and 2 1GB = 4GB on 20D raw.

 

Plenty for me.

 

//Chuck

[ilkka_nissila]

I have 5 1GB cards, planning on getting a 8GB card to add to the existing ones.

[rich_wardwell]

1 x 4GB

2 x 2GB

 

Total -- 8GB

 

Would like to add a 2nd 4GB card for a total of 12GB.

 

These are for a Canon 5D.

[peterblaise]

.

 

Summary:

 

4 of 1GB CF card:

 

- 2 of Lexar 1GB Wa - fastest write

 

- 1 of DaneElec/Toshiba 1GB - almost as fast

 

- 1 of SanDisk 1GB - s-l-o-w

 

Each card holds ~135 RAW images form 5mp camera.

 

I also carry a portable Win98SE 300MHz laptop computer with a CF/PCMCIA card reader and an internal 40GB drive to download on demand (and I can bring an external USB drive box with any size additional drive if I need it, but haven't yet). IN the laptoo, I use free IrfanView and Picassa for quick review of downloaded RAW files. I CAN copy files to an internal CD-writer in the laptop computer but have yet to do so. I tend to transfer to my main PC when I return home. I lock the laptop in a safe when I'm away from my hotel room. I take the laptop on day trips and on extended travel so I don't have to worry about running out of space since 40gb of storage is a lot of shots!

 

So, I have 4 CF cards in my kit bag (which is a non-descript large fanny pack), all cards are 1gb, each offers to save ~135 RAW image files from my 5 megapixel camera. I prefer the two Lexar 1GB Wa since they make the camera shoot alomost continuous, they are so fast (rumor has it Minolta and Lexar co-designed Wa technology, and my camera is now so dang fast, I believe it! Micron bought Lexar - Micron's own cards are s-l-o-w and expensive, and maybe Lexar technology will return Micron to competitiveness?). I also have a DaneElec/Toshiba 1BG which is noticibly slower but still faster than the camera was originally (Toshiba was sued by Lexar for stealing their secrets - I believe it!), and I have an old SanDisk 1GB that is s-l-o-w and used only in emergencies when the first 3 cards are full (SanDisk invented the CF card, but is w-a-y behind in design).

 

I download ONLY using a memory card reader and have never conected my camera to any computer. ALL these cards read slowly via a USB card reader ior the laptop's CF/PCMCIA card reader, funny, but the s-l-o-w SanDisk CF card tests FASTEST (slightly) of all these cards when on a card reader. So, tests NOT in-camera are rather misleading! The ONLY important thing to me is WRITE SPEED IN-CAMERA, and the Lexar Wa is tops - I have a Minolta DiMAge A1 v1.13u, and may opt for the Minolta Alpha 7D (6mp) or a Sony Alpha (10mp) eventuially. With the larger megapixel camera, I'll probably move up to 2gb CF cards - the FAT16 limit, which keeps the cards compatible with all systems I will ever plan on plugging them into. I even have a old SanDisk DOS CF-card-reader-to-parallel adapter - geesh, what an antique! But it works, so I can copy my image files from my cards from a DOS A:\>_ or C:\>_ prompt in an emergency! ;-)

 

Click!

 

Love and hugs,

 

Peter Blaise peterblaise@yahoo.com Minolta DiMage Photographer http://www.peterblaisephotography.com/

[athinkle]

2 Gig card, 80 gig Sony laptop, 256 meg card for desperate emergencies. 20D

[richard glover]

One 4 gig cad, two 1 gig cards, one 526 megabyte card, and a 20 gig FotoChute.

[godfrey]

Peter,

 

Get yourself a faster reader. The Sandisk 12-in-1 USB 2.0 is the fastest I've tried to date.

 

Godfrey

[godfrey]

I meant that comment to Peter Blaise. ;-)

<br><br>

Peter Meade, <br>

I have 5-6 Gbytes of storage cards (1G and 2G cards) for whatever camera I'm using

(either Canon 10D, Pentax *ist DS, Sony R1, Konica Minolta A2). My goal is to be able to

store about 90-100 RAW exposures per card. The Canon, Pentax and KM all do that with

1G cards; the Sony's large RAW files require a 2G card. When I'm just out for a casual day's

walkabout and shooting, usually one spare card is the most I need. If I'm going to a

specific event that has potential for a lot of shooting, I carry all of them.

<br><br>

I generally use Sandisk Ultra II cards ... a good price/performance point. I don't need

ultimate performance for my style of shooting. When next I buy more card media, I'll go

for Transcend 150x in 2G capacity.

<br><br>

If I'm going to be shooting a whole lot at a given event, I also carry an Epson P2000

multimedia storage unit as well. It will download up to 13G worth of data per charge, far

more than I've ever filled in a day's shooting. A full 1G card downloads to the P2000 in

about 3 minutes, and it does that while I'm taking pictures with another card in the

camera.

<br><br>

Godfrey

[klix]

8GB (4+2+2) in CF cards

 

60GB in a PSD.

[jstyles]

I used to carry 4GB for a day (for D100 uncompressed raw), now I generally carry 6GB (D200 compressed raw), but sometimes borrow an extra 2GB. More than a day and I carry a portable hard drive.

[thomas_sullivan]

Peter asked about a one day shoot.............you guys that answered with laptops also............you really carry a laptop for a one day shoot? Not knocking it, just checking to see if you really do that.

[Jochen_S]

3x1GB (+unreliable 2.2GB microdrive) are all I own yet for my Pentax (70RAW/GB). If my buffer flushed faster I'd be out of memory all the time. I just ordered 1GB for a 6MP P&S and am not really started with digital by now.

[rickvandenberg]

3 x 2GB, for a 30D. Always shot in raw. Plenty for me.

[jon_noble]

1x512Mb Jessops CF for my D70. Probably a little small but i am not trigger happy and always have my F65 with bw film. That combo can last me 3days no problems

[roger_kallet]

1-1GB CF card for my Canon 10D. This gives me 122 RAW captures.

[roger krueger]

1 4g Lexar 80x (18 months old, cost more than all the rest of my cards added

together)<br>

1 1g Lexar 80x<br>

1 2g SanDisk Blue (slow)<br>

1 2g PQI (slow and doesn't work in my Lexar Firewire reader)<br>

1 4g PQI (calls itself "highspeed100" but is exactly as slow as my other slow cards)<br>

2 2g Transcend (fast, called "120x" but no faster than 80x Lexars in my 1dsII)<br>

<br>

So that's 9g fast + 8g slow =17g total, and I might pick up another 2g Transcend if they're

still $40 at Fry's. <br><br>

 

I don't use a laptop or digital wallet because I shoot punk shows, where something

vulnerable to physical shock damage is bad, and many venues do not permit in-and-out

to download in the car. Plus, gas prices have led me to take my motorcycle rather than my

guzzler to distant shows, which really rules out my laptop.

[j_c38]

1 2GB

7 1GB

Total of 9GB

Need a couple more, seriously.

D200 RAW shooter. Approximetly 540 shots.

 

When I go out for the day, I take it all. No excuse not to. It will all fit in my pocket. Ya never know what you'll see.

[Ed_Ingold]

I carry four 4G cards for a D2x, plus about 8G in smaller cards. This gives me a basic capacity for 800 RAW files, which is about twice what I've needed in one day so far. On the road, I carry a laptop, external drive and DVD burner in order to backup the dailies.

[rombon]

I hate bringing a laptop or a portable storage on location so I invested a little more in CF cards. I have 12G of storage (3 x 2G, 6 x 1G Sundisk Extreme II) for my D200.

 

Regards, Marko

[mark u]

The nature of this question is bound to produce a skewed result, with few shooters who only carry lesser amounts of memory being willing to admit as much. Still, maybe you were only really looking for answers from the more trigger happy shooters or sports PJs who reach the estimated shutter life for their camera in a matter of a few months.