# Card failure story?



## sanj (Jun 19, 2017)

There is so much discussion currently on 6d2 having just one card slot, prompting me to ask:

Do you have any card failure report?

My story: I have never ever had a card fail on me. 

You?


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## Ryananthony (Jun 19, 2017)

I've never had a card fail. I have had one corrupt image, and it was so long ago I can't recall why. With that said, I've probably shot 300,000 photos total over the span of all my cameras. I'm sure there are people who may shoot close to that every year and the chance for card failure Is much higher. 

I wonder if card failure is related to the age of the cards? I feel like cards would wear out over time and should be replaced every couple years regardless of a failure or not. Opinions?


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## NorbR (Jun 19, 2017)

Nope, never had a card failure. Knock on wood 

In fact I've had more camera failures than card failures. So instead of a camera with two card slots, maybe what I should get is a card slot with two cameras?


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## chrysoberyl (Jun 19, 2017)

I have never had a card fail, but I've never bought a cheap card to use in my cameras. I very much hope that those who complain whine so much about the 6D II not having dual card slots will answer your question and specify the brand of card that failed.

John


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## tomscott (Jun 19, 2017)

Ive shot around 8tbs of images in the last 3 years and have around 16tbs since 2010.

Never had a card corrupt on me.

The only issue I have had was with SD, the lock switch became faulty and the slightest movement would lock it meaning it wasn't readable by the camera. Pretty much every time it went into the camera the lock mechanism would move and lock the same trying to get it into a card reader. 

Thankfully, for some reason the SD slot must be slightly different in the 5DMKIII to the 7DMKII and 70D as it read fine from that camera.

I am not a fan of SD cards they are flimsy especially in frequent usage if your one of those that has huge cads and writes until its full then offloads it may not be a big deal, or if you offload using the camera itself.

If my camera was SD only I would probably buy new cards more frequently.

I like to shoot with cards to reach around 1000 images so that's 32gb with the 5DMKII and fill and offload so if I loose a card or it corrupts its not the end of the world. On top of that I shoot to both CF and SD to ensure a redundant backup.

In terms of CF never ever had a problem with them at all and very glad Canon continues to use them in the higher end bodies.


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## Don Haines (Jun 19, 2017)

I have had two card failures. One was an older Sandisk and the other one was so long ago that I am unsure, but it might have been a Kingston.

I also dropped a camera 100+ feet onto a cement pad..... the camera dis-assembled itself and the card survived...

I also intend to get a 6D2 and the single card slot does not bother me.....


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## LDS (Jun 19, 2017)

sanj said:


> Do you have any card failure report?



Cards may fail. With wear, that chance will increase, and other factors will play as well (card quality, production batches, age, storage, etc. etc.)

It may never happen to you, or it may happen several times. There are good reason to replace them after a while (at least for important jobs), testing them before use, use more smaller cards than fewer larger ones (when there's enough time to replace the card), etc. etc.

Then it's up to to assess what risks you can accept, and how to manage them - knowing that some solutions, like a dual card camera, will be more expensive - it looks everybody likes money, in this world. You just need to assess what will cost more to you, a dual card camera, or lost jobs/customers.


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## leadin2 (Jun 19, 2017)

No card failures in camera for me so far, maybe I didn't shoot enough. I believe wear and tear plays a part too. Is there probably a shooting pattern that we can observe, for example, shooting with plenty of high burst shots, frequent plug in and out your memory cards.


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## einstein72586 (Jun 19, 2017)

I have had a card failure before, luckily my camera has dual slots so I was saved. I was using a Lexar memory card( my understanding is this is not a low end brand, someone correct me if it is). Raw images were going to the Lexar and jpeg was going to the other card, preview was setup to read from the other card containing the jpegs. Card had been used multiple times before, formatting in between uses, and was less then a year old. Got home from a 2 week vacation and found that all the raw images on this card were completely corrupt and could not be saved. I formatted the card again, but the same thing repeated, all images were corrupted. Long story short, best idea is to have two card slots. I am not a professional, just a hobbyist, but even with that the idea of losing two weeks of photos from a overseas trip is scary. All future dslr purchases will require dual slots for me. I understand that card failures might be a rare thing, but rare doesn't mean none existent. So the true question is, is it worth having one card slot and having the "possibility" of losing all your photos. If your being paid, or its a once in a life time trip, I would "think" you would want to play it safe and have two. 

P.S. This is just my personal opinion based on my personal experiences. So don't go feeling the need to trash my post. I will admit that I was very interested in getting the 6d mark II, but if does in fact have only one card slot then based on my past experience I would have to say no to buying it even though I like the other specs the camera does have.


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## old-pr-pix (Jun 19, 2017)

Only one failure here out of dozens and dozens of cards. Sandisk Ultra 16 GB SD card - a fairly new card, it locked up in camera after proper format and 15 shots. Failed to store #16. Replaced card in camera and went on shooting the event. Never could recover the first 15 shots. Just glad failure wasn't after a lot more shots. Sandisk would replace the card but too many hoops to jump thru for a 16 GB card. After that I decided all future body acquisitions should be dual card.


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## neuroanatomist (Jun 19, 2017)

einstein72586 said:


> Got home from a 2 week vacation and found that all the raw images on this card were completely corrupt and could not be saved. ... If your being paid, or its a once in a life time trip, I would "think" you would want to play it safe and have two.



The fact that you didn't discover that your card had failed until you returned home suggests that you didn't check the RAW images, or back them up, during the trip. Yes, cards can fail - but it's far, far more likely that you'll either lose your camera or have it stolen on that 'once in a life time trip', and in that case, the number of card slots is irrelevant. 

To truly play it safe, back up your images at least nightly while traveling (or bring enough cards to use a new one each day).


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jun 19, 2017)

Certainly, I've had card failures, usually, its just some memory cells that have failed and can be mapped out, but one card failed and took the camera with it. Then it destroyed a 2nd DSLR before it was figured out.

Having a 2nd card may be critical, or for casual photos that can be repeated in case of failure, its not a big deal. If you are on a once in a lifetime trip, losing images may mean a lot more than the price of a upgraded camera to you, you can also take a backup camera and use it, thats even more reliable than dual cards, since cameras fail as well.


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## [email protected] (Jun 19, 2017)

I am terrible in how I treat my cards. I have four or five cards that have gone through the wash (and dryer) at least one time, in one case three times.

This is true for both SD and Compact Flash cards. None have failed once I got them up and going. 

I did have a Lexar card that was dead on arrival, and the company sent me a new one (after a month). I had a Sony card also dead on arrival, but they declined to honor their guarantee. Never got back to me after calls, emails and letter. Makes me wonder how their "pro" service that they launched with the A9 is going to do. Perhaps it'll lead to a better model for them, but as of now I'm skeptical of them. 

I buy Komputer Bay compact flash cards now because they're generally as fast as the Lexar/SanDisk ones, significantly cheaper, and apparently as reliable. For SD cards, I buy very large size cards that happen to be on promotion at the time. 

Most of my cameras have two slots, but I use one as overflow, rather than backup. That the 6D2 appears to have just one slot doesn't disappoint me but so much. I would have used the second slot for overflow in situations such as timelapse setups, where memory requirements are huge. 

The requirement for a 2nd slot strikes me as one of those "pro hangups," like not wishing to have a vari-angle screen or not wanting a fast or wide lens to have IS. 

The real risk of card corruption is centered on how the camera writes to the card, rather than a hardware issue with the card. As such, a wedding pro should be swapping cards out with some frequency, protecting the images from the camera. If a pro swaps a card out every hour, then a catastrophic failure might wipe 20 percent of the images. If a pro leaves two cards in the camera for an entire event, I'm not sure they're more protected.


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## pdirestajr (Jun 19, 2017)

I've never had a card fail, across multiple brands too. I also format my card every time I want to clear it. Don't know if that helps at all, it's just what I have always done so it's become my standard routine.


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## Luds34 (Jun 19, 2017)

neuroanatomist said:


> To truly play it safe, back up your images at least nightly while traveling (or bring enough cards to use a new one each day).



I tend to agree. This year I already took some big trips, definitely some once in a life time as even if/when I go back, it will be a different trip. Just got back from France recently, did Northern California two months ago, and before that a trip to Asia (Hong Kong, Cambodia, Thailand). 

I would be lying if I were not paranoid about losing the photos, especially from theft on all of those trips. I typically don't buy anything bigger then 32 gig cards to your very point that I don't ever want/need too many photos on a single card. So while I didn't swap out cards every night, I did every 2 or 3 days. Of course then my fear was also losing the SD cards.

General Question, without bringing a laptop on a trip/vacation, is their any easy way to back the photos off the SD card and on to some other portable storage? Because my general rule on a vacation is to enjoy the vacation, leaving work, and the internet behind.


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## Luds34 (Jun 19, 2017)

Forgot to add (as another data point) I have never had a card fail on my. However, I only shoot ~10k photos a year. And like others, I typically stick to quality brands (SanDisk). Although I do have a couple Lexar cards (professional series) I picked up on a deal a year or so ago that have served me well thus far.


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## neuroanatomist (Jun 19, 2017)

Luds34 said:


> General Question, without bringing a laptop on a trip/vacation, is their any easy way to back the photos off the SD card and on to some other portable storage? Because my general rule on a vacation is to enjoy the vacation, leaving work, and the internet behind.



Not cheap, but you could consider something like the Sanho HyperDrive, up to 2 TB direct backup for SD and CF cards. You can reduce the cost by buying just the case and putting in an HDD yourself.


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## Valvebounce (Jun 20, 2017)

Hi Luds. 
I don't know about devices to back up cards without a computer, but how about take your personal (not work) laptop, select flight mode and some self restraint so that you leave work and the internet behind! 
Personally, I have found the internet to be useful on holiday for finding places to go or things to see when the weather or other external influences require a change of plan. YMMV. 

To answer the on topic question, I have had both a card failure and a camera failure, important (to me) journeys and events, I always have a spare camera and cards. 
When my CF card failed it was after downloading the last lot of shots, quick format in the card reader (like hundreds of times before) put it in the camera and got a card needs formatting (paraphrasing) request, card cannot be formatted error so no shots lost, my 40D quit with err99, no shots lost unless you take in to account the slower fps, smaller buffer of the 300D that stepped up to the plate! 

Cheers, Graham. 

General Question, without bringing a laptop on a trip/vacation, is their any easy way to back the photos off the SD card and on to some other portable storage? Because my general rule on a vacation is to enjoy the vacation, leaving work, and the internet behind.
[/quote]


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## Luds34 (Jun 20, 2017)

neuroanatomist said:


> Luds34 said:
> 
> 
> > General Question, without bringing a laptop on a trip/vacation, is their any easy way to back the photos off the SD card and on to some other portable storage? Because my general rule on a vacation is to enjoy the vacation, leaving work, and the internet behind.
> ...



Thanks neuro. That does seem to fit the bill. You are correct as well that it is a bit pricey except for the supply your own hard drive option, is "reasonable" at $250. Of course if the only use case is the occasional trip/travel then it is a bit hard to justify. More junk for me to maintain, charge, etc.


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## Luds34 (Jun 20, 2017)

Valvebounce said:


> Hi Luds.
> I don't know about devices to back up cards without a computer, but how about take your personal (not work) laptop, select flight mode and some self restraint so that you leave work and the internet behind!
> Personally, I have found the internet to be useful on holiday for finding places to go or things to see when the weather or other external influences require a change of plan. YMMV.



Haha, yes of course. Agreed, I would never bring my work laptop with. My personal laptop would probably fit the bill just fine. It's an old, refurbished 13" Dell Latitude I picked up a few years ago and swapped in an SSD all said for 400 bucks. I just have linux on there and use it mostly for hitting the web. Would be more then fine for backing up images, and starts to make a lot of sense after looking at the cost of what neuro suggested.

Agreed, internet is useful for traveling. Smart phones are *very* useful for traveling! Just to navigate foreign cities, using a new subway system, train schedules, car rental for day, etc. I usually have a tablet along (for entertainment on flights) that is useful for looking stuff up before heading out from where I'm staying as well.

I agree on a little bit of self discipline. Thankfully not too much self discipline is required when you are traveling through new and exciting cities and towns.


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## privatebydesign (Jun 20, 2017)

Luds34 said:


> General Question, without bringing a laptop on a trip/vacation, is their any easy way to back the photos off the SD card and on to some other portable storage? Because my general rule on a vacation is to enjoy the vacation, leaving work, and the internet behind.



Yes WD My Passport Wireless Pro. Up to 4TB of portable battery powered goodness, built in SD card reader and 802.11ac wireless included along with the free app for integrated iOS/ Android workflow in the field. It also has a USB 2 port for connecting cameras or card readers that are not SD, and a USB 3 for connecting it to a computer.

It will backup SD cards and connected media automatically without a computer or device though you can check all your images and video are safe;y on it from any smart phone or tablet.


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## pwp (Jun 20, 2017)

CF and SD cards have become very stable, and presumably cFast cards are pretty rock solid as well. Although they're probably less likely to fail than a computer HDD (both spinning disk and SSD) there's always a possibility. I've had a few cards fail on me over time, most recently a 64Gb Lexar x1066 CF. It was an important job, and the SD card in the second slot of my 5DIV saved my bacon. 

For any high stakes commissioned work, I simply wouldn't be without dual cards. Ever. You're paid a lot of money to deliver the goods and _never ever_ f***-up. 

Enthusiast and amateur photography is no less valuable, the price of lost images can be a sickening disappointment and creatively crushing. 

Use of dual cards is such cheap and easy insurance. 

-pw


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## privatebydesign (Jun 20, 2017)

pwp said:


> For any high stakes commissioned work, I simply wouldn't be without dual cards. Ever. You're paid a lot of money to deliver the goods and _never ever_ f***-up.



So you don't shoot multi $100,000's campaigns on location with anything but the latest Hasselblad? Leibovitz et al have been doing MF digital location work for the highest end clients for years with one card slot.


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## Mikehit (Jun 20, 2017)

neuroanatomist said:


> Not cheap, but you could consider something like the Sanho HyperDrive, up to 2 TB direct backup for SD and CF cards. You can reduce the cost by buying just the case and putting in an HDD yourself.



The UDMA3 does not seem to be available any more :-\
I have recently bought an OTG cable for my tablet and apparently you can use it to download images from the tablet to an external hard drive.


We do have an old 10" netbook. Since the rise of the tablet, cheap small netbooks are hard to get but I find it ideal for in-travel backups.


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## LDS (Jun 20, 2017)

privatebydesign said:


> So you don't shoot multi $100,000's campaigns on location with anything but the latest Hasselblad? Leibovitz et al have been doing MF digital location work for the highest end clients for years with one card slot.



It may depend on your workflow. I guess many high-end works, especially commercial ones, are done with the camera tethered (wired or wireless), or the cards are downloaded quickly and inspected.

If the camera has a single slot but has wi-fi, when working within a limited are, wi-fi can be configured to transfer a copy to a PC. It may be a more complex setup, though.


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## Luds34 (Jun 20, 2017)

privatebydesign said:


> Luds34 said:
> 
> 
> > General Question, without bringing a laptop on a trip/vacation, is their any easy way to back the photos off the SD card and on to some other portable storage? Because my general rule on a vacation is to enjoy the vacation, leaving work, and the internet behind.
> ...



Thanks, this was more what I was looking for. Even the wifi and phone apps is probably overkill. I just wanted something simple enough as to basically be a portable HD that I can just pop a card into and hit a button to copy/merge to disk.


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## mnclayshooter (Jun 20, 2017)

I had a microSD fail in a smartphone - it would regularly de-mount from the phone's OS and cause corruption - I don't believe it was the card's electronics necessarily though, The mechanism that retained the card seemed to let go of it and allow it to get loose in the phone... thus making electrical contacts probably a little wonky. The new card fit very snugly and never had the same issue. It was a Sandisk product (I believe the gray/red variety - whatever "model" they call that), but it was apparently a known issue with that card (or at least there were a lot of complaints about it). For the very small dollars involved (I believe less than $15, I just threw it away and got a new one rather than dealing with the return/rebate whatever they offered and not having a card in the interim. That's the only failure out of at least 4 dozen cards I have for various devices. 

Incidentally, the small Xfinity X1 cable box for your secondary rooms (other than where the main DVR unit is) have SD's in them for buffering/storage. They are nearly constantly reading-writing back and forth, I've never had any indication that there's an issue with failure, and to my knowledge, they aren't being re-formatted etc, just deleted and over-written on a nearly constant basis while the TV is on, and potentially even when it is off when it is buffering your last watched channel. 

This is the WD device mentioned elsewhere. Looks like a nearly ideal solution for those using phones/tablets/traveling with cameras with SD's. I'll be looking into it, for certain. For $150, 1TB, $220 4TB. Seems like a win-win especially for work use in backing up my phone/tablet. 

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1322058-REG/wd_wdbsmt0040bbk_nesn_4tb_my_passport_wireless.html


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## bereninga (Jun 20, 2017)

Out of 10+ years, I've only had one SD card that occasionally generated corrupted images. It was a Lexar card, which I'll never buy again. I've used various brands otherwise. SanDisk has been the fastest for me.

Make sure to test out and use your card frequently before going out. Don't be shy to replace very old ones.


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## [email protected] (Jun 20, 2017)

I use 5D3 & 4, hence have dual cards. I always shoot RAW + jpg, copying both to both cards. I shoot a lot, daily, in complex circumstances. I have had only one fail: a Lexar 633x 64G SD became corrupt -- don't know why or how. I lost a few images. Tried everything --reformatted card, different cameras, readers, etc. Gave up. Lexar offered to replace card. 
I shoot difficult circumstances where threat is possible, so I shoot for a while, then replace cards with empty cards, and stash partly-filled cards where they won't be found except by very invasive search. If I'm really jacked up I give the CD card to the threat, and snivel; they usually don't know there's a SD card also. I offload daily to laptop, and have at least 2, usually 3 hard drives--one for me, one to colleague, one for hotel room. High capacity thumb drives (256G) around neck. Compulsive, but it's worked so far.


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## rfdesigner (Jun 20, 2017)

Never had a card fail...... yet

For me it's not just about corrupted cards.. but also what if I lose or damage a card. I've lost a load of irriplacable family images when my backup reigeme didn't catch a failed disk. So now I'm a LOT more wary generally. For me I want a backup ASAP after images are taken.. right now that means taking the card out of the camera and giving it to my laptop to make a copy, that's my "first base" (two coppies, two locations.. i.e. not both in the same box on the same power supply) With 2 cards in the camera, I can pull one, put it in my bag/pocket and I'm at first base, so I can do that with no kit what so ever.

A two card 6D2 would simplify my life no end.


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## IglooEater (Jun 20, 2017)

I never had a card fail in and of itself. Once LR froze during import and crashed the card, but it was easily recovered using SanDisc's software which was free with the card. The card still functions flawlessly


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## Sporgon (Jun 20, 2017)

Never had a card failure, which is why I want a camera with three card slots. After reading some of the comments here it's becoming clear to me that given the law of averages I'm heading for a monumental failure, and this could be two cards failing at the same time, which is why I want three.


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## Don Haines (Jun 20, 2017)

Sporgon said:


> Never had a card failure, which is why I want a camera with three card slots. After reading some of the comments here it's becoming clear to me that given the law of averages I'm heading for a monumental failure, and this could be two cards failing at the same time, which is why I want three.



I would also suggest backing up over WiFi as you go as an additional way to stay safe......


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## IglooEater (Jun 21, 2017)

Don Haines said:


> Sporgon said:
> 
> 
> > Never had a card failure, which is why I want a camera with three card slots. After reading some of the comments here it's becoming clear to me that given the law of averages I'm heading for a monumental failure, and this could be two cards failing at the same time, which is why I want three.
> ...



You're wifi could fail too. Instead you should probably always shoot tethered to a computer backing up to a Raid6 array, and instantly backing up to two different locations on the cloud. Two 350 foot cables and a couple jerkstoppers and you're all set for weddings.


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## Zv (Jun 21, 2017)

To the best of my recollection I've had zero SD card failures and one CF card failure. The CF card was a cheap Transcend one (I knew better). Though I can't remember the exact problem, I think it was not recording images and showed an error. Could've been a camera issue mind you. That was a while ago. Smooth sailing ever since with my Sandisk cards. 

Slightly unrelated but once I discovered a fake CF card. Not a fan of CF tbh, they're expensive, require card readers and not useful for much else. Can't even give them away.


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## scyrene (Jun 21, 2017)

My super tough SD card failed when I inserted it into the card slot in my laptop, then knocked the computer off the table. The card took all the force, and snapped :


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## sanj (Jun 21, 2017)

Thank you all. Interesting, educational!


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## pwp (Jun 21, 2017)

bereninga said:


> Out of 10+ years, I've only had one SD card that occasionally generated corrupted images. It was a Lexar card, which I'll never buy again. I've used various brands otherwise. SanDisk has been the fastest for me.
> 
> Make sure to test out and use your card frequently before going out. Don't be shy to replace very old ones.



You're brave continuing to use a suspect card. Suspect cards here are instantly bent with pliers to prevent further use and sent to landfill. Is it really worth the risk? 

-pw


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## pwp (Jun 21, 2017)

privatebydesign said:


> pwp said:
> 
> 
> > For any high stakes commissioned work, I simply wouldn't be without dual cards. Ever. You're paid a lot of money to deliver the goods and _never ever_ f***-up.
> ...



Ha ha! That's right....no Hasselblad. And no $100k campaigns either.  My last MF camera was a film kit, Mamiya RZ67, sold in 2002. I recently looked at a drum scanned 6x7 Velvia file and was stunned how bad it was compared to Canon files. Even my long retired 5D Classic and 1Ds files look better. 

You can be sure that everyone shooting big budget campaigns will have refined redundancy strategies in place regardless of how many card slots their cameras have. Leibovitz included. It's often not convenient to shoot tethered. WiFi is too slow for most shoots as a meaningful backup. Some shooters will use a number of smaller capacity cards and swap them out often and have them verified by an assistant. 

Dual slots was a very useful innovation. Period.

-pw


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## stochasticmotions (Jun 21, 2017)

I had a card fail on a trip to Costa Rica, lost an entire day of the trip (I switched cards each day and we had no electricity to backups in the cabins we stayed at). Even with forensic tools (I worked in computer and physics forensics at the time) the card was not recoverable (Kingston, which I have never bought since). My next camera had 2 card slots and I have always done jpg on the second ever since. Also helps when I forget to put a card back and wander out the door.

When you mostly do nature photography, you can't really go back and get the same shot again. 

On a side note, I still have to get back to Costa Rica to get the toucan and scarlet macaw shots that I lost.


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## Jopa (Jun 22, 2017)

Had it once. Sony A7r + Sony 64GB SD card. The card failed, the camera couldn't read it, my MacBook can't read it, but... an old Sony Vaio Z3 laptop COULD read it. I was able to get all images and format the card. It's still unreadable anywhere except of that Vaio laptop. Paradox


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## Orangutan (Jun 22, 2017)

pwp said:


> You can be sure that everyone shooting big budget campaigns will have refined redundancy strategies in place regardless of how many card slots their cameras have


True dat! As should we all: merely relying on dual cards is not safe, you have to maintain a data security plan throughout your workflow.




> Dual slots was a very useful innovation. Period.


No one said otherwise; the dispute is whether all cameras over a certain price threshold should be expected to have dual slots.


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## Keith_Reeder (Jun 23, 2017)

LDS said:


> Cards may fail. With wear, that chance will increase, and other factors will play as well (card quality, production batches, age, storage, etc. etc.)



That's ignoring the question - we all know it _can_ happen, the question is whether _it has_.

No, from me - not one failure in 12 years' shooting.


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## Keith_Reeder (Jun 23, 2017)

Luds34 said:


> General Question, without bringing a laptop on a trip/vacation, is their any easy way to back the photos off the SD card and on to some other portable storage?



I haven't done it yet, but it must be possible to rig up a Raspberry Pi and a card reader purely for the purpose of copying files from a card to a portable hdd or large capacity USB stick....


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## Keith_Reeder (Jun 23, 2017)

pwp said:


> My last MF camera was a film kit, Mamiya RZ67, sold in 2002



Presumably it exposed to two rolls of film at the same time?

You know - just in case?


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## Luds34 (Jun 23, 2017)

Keith_Reeder said:


> Luds34 said:
> 
> 
> > General Question, without bringing a laptop on a trip/vacation, is their any easy way to back the photos off the SD card and on to some other portable storage?
> ...



Ahhh, yeah, I like your thinking. Obviously use some giant micro SD card (like 128 gig), and like you said, would need an external reader to plug in via usb (or potentially the camera directly). A simple bash script running on detection of the new device (or automount more likely) could just do a simple rsync command. Not half bad.


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## Keith_Reeder (Jun 24, 2017)

Yep - and I suspect there's a honking big audience for such a solution. 

I hate having to lumber myself with laptops and other backup solutions when I'm on holiday _purely for backup purposes_, so a camera-to-storage solution that costs a few quid/bucks and fits in the palm of my hand, has huge appeal.

I'm massively out of the loop with such things though, but if someone else could spec up such a solution, I'd be all over it - and if someone wanted to make a device available in the UK - I'm your first customer.


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## Zv (Jun 24, 2017)

Keith_Reeder said:


> Yep - and I suspect there's a honking big audience for such a solution.
> 
> I hate having to lumber myself with laptops and other backup solutions when I'm on holiday _purely for backup purposes_, so a camera-to-storage solution that costs a few quid/bucks and fits in the palm of my hand, has huge appeal.
> 
> I'm massively out of the loop with such things though, but if someone else could spec up such a solution, I'd be all over it - and if someone wanted to make a device available in the UK - I'm your first customer.



It's weird there isn't some kind of thumb drive / portable flash media device that can just plug into your camera's USB port and copy all the files. Or maybe there is and I'm also not aware of it. Feel like this could be a kickstarter project.


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## jeffa4444 (Jul 12, 2017)

On a personal level Ive never had an SD or CF card failure and Ive taken thousands of shots on numerous Canon cameras ever since digital appeared. 

Professionally we have had a large number of CFast card failures shooting video, thankfully the data in every case has been recoverable but they are not a reliable medium in hard professional use.


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## foo (Jul 12, 2017)

jeffa4444 said:


> they are not a reliable medium in hard professional use.



what is though? getting that five nines level of reliability tends to be prohibitively expensive no matter what industry you're talking about


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## foo (Jul 12, 2017)

Keith_Reeder said:


> I haven't done it yet, but it must be possible to rig up a Raspberry Pi and a card reader purely for the purpose of copying files from a card to a portable hdd or large capacity USB stick....



the problem is that most small low power devices like the RPi are USB 2.0. So while it's easily possible, it's also horribly slow. Given a camera with useful wifi you'd be as well just getting a wifi capable RPi, or a usb wifi dongle, and sending the images that way

my camera has usb 3.0, so what I do is to plug the camera directly into something with a usb 3 port (not an RPi obviously) the camera is detected and any new images automatically downloaded with gphoto2


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## DJL329 (Jul 12, 2017)

Luds34 said:


> Keith_Reeder said:
> 
> 
> > Luds34 said:
> ...



Years ago, I remember seeing an external HD that could offload your photos. I did a quick search and found this one from Western Digital:

https://www.wdc.com/products/portable-storage/my-passport-wireless-pro.html

I has an SD card slot, but also accepts inputs, such as a CF card reader or connect directly to the camera. It even has it's own battery to charge USB devices.


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## jeffa4444 (Jul 12, 2017)

foo said:


> jeffa4444 said:
> 
> 
> > they are not a reliable medium in hard professional use.
> ...



Most of the damage is through mechanical use so it points to CFast not being robust enough regarding its pins. We have had a much lower number damaged through power spikes because the cards have no protection (which given their design would be hard to do).


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## foo (Jul 12, 2017)

DJL329 said:


> I has an SD card slot, but also accepts inputs, such as a CF card reader or connect directly to the camera. It even has it's own battery to charge USB devices.



That sort of thing is ideal.. Interestingly tho, from the specs it has a usb 3 port for connection to a PC, but the port for a camera / CF reader is only usb 2... So in-camera copy from CF to SD first then put the SD in that will probably work out quicker.


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## neuroanatomist (Jul 12, 2017)

DJL329 said:


> Luds34 said:
> 
> 
> > Keith_Reeder said:
> ...



Seems as if you may need a tablet along for the ride if you want to transfer images via a card reader, but maybe not, it's not clear from the docs/reviews (and maybe transfering from the camera's USB connection directly would work?). SD cards can be automatically imported with no other device required. You'd need a tablet to view the images, and RAW images cannot be viewed (so you'd need to shoot RAW+JPG to view on a tablet on the go).

The Sanho HyperDrive I mentioned a couple pages back directly accepts both SD and CF cards, and you can view images on the device (no tablet required). However, it's a more costly solution than the WD device.


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## BillB (Jul 12, 2017)

Luds34 said:


> neuroanatomist said:
> 
> 
> > To truly play it safe, back up your images at least nightly while traveling (or bring enough cards to use a new one each day).
> ...



Traveling by car, I like having the laptop along for initial ratings of shots and getting ideas for what I might like to reshoot. Traveling by air, a laptop is definitely more of a hassle


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## derrald (Jul 12, 2017)

I have had three failures in 12 years of shooting. The first two times I was able to get my images off my card. The card simply stopped taking images and I kept getting Err messages. This was with CF cards on older camers (20D, 5D).

The last time it happened I had just bought my 5DsR and had put in new cards. I had it in dual write mode (backup) and when I went to shoot it would lock up the camera. It was very strange. It was so strange that I thought the camera was defective. I actually shared my experience with Bryan Carnathan with The Digital Picture and we went through some scenarios. After more thorough testing it proved that the card was bad out of the box. (CF again) 

My photos were safe in this instance because of the dual write. 

In all cases these were SANDISK cards, incidentally. I always keep my bad cards and mark them as such.

To further this conversation, I own two cameras with dual slots - a 7D Mark II and the 5Ds R. With the 7D Mark II I use the dual slots as overflow because I use that as a wildlife camera and want to continue shooting if the card fills. The 5Ds R is always in backup mode because it is mainly landscape, macro.

A single card slot is not a deal breaker for my use, but it is a nice feature and I always appreciate.


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## privatebydesign (Jul 21, 2017)

neuroanatomist said:


> DJL329 said:
> 
> 
> > Luds34 said:
> ...



No you don't need a tablet to backup/copy from a connected card reader or camera. You can set it up to copy any connected USB device automatically, of course with no tablet/phone you have no way of viewing those backed up files to see if they were in fact copied but it will do the backup sans third device.

I just got the WD Wireless Pro to accompany me on my travels with an iPad, more for other media than photo backup. 

But for those inveterate travelers we do now have a fully working mobile RAW only workflow. I use an iPad and the Lightening to USB 3 Camera Adapter and connect my camera directly, it can use card readers by why bother with yet another item? Anyway, Photos now takes RAW files and LightRoom Mobile now processes RAW files and you have most of the controls the desktop app gives you. If you need the space you can move the files off the iPad onto the My Passport Wireless Pro or that gives you the option of another backup. All of this is fully available with no internet connection.

You can then sync the files and edits/keywords/ratings etc to your CC account and/or home LR library via the internet if you want to and have availability, or wait till you get home and do it then.

It isn't buggy either, we now truthfully have a full RAW workflow available whilst traveling light.


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## Aglet (Jul 21, 2017)

flawless performance from all Sandisk and Lexar cards I've used, some now many years old and re-written 100 + times.

mixed results with no-name cards, never trust them for anything critical.

surprising partial failures from numerous Kingston cards, sometimes right from new.
Usually manifesting as corruption and failure to read, file loss. They generally smarten up for a while if I low-level format them but I've come to no longer trust them for critical work.

I'm now testing Samsung EVO & Pro SD cards... So far not thrilled with their write speeds.


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## tron (Jul 25, 2017)

I may have an issue with 5D4 and an SD card that works perfectly on 5D3 7D2 5DsR.

When taken from these cameras and put to 5D4 it couldnot be formatted/seen/written (either with previous data or formatted on the previous camera). I do not have this issue with other cameras and this sd card.

I do not remember testing with a 2nd card though.

The only way this card can be seen from 5D4 is to fully - not fast- format it on a pc and then put it to 5D4 and format it.

My 5D4 runs latest firmware (1.04).

I had an old freeze incident with my 5D4 and a SD card (and I had also solved it by fully formatting on my pc)

I cannot be sure that this is the exact sd card but all cards (CF and SD) worked - and work - flawlessly on all my pre-5D4 cameras...

It isn't a big deal since if I leave it on my 5D4 all the time I have no issues but it makes me not trust completely the sd slot in 5D4. 

I understand that I have not tested all combinations (more SD cards, CF card, etc).

EDIT: I have an old backup device: Hyperdrive UDMA (ver 1) which backups successfully FAT32 cards (not exFAT) which for my Canon cameras means all CF cards up to 128GB (I do not have bigger than that!) and SD cards up to 32 GB. I do have bigger than that so I also got a NEXTTO 2901 which understands exFAT. So why I keep the Hyperdrive? It supports recover function which means I have rescue capabilities in case I need them.


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## stevelee (Jul 25, 2017)

I've never had a card to fail. One precaution I take is to format the card in the camera where I am going to use it, and I don't write anything to the card from anything else. I don't know whether that helps, but it seems to make sense to do.

I have had a card not to work in a particular camera. Last fall I bought a G7X II for my travel camera before I left on a long driving trip through the Rockies that concluded with a swing through the Florida Panhandle and to Savannah and Charleston. (Didn't make much sense to me either, but my friend in OK wanted to visit those cities while we were out.)

Since I hadn't had much time with my new camera, I took along my venerable S120 as a backup. I never needed to use it on the trip, but it had a 32GB card in it that I was going to use when I filled up the one in the new camera. When the time came, that card wouldn't work in the new one, though it did fine in the S120. It wasn't ancient or offbrand, but must not have met the G7X's requirements. I didn't bother with researching, but just popped in a 4GB card I had along, and then bought an 8GB card at the park's visitor center, and added a 64GB card from the next Wal-Mart we encountered. All those RAW files wound up on my computer's SSD and presumably are backed up in Time Machine, and resultant JPEGs of my favorites are posted on line. If I lose any of the originals, I'm unlikely to miss them at this point.


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## Aglet (Jul 26, 2017)

Was just working with an older camera I haven't used for 3 years...
Kingston SD card
Had trouble reading files off it. Got them all off, about 3 GB worth, but sometimes it seemed like it was struggling to read as the transfer rate was up and down a lot and it took nearly half an hour to transfer what should have only taken minutes.
New files written to the card read back quickly, as normal.
I don't think this brand uses ICs that are as good at maintaining their bit integrity for long periods of time.


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## stein (Aug 29, 2017)

Had 2 x CF Lexar 128GB 800x failed, got them replaced and nothing since. BUT did a mess up with my friends camera, I put the SD sandisk 8 gb wrong way into the card reader and that destroyed the card.. Just twisted it 180 degrees.
Stein, Norway


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Aug 29, 2017)

I still have not tried to troubleshoot why my 5D MK IV locked up shooting the eclipse, but my new Lexar 128 GB CF card is definitely suspect. I restarted the camera, and it worked fine, but it may be writing to a different portion of the card after restarting.

I think I'll look into that.


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## Aglet (Aug 31, 2017)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> I still have not tried to troubleshoot why my 5D MK IV locked up shooting the eclipse, but my new Lexar 128 GB CF card is definitely suspect. I restarted the camera, and it worked fine, but it may be writing to a different portion of the card after restarting.
> 
> I think I'll look into that.



HATE when stuff like that happens! 
i was in the middle of a big pano in fast changing sunset light with an old Rebel XSi bunch of yrs ago and same thing.... locked up in the middle of the shoot.
Had to pull the battery to get it to behave again and lost the magic light by the time everything was back together. Frustrating, but the only time it ever did that.


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## Aglet (Aug 31, 2017)

Just had a Lexar Platinum II 16GB SD fail now..
Totally dead, no access. Likely wasn't anything critical on it or I'd have DL'd it immediately after shooting but lost a few hundred shots. Grrr. Very low use card.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Aug 31, 2017)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> I still have not tried to troubleshoot why my 5D MK IV locked up shooting the eclipse, but my new Lexar 128 GB CF card is definitely suspect. I restarted the camera, and it worked fine, but it may be writing to a different portion of the card after restarting.
> 
> I think I'll look into that.



I did a complete low level format of the card using Lexar image rescue 5, 128GB takes about a hour. No issues found. 

I'm still puzzled, I was controlling the camera via wi-fi and my iphone, so it would have been a wi-fi glitch. I was using camera settings previously setup in C2, so I can still replicate the settings, but time to move on.


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## Perio (Aug 31, 2017)

I had one of my SD cards with tons of dental clinical photographs failed. The card stopped being recognized by the camera and my Mac laptop. Strangely, a few months later I purchased an iMac and it recognized the card right away.


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## stevelee (Aug 31, 2017)

I've not ever had a card to fail, but I have encountered incompatibility. 

Last fall before a trip through the Rockies, I bought a G7X II. I also took along my S120. I never needed to use the latter, but it had a 32GB card in it. So when I had filled the card in the former, I took the card out of the unused camera, but it was not recognized at all, so reformatting in the newer camera was not possible. I put the card back in the S120, and it still worked fine.


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## 9VIII (Aug 31, 2017)

The weird thing is that anyone working in IT would get fired the moment they suggest not having storage redundancy. If you care about data management then the idea of using a single card should be absolutely unacceptable. 
Everything but the Powershot line should have dual slots.

At the very least if you can't run redundant storage in one device then you should have regular (ideally daily) backups to a separate storage device.
If you're on the road or actively shooting throughout the day, it would be nice to have a small device that _does_ have two card slots so you could just stick the active card in and have it automatically copy everything for redundancy. I'm surprised no-one has created any kind of pocket sized "quick copy" systems.
The benefit of saving to a second card and not just a portable HDD is you would still have a second card if your first one fails.
I guess now that Canon's Blutooth connection allows browsing through the memory card and transferring pictures maybe that will be a good step forward. Hopefully they have an easy "download all" option.


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## Aglet (Aug 31, 2017)

9VIII said:


> The weird thing is that anyone working in IT would get fired the moment they suggest not having storage redundancy. If you care about data management then the idea of using a single card should be absolutely unacceptable.
> Everything but the Powershot line should have dual slots.
> 
> At the very least if you can't run redundant storage in one device then you should have regular (ideally daily) backups to a separate storage device.
> ...



Actually, there used to be such similar devices quite a few years ago. Some with built in portable HDs and enuf smarts that you could choose to copy to HD or another flash device. I'd never used one but a pro photog buddy gave me his ancient one a few years ago but I didn't get a chance to play with it. I think that old one maxed out at 2GB card support anyway which is why he gave it to me to play with. I may still have that in a box somewhere... which I should contribute to a museum. LOL


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