let's talk hcsd cards!

[MichelleB]

What size do you find that works best for you? I'm thinking an 8 or 16 gb because I want to be able to go to WDW and take a week's worth of pics (usually about 400-450) without worrying. Am I better to take a couple of smaller cards or 1 big one? Would this be big enough? I have a canon t1i. Now onto class type.....what do most of you use? I was told to get a class 10 because of the video but someone else has said that a class 6 should be enough. What do you use? How many mb/s is your card?

 

[ukcatfan]

On my K-x, a Class 6 from Kingston is enough. I also have a Class 6 by Transcend that is NOT enough. So, from a better company like Kingston, Sandisk, or Lexar then you should be fine with Class 6. From the off brands (i.e. cheaper) Class 6 might not be enough. For a little clarification, my Transcend is fast enough to not notice during shooting, but it is too slow for continuous video.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

Are you taking a laptop to dump everything? Sounds like you may not be. I'd suggest you reconsider. If you're going to be shooting ANY HD video with the Canon, you WILL eat storage space.

Are you shooting .jpg or .jpg+RAW? RAW eats space too.

There are tons of variables here.

Personally, I would never trust just accumulating pictures on my cards for an entire week at risk of losing them. Too many things can go wrong and the memories are priceless but maybe that's just me.

I just bought my first EyeFi SDHC card for my T2i about 3 weeks ago and I LOVE it and I own about every kind of card there is for my cameras. My intention is to replace EVERYTHING with EyeFi(s) over time.

 

[SrisonS]

If you're only planning on taking about 450 pictures, a 16 gb will definitely be enough; no matter if you shoot in jpeg or RAW. I think I can get about 360 RAW pictures with my 8 gb sandisk, using my T1i. And if you're not dumping them to a hard drive every night, I'd suggest to maybe use a couple of memory cards; and just switch back and forth everyday. Then, if you lose one or something drastic happens to one, all your pictures won't be lost.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I use 32 gig cards. I've never had a problem with filling one during a day. I dump them onto drives at night so that I can start each day with a blank card.

 

[Snappy in OK]

I think it will depend on whether you are shooting in RAW or not, and if you will be bringing a laptop or something else to backup your pictures each day.

I prefer not to bring a laptop (just one less thing to lug along), and I did not shoot in RAW last time we were there. I took 6 or 7 4GB cards for a 10 day trip, and had plenty of space for more pictures. I took close to 3,000 pics during our trip.

I prefer smaller cards and swapping out the cards during the week so that if something were to happen to my card and/or camera, I won't loose all of our pictures from the entire trip.

Next time, I may shoot in RAW at least part of the time, but I still plan on not bringing the laptop and will bring a few more cards (especially if shooting in RAW).

Good luck in deciding what is best for you!

 

[AlbertZeroK]

I would guess I'm not the average photographer, I shoot ALOT of pictures when I'm in photoG mode (which is to say when I'm with other photographers or by myself shooting.) I normally don't go anywhere without a pair of 16G (or larger) cards for each of my 3 cameras.

My recommendation would be Sandisk 16G cards. The manual recommends a Class 6 card, if you get a Sandisk card, you should be fine with a Class 6 card. Class 10 cards are expensive, the pair of 32G Sandisk Class 10 SDHC cards I have set me back $400. If you are shooting ALOT of video, then the larger the card the better. But for photos, I would get a couple 16G cards.

Are you shooting alot of video? The T1i and T2i cameras have a limit as to the amount of video they will take at once - max size of a video file can not exceed 4GB. In 1080p mode, it's like 12 minutes. If you shoot video at lower resolutions, not only do you extend this limit to 18 or 24 minutes, but you also reduce the speed requirements on your memory card (you could use a slower card.)

What ever you choose, make sure of a couple things:

- There are plenty of fake Sandisk cards out their, make sure to buy from a good source (adorama.com newegg.com bhphotovideo.com) and stay away from ebay.

- Buy one card, make sure it can do what you want for video. Then buy a couple more if you want.

- Always have a spare card in your bag. I can't tell you how many times I've left my memory card from my last shoot in my computer!

 

[curtiswheat]

I never go over 8 gigs and just carry several cards. The reason for this is if a card goes bad you don't lose everything just part of it. I shoot Raw + jpeg and can fill an 8 gig card pretty fast and don't mind having to change them as the sense of security is worth it.

 

[MICKEY88]

I shoot 16 gig cards, and would actually use 32 gig cards if they had been available when I bought my 9 16 gig cards,

I come from the group, that believes you are more likely to have card probems if you are switching them out often, or more likely to drop and damage a card if you are changing cards in a hurry,

the only card problem i've ever had was with 2 brand new cards that didn't work right with my sony A700s, I contacted the manufacturer and they replaced them with new cards that had a firmware upgrade,

 

[photo_chick]

I've got 64 GB right now (in various sized cards I've accumulated) and I find that lasts me about a day when I really get shooting. I shoot RAW mainly with a 50D (so I can't talk speed since I'm a CF user, only size), so the files are pretty big. I tend to stick with smaller sized cards because I pick them up as I can afford them.

I take my laptop with me to download to.

My daughter keeps an 8 MB card in her little Fuji (10 MP jpeg images) and it lasts her maybe a day when she gets really into it.

 

[Bstanley]

a Class 6 from Kingston is enough. I also have a Class 6 by Transcend that is NOT enough

This is probably more a symptom of typical characteristics of semiconductor manufacturing than of the 'quality' of a particular company - probably.

Typically a memory manufacturer doesn't have a 'Class 6' speed design/manufacturing line and a 'Class 10' speed design/manufacturing line. They have one line/design and they are trying to make all Class 10 memory. Without going into it in detail once the part has been processed it is tested - if it meets all the requirements for Class 10 it gets sold as Class 10. If it doesn't work correctly at Class 10 at the minimum test voltage or maximum current drain etc, but it does work at Class 6 it gets sold at Class 6.

Also sometimes there is simply so much more demand for a Class 6 than Class 10 part (or whatever) that the manufacturer may need to take some of the Class 10 parts and mark them as Class 6 just to meet orders - remember the cost to manufacture a semiconductor bears little resemblance to price, it's a commodity.

If your camera requires a certain speed it's more prudent to buy that speed and not depend on the generosity of the manufacturer.

In most cases if you have an external reader you can test how fast a card is by simply transferring files from your card to your hard drive and vvs. - unless you have a 10 year old computer and hard drive