How Many SD Cards Should I have??

[scottie]

I fully plan to place my order for a Nikon D40 with 18-135mm lens within two weeks. I went ahead and ordered two SanDisk 2GB Extreme III cards over the weekend as they were a great deal. I guess my question is will these two cards be enough for family “stuff” photos and the occasional trip to WDW or a Disney Cruise, assuming I download the images after the various trips or family activities? I would say with our P&S camera we normally don’t rack up more then a couple of hundred photos on several day trip.

 

[seashoreCM]

Each camera is different about how many pictures will fit on a memory card of a given size. For example my Canon 6 megapixel camera will get a little over 700 pictures onto a 2 gig' card.

Also if you select a lower resolution (fewer megapixels) for some or all of your pictures, more pictures will fit. But I personally always shoot at maximum resolution.

It is my guess that if you get a really good deal on memory cards, you might as well buy more memory cards instead of going to a photo store and burning the pictures onto a CD ($$) and then re-using the memory cards. I guess that a 2 GB card takes 3 CD's to burn all the pictures.

Digital camera hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/digicam.htm

 

[scottie]

Thanks for the info! It sounds like I will be able to hold all the pictures I could think of taking on a trip on one or both cards so I am all set. I do like to print and download most pictures to the hard drive so I will be clearing out the cards as I go to reuse them.

 

[Tuffcookie]

scottie, There's no such thing as too many memory cards!

If you see a good deal, take advantage of it!

TC

 

[My2Girls66]

I have a D50 which is similar to the D40- I can get 600-700 pictures on a 2GB card on the fine/large setting. 2 -2GB cards should be plenty for you. If you run across a really good deal(you can find reg. speed 2GB cards for $10-$15) another for backup can't hurt. In case 1 fails- or gets misplaced- you never know. Or you may just find yourself having a bunch of fun shooting and need more space. Enjoy the new camera.

 

[pr surfer]

I generally take 8gb worth of memory in assorted card sized. That will last me a day or two before I need to dump the cards.

 

[scottie]

The Sandisk Extreme III 2GB cards are coming out to 10.32 each for a 3 card order after mail in rebate- which comes back in the form of a pre-paid visa card. Im not sure I have ever seen Sandisk ones listed that cheap before?

I do know many here say you can never have too many cards! However, I do think 2 will do me well but I may just order another tonight to help pad my travels and as mentioned the occasional lost card

 

[MarkBarbieri]

The D40 file sizes, according to DPReview, average 5,760K for RAW and 2,600K for JPG. A 2 Gig card holds about 2,000,000K. So with a little math, it looks like you'll get about 350 RAW shots or 770 JPEG shots on one card. Whether or not that is enough depends on how much you shoot.

The Sandisk Extreme III 2GB cards are coming out to 10.32 each for a 3 card order after mail in rebate- which comes back in the form of a pre-paid visa card. Im not sure I have ever seen Sandisk ones listed that cheap before?

That assumes that you actually get your rebate from Sandisk. They don't have a particularly good reputation for honoring those rebates. See here.

 

[jann1033]

get a couple more, they cost way more to buy on vacation...this way you can look for a good price and snap a few up. I think i have about 11gb of memory and used 99% of it last vacation( not wdw, 8mp camera but i shoot raw) would have used it all but i couldn't find cards at first( well at least not for under $70 for 2 gb ) so i was deleting as i went which i hate to do since i never can really see the photos on the lcd

 

[Groucho]

2 gb cards for under $15 are downright common recently. 4 gb can be had for $20-25, and 8 gb for $33-35. There's no excuse for not having too many memory cards.

I'm keeping my eyes out for an 8gb class 6 card for $30 shipped... one place has one for $31 after a $6 rebate but I prefer to skip a rebate and I have a month and a half. I'm figuring that I could shoot as much as 6-8 gigs in a day next trip...

 

[My2Girls66]

Here is a good deal for a 2gb backup card. $9.95 with free shipping.
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=202743332&adid=17653&dcaid=17653