# How many cards?



## Jack56 (Dec 18, 2013)

At the moment I've got a 60d and an mark5dIII.
I've got two Lexar professional 16GB 400x speed SD cards and with the mark5dIII (bought today) I bought a sandisk 16GB 400x speed. At home I thought, why did I buy a card with the mark 5dIII?
Will two cards be enough?


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## Random Orbits (Dec 18, 2013)

I'd keep the compact flash. The camera writes to it much faster and it's also much faster when transferring the files from the card to the computer. SD cards are slower in practice. For more critical shots, I'll set the 5DIII to write RAWs to both cards. Otherwise, I'm leaving the SD card in there but I'm only using the CF.


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## Jack56 (Dec 18, 2013)

Is the compact flash card for shooting in raw only or for jpeg also?


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## Random Orbits (Dec 18, 2013)

You can choose. It is up to you.


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## Drizzt321 (Dec 18, 2013)

Depends exactly on how much you shoot and if you are going to shoot so much at one time you'll fill up the card and need another.

For me, I find a 32GB CF to be more than enough for an average random day out and about with my 5d3, but if I know I'm shooting an event or something I'll always have a 2nd just in case. For some events, I make sure I have my 3rd & 4th with me. Sometimes I shoot so many photos it scares me. Usually at concerts/events/performances. Stuff where I always shoot in 2-3 (or more) frame bursts because things can change so much moment to moment.


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## JPAZ (Dec 18, 2013)

The 5diii files, (especially RAW) are a bit bigger than on the 60d. Relatively speaking, memory is cheap. If you think you'll take more than 400 shots before being able to backup or download the files to a computer, I'd get another CF card. I know I like not to delete anything off my cards when I travel, even if I back them up (that's the belt and suspenders in me) so I always have at least 2 copies of every shot until I get home.


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## neuroanatomist (Dec 19, 2013)

I always have (at least) one more card than the camera has slots. That way, you keep the files on the card as a backup, until your HDD is also backed up (in at least two places, preferably). Now that I have a 1D X, I write RAW to both cards, and I've got two or more copies of each image from the moment of capture.


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## ejenner (Dec 20, 2013)

neuroanatomist said:


> I always have (at least) one more card than the camera has slots. That way, you keep the files on the card as a backup, until your HDD is also backed up (in at least two places, preferably). Now that I have a 1D X, I write RAW to both cards, and I've got two or more copies of each image from the moment of capture.



x2. Although I slightly break this rule with the 7D since it's not my primary camera. I shouldn't though. Anything serious better be backed up on two HDD before I delete it from the card. It I'm traveling then I keep a copy on the card and one on the PC, or copy to other external drives before re-using the card.

More than two cards per camera per slot can get confusing, so I like two and get them as large as need be for a days shooting.


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## Eldar (Dec 20, 2013)

neuroanatomist said:


> I always have (at least) one more card than the camera has slots. That way, you keep the files on the card as a backup, until your HDD is also backed up (in at least two places, preferably). Now that I have a 1D X, I write RAW to both cards, and I've got two or more copies of each image from the moment of capture.


+1
I have two 2x2 64GB 1000x CF card sets for the 1DX and 2x (1 64GB 1000x CF + 1 128GB SD) for the 5DIII. Only once have I filled the 64GB cards before downloading though, but better safe than sorry. I have seen some very good deals on memory cards lately.


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## wickidwombat (Dec 20, 2013)

I have a dozen or so 32gb cf cards and maybe 8 32gb 45mb/s SD cards
If I only had 2 or 3 cards I'd have a nervous breakdown


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## cid (Dec 20, 2013)

I always carry 4 or more SDHC cards (Sandisk Extreme), since SDHC are small and light there is no issue having some spare cards with me all the time.

For some time I even carried one backup card in my wallet all the time, even in situations I hadn't my camera with me. 8)


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## eli452 (Dec 20, 2013)

Event (and I'm assuming you are not a pro, just shooting in an event) takes a lot but for you recording of the event 32GB is enough. Also for a casual day trip. As a tourist on a long vacation/trip away from download options - The rule I know from film days is 1 roll every 1.5 days to 1.5 rolls per day (top about 50 per day, every day including flight days) in digital we tend to shot more.


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## JohnUSA (Dec 20, 2013)

Depends what kind of shooting you do.

Having a dual slot is beneficial for redundant backup of files. Also for myself as a second wedding shooter the main photographer will give me one of his/her cards that will be returned at the end of the day. This way there's no need to download the images at the end of the night or give one of my cards to mailed back in a week or two.

Anyway I have two 64 GB cards that stay in my 5D3. Was considering the 32 GB cards but some weddings go past 32 GB and I don't want to change cards during a wedding.

In a nutshell... you can't have enough cards.


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## neuroanatomist (Dec 20, 2013)

eli452 said:


> The rule I know from film days is 1 roll every 1.5 days to 1.5 rolls per day (top about 50 per day, every day including flight days) in digital we tend to shot more.



At $2.50 per 36-exp roll plus $7 developing with 4x6" prints, the number of shots I took on a recent 3-day family vacation would have paid for a new Rebel with kit lens.


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## scottkinfw (Dec 20, 2013)

I always have a few.

Look for some deals that are around not (twofers). In the off chance that one may fail, or get filled up, or dropped, etc. I write to the CF and keep the SD in as overflow. Some of the SanDisks at a great deal now, like $85 USD if you look on Amazon, etc. You won't regret having them.

Scott



Jack56 said:


> At the moment I've got a 60d and an mark5dIII.
> I've got two Lexar professional 16GB 400x speed SD cards and with the mark5dIII (bought today) I bought a sandisk 16GB 400x speed. At home I thought, why did I buy a card with the mark 5dIII?
> Will two cards be enough?


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## Vivid Color (Dec 20, 2013)

neuroanatomist said:


> At $2.50 per 36-exp roll plus $7 developing with 4x6" prints, the number of shots I took on a recent 3-day family vacation would have paid for a new Rebel with kit lens.



Exactly. I used to spend a ton of money on film and developing and printing. No wonder I can afford nice lenses now. 

But to the OP's original question: I always have two thoughts in mind when deciding how many cards to take with me: 1) How many shots do I think I will take? And 2) It's better to bring home empty cards than not have them with you.


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## jdramirez (Dec 20, 2013)

I have two 8gb sd cards, 1 32gb sd card, a 16 gb sd, and an 8gb cf 800x lexar. 

I have an mkiii and my daughter has a sl1. As I fill the cf, I'll transfer over to the sd, clear the cf and continue again.

I probably only need the cards, the cf, and the two big sd, but there isn't much of a market for old sd cards, so they hang around.


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## RustyTheGeek (Dec 20, 2013)

wickidwombat said:


> I have a dozen or so 32gb cf cards and maybe 8 32gb 45mb/s SD cards
> If I only had 2 or 3 cards I'd have a nervous breakdown


I have to say that I'm the same way. It depends on how much you shoot and how disciplined you are with offloading your images to the computer. But I shoot so much over the year that I would go nuts if I had to do that with only two or three cards. I like to keep images on the card until I've had a chance to take the images all the way to final JPG exports and uploads to my online site. Then there are several copies and I can easily format the media they started out on from the camera and know the images are safe. So I also have lots of CF and SD cards that I use often. YOU CAN'T HAVE TOO MUCH MEMORY!

Avoid potential loss in camera or in the field. Depending on the number of images I am shooting over the course of a day, weekend or week, I use multiple smaller capacity cards instead of a single large media. This way, I have something like two media cards per day so if one media were to get corrupted, lost or stolen, I would at least still have half the images. Imagine if I shot a whole weekend on one media card and lost that single card. Poof! Everything is lost. Where if I were changing cards during the shoots, I would still have maybe 3/4 of the weekend's images in my possession.

Also, when buying cards, watch out for counterfeit cards. Download some of the verification software and test your cards. If it's too cheap to be true, it's probably a fake card.

http://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com/

http://flashfakecentral.wordpress.com/

http://www.passmark.com/support/bit_fake_USB_detection.htm


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## Northstar (Jan 2, 2014)

RustyTheGeek said:


> wickidwombat said:
> 
> 
> > I have a dozen or so 32gb cf cards and maybe 8 32gb 45mb/s SD cards
> ...



Good info Rusty...thanks!


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## RGF (Jan 2, 2014)

Do you travel? If you travel, extra cards can save your trip. 

If card goes bad or if you accidentally format it before downloading images, I put it aside and deal with at home.

I have a 12+ 32GB high end cards (Sandisk Extreme / Extreme Pro or Lexar 1000x) plus just added 4 Lexar 800x 64GB.

My goal is a 3 week trip to Africa without having to reuse a card.


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## dickgrafixstop (Jan 10, 2014)

I'm sitting here staring at a stack of CF and SD cards and thinking "why?". Backup, availability of original shot,
easy filing, and so forth. If you consider a 16 gig card holds 500 or so 30 meg shots it's so much cheaper than
film to just store them. I back up on hard drives, but they go bad too. By the way - that's also the reason that
I prefer multiple cards over larger ones - I'd rather have 4 4-meg cards than one 16 meg.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jan 10, 2014)

I got tired of changing 16GB cards and bought 64GB CF and SD last year. 

Now I take the 16GB along with me just in case, otherwise, I use them in my 40D where they will hold far more images that I'll ever take with that body. I use the 40D for product photography in my studio, it gets used about 3 days a week for 20-50 shots.


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## wsmith96 (Jan 10, 2014)

I have a camera with one card slot, but keep 4 sd cards available. Personal preference of course, but cards are cheap (relatively speaking) and it makes it easy to keep a few clear for use at all times.

my $.02


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## Northstar (Jan 10, 2014)

After reading some posts here I decided to order two 16gb lexar 1000x cards for $100. 

You guys sold me on the need to have some extra cards....so now I have 5 total for my two bodies. (And a dozen plus cards that have been and will continue to gather dust because they've become too small/slow).


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## jdramirez (Jan 10, 2014)

Northstar said:


> After reading some posts here I decided to order two 16gb lexar 1000x cards for $100.
> 
> You guys sold me on the need to have some extra cards....so now I have 5 total for my two bodies. (And a dozen plus cards that have been and will continue to gather dust because they've become too small/slow).



I give my away old cards via sale. I'll sell a body and I'll throw in a free 4GB/8GB to sweeten the pot. I suppose it works well enough.


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## viggen61 (Jan 10, 2014)

Jack56 said:


> At the moment I've got a 60d and an mark5dIII.
> I've got two Lexar professional 16GB 400x speed SD cards and with the mark5dIII (bought today) I bought a sandisk 16GB 400x speed. At home I thought, why did I buy a card with the mark 5dIII?
> Will two cards be enough?



How much shooting do you do? Do you shoot RAW or JPEG? Answering these questions can go a long way to helping you work out whether two 16GB cards are enough.

I know that, for my shooting, that would not be enough. I have, on several occasions, filled a 32 GB card with 18MP RAW images from my 7D. That's around 1,200 RAWs. Of course, many, if not most of those, get culled out later, but when I am shooting wildlife scenes at 8FPS, I can easily fill a 32GB Card.

I recently bought a second pair of 1000x 32GB Lexar CF cards, to give me a total of 4 32GB 1000x, 3 16GB 400x, and an 8GB 400x. That's over 6,000 RAW shots. I'm not sure how many JPEGs that would be, but I'd guess at least 25,000...

For multiple-day trips, I like to be able to use different cards on different days. It seems to help me when I'm importing.


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## endiendo (Jan 10, 2014)

I have a 5dIII. And had a lot of sd (big, small, fast, slow) cards that I used in my older camera.
For the 5dIII, I bought a big - slow - compact flash, and, in addition to my standard sd cards, I bought a very fast SD card.
fast SD cards are a lot cheaper than fast compact flash.. 
I also gave a try to a very fast and expensive compact flash that my wife have for her 7d.

To transfer to computer, I notice no differences. I have an integrated card-reader in the computer, and, of course, fast compact flash goes fast, fast sd goes fast, slow sd goes slow, and slow compactflash goes slow... 

I also didn't notice any difference when shooting, with the 5d3. fast sd goes fast, fast compactflash goes fast...that's all. So I try to have always 2 cards in it, one primary, fast, and the other as a "second" when the first is full.

So finally, for me, this debate is a debate about the cost of the cards..


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## eli452 (Jan 10, 2014)

In short the simple answer seems to be "more", I just came across the following http://www.lexar.com/products/lexar-professional-3333x-cfast-card (that's Lexar new 256GB Professional 3333x CFast™ 2.0 card) and the answer can change to "1".


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## neuroanatomist (Jan 10, 2014)

eli452 said:


> (that's Lexar new 256GB Professional 3333x CFast™ 2.0 card) and the answer can change to "1"



That's a whole lot of eggs that will fit in that one basket. I think I recall my momma saying something about that…


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## jdramirez (Jan 10, 2014)

endiendo said:


> I have a 5dIII. And had a lot of sd (big, small, fast, slow) cards that I used in my older camera.
> For the 5dIII, I bought a big - slow - compact flash, and, in addition to my standard sd cards, I bought a very fast SD card.
> fast SD cards are a lot cheaper than fast compact flash..
> I also gave a try to a very fast and expensive compact flash that my wife have for her 7d.
> ...



Rumor has it that the sd in a mkiii is slow regardless of its speed rating. I usually just have the cf card in my mkiii and then pop in the sd card to copy over.


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## RGF (Jan 10, 2014)

neuroanatomist said:


> eli452 said:
> 
> 
> > (that's Lexar new 256GB Professional 3333x CFast™ 2.0 card) and the answer can change to "1"
> ...



If you accidentally format the card, you can recover images. Or the card starts acting funny. Just don't shoot until you do.

So you never make a mistake and your cards are flawless, sure 1 card is enough. If you are human or your equipment has an occasional glitch, like the rest of us, then a few extra cards will help.


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## Eldar (Jan 10, 2014)

RGF said:


> neuroanatomist said:
> 
> 
> > eli452 said:
> ...


I switched from 16GB to 64GB and that made me nervous. One card takes from 2500 to 3000 RAW images and if you wait until it´s full before you swap, a faulty card or any other fxxx up may be quite disastrous. In both my 1DX and 5DIII I duplicate all images on the two available cards, but I either swap cards or download every day. 

But I remember when I was thrilled to get my first 8GB CF card, so I suppose 256GB is a candidate for being standard when we go to +45MP images.


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## cliffwang (Jan 10, 2014)

eli452 said:


> In short the simple answer seems to be "more", I just came across the following http://www.lexar.com/products/lexar-professional-3333x-cfast-card (that's Lexar new 256GB Professional 3333x CFast™ 2.0 card) and the answer can change to "1".


You still need 1 spare CF card and one SD card for Magic Lantern.


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## mackguyver (Jan 11, 2014)

Eldar said:


> But I remember when I was thrilled to get my first 8GB CF card, so I suppose 256GB is a candidate for being standard when we go to +45MP images.


I remember being thrilled when I bought my first 256MB CompactFlash card! I still carry it as a back up if you can believe that. I paid like $200 for it, so I can't just throw it away


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## jdramirez (Jan 11, 2014)

mackguyver said:


> Eldar said:
> 
> 
> > But I remember when I was thrilled to get my first 8GB CF card, so I suppose 256GB is a candidate for being standard when we go to +45MP images.
> ...



$200... Ouch. The most I ever spent on a card was $20 and even then it was an effort to open up the wallet.


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## ERHP (Jan 11, 2014)

Both 5D MK III's have a 64GB Delkin 1050X(same price as the 1000X when ordered) in them when I'm out, with a pair of 64GB Delkin 700X and a single 32GB Delkin 1000X in the pack as spares. If I leave the local 100 mile nearby area, I generally throw in a couple of additional 32GB Delkin 700X cards just in case I take 8K+ RAW shots or a card nukes.


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## Canon1 (Jan 11, 2014)

Someone here mentioned they give or sell their old cards with camera bodies. I will never get rid of my old cards. I accidentally formatted a card once and used the recovery software to get back my images. I found hundreds and hundreds of images on there from months and months prior. I had formatted that card dozens of times and yet there were tons of images from past shooting days. 

There may be a better way to format a card then using the camera to totally erase all the little bits and bytes.... but then again there are some very clever programs out there for file recovery.

I'm not saying that my work is so valuable I wouldn't want someone else getting it, but that it is too* personal* to me! 

I keep all old cards.


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## jdramirez (Jan 11, 2014)

Canon1 said:


> Someone here mentioned they give or sell their old cards with camera bodies. I will never get rid of my old cards. I accidentally formatted a card once and used the recovery software to get back my images. I found hundreds and hundreds of images on there from months and months prior. I had formatted that card dozens of times and yet there were tons of images from past shooting days.
> 
> There may be a better way to format a card then using the camera to totally erase all the little bits and bytes.... but then again there are some very clever programs out there for file recovery.
> 
> ...



When you format, did you do a slow format or a quick one?

When you do a full format, the computer writes over every block back to simple 1's and 0's. It takes forever. A quick format just marked everything as deleted and is consequently recoverable. 

I might be wrong about that, but that is my understanding.


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## Canon1 (Jan 11, 2014)

jdramirez said:


> When you format, did you do a slow format or a quick one?
> 
> When you do a full format, the computer writes over every block back to simple 1's and 0's. It takes forever. A quick format just marked everything as deleted and is consequently recoverable.
> 
> I might be wrong about that, but that is my understanding.



I just format with the camera. So for a CF card you don't have a choice. With SD I do a low level format.


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## cliffwang (Jan 12, 2014)

jdramirez said:


> When you format, did you do a slow format or a quick one?
> 
> When you do a full format, the computer writes over every block back to simple 1's and 0's. It takes forever. A quick format just marked everything as deleted and is consequently recoverable.
> 
> I might be wrong about that, but that is my understanding.



Full format will not erase data on sectors. However, it will scan bad sectors for you. That's why you still can recovery data from full formatted discs/cards. Nowadays hard drives and flash drives/cards rarely have bad sectors, so quick formatted is recommended.


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## jdramirez (Jan 12, 2014)

I guess they are welcome to my d!ck pics... excuse me... my art photos.



cliffwang said:


> jdramirez said:
> 
> 
> > When you format, did you do a slow format or a quick one?
> ...


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## alexanderferdinand (Jan 12, 2014)

I am deeply understanding wickidwombat: to have a (or two or three) spares is always necessary.
And with the double slot on the 5DMk3 this camera got professional in my mind: no worries about a corrupt card or file.

BTW: 16 and 32GB seem to have the right capacity for raw. 500 up to 1000 files are not too much to remember a bit of the non- exif data in my memory, not too less to shoot something important and dont want to change the cards.


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## RGF (Jan 26, 2014)

Canon1 said:


> jdramirez said:
> 
> 
> > When you format, did you do a slow format or a quick one?
> ...



every so often I do a slow format in the computer. This checks for bad blocks/sectors on the card. The quick format (and in camera format) only clear the directory table.


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## gshocked (Mar 9, 2014)

Hi

I've got 2 x 16 GB 160 mb/s CF cards and a heap of 16 GB 15 mb/s SD cards.
I shoot mainly events and this gets me through a day. I've done a few weddings and you really need a few 32 GB CF cards....


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## tron (Mar 9, 2014)

I had 3 x 32GB CF Sandisk Extreme cards (2 x 60MB/sec, 1X 30MB/sec) and 1 X 32GB SD Extreme (at 45MB/sec)
for my 5D3 and 5D2 cameras. Now that my 5D2 has been sold and replaced by a second 5D3 I ordered
a Sandisk CF 64GB Extreme pro at 160MB/sec and a Sandisk Extreme pro 64GB SD card at 95MB/sec (I know that
a fast SD card is an overkill for a 5D3 but I want it water/shock/etc... proof and the difference in cost wasn't so much.
The only downside I will have to wait for about a month (but I am not in a hurry...)


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## EricFiskCGD (Mar 9, 2014)

I'll echo what's been said already to an extent - you need to have at least a pair for every camera you have. If you're getting paid for a job to take photographs it might be best to buy two memory sticks for that specific job. 

I have no idea if cards have a shelf life or if you can "wear" them out by loading and erasing, loading and erasing,loading and erasing, and loading and erasing. Why take the chance... buying new cards is cheaper than losing everything you're working on.


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## mikejkay (Mar 9, 2014)

jdramirez said:


> endiendo said:
> 
> 
> > I have a 5dIII. And had a lot of sd (big, small, fast, slow) cards that I used in my older camera.
> ...



You should read the thread on the 5DIII buffer in eos bodies. Write speed, writing RAW to CF in Slot 1 and backing up with a large JPEG to the SD card in Slot 2, is severely compromised because Slot 2 is crippled.


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## mikejkay (Mar 9, 2014)

EricFiskCGD said:


> I'll echo what's been said already to an extent - you need to have at least a pair for every camera you have. If you're getting paid for a job to take photographs it might be best to buy two memory sticks for that specific job.
> 
> I have no idea if cards have a shelf life or if you can "wear" them out by loading and erasing, loading and erasing,loading and erasing, and loading and erasing. Why take the chance... buying new cards is cheaper than losing everything you're working on.



CF cards reportedly have a limited read/write life. I understand that this is one reason that there is no option to do a low level format in camera.


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## fatmanmedi (Mar 9, 2014)

hi,

I've recently replaced all my camera gear so i have only one type of card for my 1dx, and that is SanDisk 128GB Extreme Pro i have 4 of them for the stuff i do.

I only use sandisk as i've had problems in the past with lexar cards locking up cameras.


You can wear the cards out so expect a life of 5 years in a professional environment and 10 years for amateur use.

fats


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## jdramirez (Mar 9, 2014)

fatmanmedi said:


> hi,
> 
> I've recently replaced all my camera gear so i have only one type of card for my 1dx, and that is SanDisk 128GB Extreme Pro i have 4 of them for the stuff i do.
> 
> ...



If I used the same card I did ten years ago... it would be a multi media card, mmc, and I want to say it was mb, but it was probably 32mb... or something ridiculously small like that. Needless to say... I've not worn out any cards.


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## Grumbaki (Mar 12, 2014)

2 32Gb CF and 4 16Gb SD. 

I write full RAW to both. As I don't shoot long sequences I don't mind the crap write rate of SD. 

Strangely I see a lot of people talking about the bug and glitches of the cards but most forget the obvious human "errors": lost or stolen bagages and so on. So CF in the camera at all time in my day pack/ carry on, SD in the cloth bag in the hotel/check in bag. My gear is insured, not my pics.

I also keep a 1gb CF for training purpose: if you use that and tape on the LCD, you're back in the 80's 90's in terms of feelings.


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## fatmanmedi (Mar 12, 2014)

Grumbaki said:


> 2 32Gb CF and 4 16Gb SD.
> Strangely I see a lot of people talking about the bug and glitches of the cards but most forget the obvious human "errors": lost or stolen bagages and so on. So CF in the camera at all time in my day pack/ carry on, SD in the cloth bag in the hotel/check in bag. My gear is insured, not my pics.



I have a belt pack that i carry my cards when going through airports, if the place i'm shooting has great wifi i upload them to my google drive account as a backup, if not then i then burn them to DVD's and send them via courier to the studio.

i've never lost an image yet (touch wood).

Fats


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