Enough Memory???

I dont know in film days what a photographer would set out with on a road trip,how many rolls of film they would take....Say a two day road trip. 24 to 36 pictures a roll how much they would see as needed. Today with digital and memory cards far more compact and far more images per card...

I dont shoot raw...I simply do not have the storage space or software for that matter..So,on a 2gig card my 14.5 meg Pentax will get 139 pictures. I have 4 2gig cards. Thats a ton of images specially by film standards. Despite this i bought 4 4gig cards and 8 more 2gig cards. After having a 4 gig card crash on me and losing all the images on it i prefer the 2gigs you lose less if the card fails.

Anyway...With that many memory cards that should last me for a week long road trip i'd think.Being careful about shot selection and such....

I was wondering what the view of others on the board is as to how much memory you pack round with you and given its far more then you'd be carring in terms of rolls of film most likely.I have never come close to using all my cards let alone going through the first four 2gig cards i have.

I shoot RAW and my image files are huge (21 mp camera). Two 8 gig cards at all times, with a 4 gig backup preferred.

I shoot raw with a 1Ds2 (16mp) with two 4 gig cards (just over 200 RAWs per card I believe). I'm usually fairly selective with my shots though, so I hardly ever get onto my 2nd card unless I'm out for more than 1 or 2 days, or visit alot of locations in one day.

What brand card did you have fail on you? I've always used the Sandisk ultra/extreme cards, have never had any problems with them.

On my 4-week road trip last year, I shot at 7 different locations and came home with nine 4GB cards full of files from my 8.2 MPix Canon 30D (about 200 photos per card). But several of my shooting locations were "once in a lifetime" places and I didn't want to scrimp.

If carrying lots of cards is inconvenient, consider a personal storage device such as a Jobo Image Tank or similar. I used one on a trip a couple of years ago and was pleased to be able to unload CF cards on the road.

These days, I'm more inclined to carry my laptop and simply unload cards to the LT every night in camp/motel. And it allows me to stay in touch and read OPF

Well if I need it I've got about 60Gb of cards in various sizes, but 1Ds3 gets about 600 frames ona 16Gb card (100iso) and it's rare for me to shoot that much that I get anywhere need filling all my cards.

I've got a card recovery program that I've used once for myself when I formtted a card with some precious pics of the girls on (that went down well!) and more often to recover images from friends SD cards that have failed or been corrupted. It recovers a lot of stuff that you cuoldn't access any other way.

Mike

I have two bodies that make 12.1 MPx RAWs. When I go on one of my two-week game drives I carry four 8GB Sandisk Extreme IIIs, a 250GB image tank or laptop and a 250GB USB drive for backup.

I picked 8GB cards they fill up about when the battery goes. When one goes or is about to go, I change both.

.........

Daniel Buck.... The card that failed was a Kingston....I am wanting to ship it to them with a not so nice note....I had a few Elk shots on that card and a client ready to buy them....I lost a number of images...

Mike Shimwell.........."I formatted a card with some precious pics of the girls on (that went down well!)"......lol...Reminds me once i did a shoot with Jordan and i text her telling her my camera did a auto format and i lost all the images of our shoot.....I forgot to tell her i was kidding...When she found out it was not true she got so mad....She let me know i had ruined her night she was so upset..it seemed like a good idea for a joke at the time...well....Sigh....

Charles L Webster.....I'll have to look into that image tank....

Winston Mitchell......Have you ever had a 8gig fail on you?...See if a 8gig failed on me, that would be catastrophic.....I just fear those failing i dont think i'll ever get one....

Judging from the input i see here in this thread i have plenty of memory.... =) I have 2 4 gig cards that i cant find...It would help to find those....

I recently purchased a D3x- the thing devours memory cards (24 MP raw files @ 14-bit color depth). Using two 4GB cards allows for ~150 images which will be fine for underwater work given the time constraints. May switch to dual 8GB cards and utilize the dual recording feature, which affords an automatic backup.

Wendy

Wendy Thurman said:

I recently purchased a D3x- the thing devours memory cards (24 MP raw files @ 14-bit color depth). Using two 4GB cards allows for ~150 images which will be fine for underwater work given the time constraints. May switch to dual 8GB cards and utilize the dual recording feature, which affords an automatic backup.

Wendy

Click to expand...

Dual cards is something I miss in in the 5DII!

Asher

ErikJonas said:

Winston Mitchell......Have you ever had a 8gig fail on you?...See if a 8gig failed on me, that would be catastrophic.....I just fear those failing i dont think i'll ever get one....

Click to expand...

No. The only documented Extreme III failures I know of turned out to be fake cards. I don't take a card on a trip unless it has been filled at least twice.

A small tip: If you think the file system in any camera is as robust as the one in your PC or MAC you are mistaken. I never delete a file in the camera and always reformat in the camera.

One more: Always protect your cards. If it isn't in the camera it should be in its case. If a dirticle finds its way into a pinhole, you risk the destruction of both card and camera.

I strongly recommend Sandisk products only... they are the most reliable in the business and have a fantastic support department.

An associate of mine purchased 6 new 4 gig cards (this happened over a year ago) a day before leaving for an out of town shoot. Upon arriving he began to prep for the shoot and discovered the cards were extremely tight fitting in the camera. The did work, but something wasn't right. He called Sandisk direct, the ran the serial numbers, then Fed-Ex'd him 6 new cards out overnight to his location. Apparently there had been a glitch in the manufacturing, a batch had made it out that were just a hair too wide. They simply asked him to return the originals "when he had time" and apologized for the inconvenience.

How's that for standing behind your product?

Also, if you regularly do a low level format on your cards (between jobs) it is rare you will ever have any problems.

Tim

ErikJonas said:

I'll have to look into that image tank....

Click to expand...

You might give some consideration to a netbook too. While they are slow, they offer more options than an image tank.

a thought,

Sean

Hi, Sean,

Sean DeMerchant said:

You might give some consideration to a netbook too. While they are slow, they offer more options than an image tank.

Click to expand...

I certainly plan to go in that direction.

I would, among other things, use it as a portable tether controller.

Best regards,

Doug