What size storage card?

[Horoscope Fish]

Thanks, I don't have my camera yet, but I understand your point about lugging around the camera. Maybe I should buy a card reader.

I don't know that one method is better than another. It's whatever suits you... Having the cable would be a good idea, and I keep a transfer cable in my bag, but I find a cheap card reader the handy solution on a day-to-day basis... I also keep a spare reader in my bag. I'm big on spares.

....

 

[aroy]

Thanks, but I'm not sure that 8gb is large enough for me. Although more cards is spreading the risk of a card failure, changing cards on a shoot is also introducing a risk. I'd also rather not be having to keep checking the storage during a shoot. Having more cards, would actually increase the risk of card failure, although that failure would be likely to affect a lower number of files - which is what I suspect that you meant.

I wondered if it's possible to use a USB cable to transfer images to the computer, instead of removing the cards & using a card reader?

I use USB cable to transfer images from card to computer, as I do not have a fast card reader.

Though I use a 32GB card, I rarely fill it up with more than 600-700 shots, even though it can hold about 1600+ RAW images from D3300. The reason is simple, with more than 500 RAW images, the directory listing over USB takes quite some time. As I have never shot more than 300 images in a day, or over 600 images over a trip, for me an 8GB or at the most 16GB would suffice.

Regarding failure, I would rather have a card fail with 200 images than have one fail with 1000. The reason for having a number of smaller capacity cards is to minimize damage in case of card failure (though it is rare with Sandisk cards, it happens and that too at most inappropriate times). That is why if I am shooting in conditions where I cannot afford to loose any image, I would go for a body with two similar card slots and write the same image to both the cards. Cards are cehap, travel and opportunity lost is not.

 

[Deleted]

@aroy

Thanks for your advice. I will shortly be buying a D610 (with 2 card slots). I am waiting until the Photokina show in case a D620/D750 is announced.

I am looking for a USB3 card reader, perhaps something like this: Kingston Technology USB 3.0 Media Reader: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

 

[aroy]

@aroy

Thanks for your advice. I will shortly be buying a D610 (with 2 card slots). I am waiting until the Photokina show in case a D620/D750 is announced.

I am looking for a USB3 card reader, perhaps something like this: Kingston Technology USB 3.0 Media Reader: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

1. The card reader seems to be just the thing you need. Even I would have got one if I really needed one.

2. I would also wait for a new FF body. What I want is
. No AA filter
. Newer faster processor
. USB3 instead of USB2
. I would also prefer DF like AIS lense compatibility, but that will be too much to expect from Nikon.

I am perfectly in sync with 2 SD cards. Some how 1xSD and 1xCF does not gel with me. It should have been 2 cards of the same type.

One notion I am toying about with, is that, with D810 released the D800/800E will be dropping prices down to the D610 level. So if you fancy more MP, then a D800E would be a nice acquisition.

 

[Felisek]

I am looking for a USB3 card reader, perhaps something like this: Kingston Technology USB 3.0 Media Reader: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Sorry, don't want to sound condescending, but did you check your laptop/computer? Many of them have built-in SD card readers.

 

[aroy]

Sorry, don't want to sound condescending, but did you check your laptop/computer? Many of them have built-in SD card readers.

Most of the older laptop card readers do not support high capacity SD cards. Many have problems with the smaller form factors cards. I would still recommend USB3 readers provided the computer has USB3 ports.

 

[Deleted]

Sorry, don't want to sound condescending, but did you check your laptop/computer? Many of them have built-in SD card readers.

Good point. My laptop although a high end model is about 10 years old & I would not be using this to process images. I will be using my desktop for this. The laptop now, is only for occasional work use & for travelling. My computer is home built, I don't have a card reader, although I could put one in.

 

[Deleted]

One notion I am toying about with, is that, with D810 released the D800/800E will be dropping prices down to the D610 level. So if you fancy more MP, then a D800E would be a nice acquisition.

The D800e prices are not yet cheap enough for me. Guide prices in the UK:

D810 - £2699
D800e - £2249
D610 - £1385

My budget is £4000 for the camera, lenses, tripod, flash etc. I'd really like a D810, but to do it justice, I should be looking at the top-line pro lenses, whereas I am looking at the mid-line lenses. Already with the D610, I would not be able to afford a wildlife lens to start.

 

[traceyjj]

I currently use 8gb on my D5100, and often need to change the card while out and about. I know when I do get my FF next week ( ) I will be getting some 16Gb cards. I'm not sure I want to go 32gb and risk losing ALL my day or weeks shooting by putting it on one card... but I can see that I will need to be flexible for a few weeks and work out how many photos the cards hold before making a final choice.

 

[Felisek]

If you have a camera with two slots, you can put two 32 GB cards in them and use the second slot as backup. I don't know what chances of a single card failing on a given day are, but I suppose they are rather small, as we don't hear about it all the time. Probability of two cards failing at the same time is the single card probability squared, which is really small. Consider an example where the probability of a card failing in one day is one in a thousand (just a guess). Using a backup reduces this probability to one in a million.

 

[SkvLTD]

The D800e prices are not yet cheap enough for me. Guide prices in the UK:

D810 - £2699
D800e - £2249
D610 - £1385

My budget is £4000 for the camera, lenses, tripod, flash etc. I'd really like a D810, but to do it justice, I should be looking at the top-line pro lenses, whereas I am looking at the mid-line lenses. Already with the D610, I would not be able to afford a wildlife lens to start.

Yes and no. In pounds, I guess ~1000 can get you a spunky wildlife lens and 810 will take care of the rest for you, rest assured. Tripods/flashes are inexpensive and work same as the next best ones.

 

[kevy73]

I have always used 32gb cards... Shooting weddings I can't be constantly changing. My D4's have dual slots though and so risk of image loss is low. Always bears to consider how much you are prepared to lose if a card fails.

 

[Deleted]

Thanks, I think the 2x 32gb cards make sense, I don't want to be changing cards part way through a shoot. I'll set the 2nd slot to backup.

 

[TBonz]

I expect 32gb per slot should be enough for most folks under most situations. I would suggest that you go that route and maybe 16gb cards for backup just in case you have a card issue or happen to shoot more than expected. Worst case, you can always set the second slot for overflow if you are going to be shooting a bunch before dumping to your computer...

 

[trheyer]

I just bought my D3200 last week and picked up a:

[h=5]Lexar Professional 600x 64GB SDXC UHS-I Flash Memory Card LSD64GCRBNA600, $51[/h]
Seems very fast and way more storage than I will ever need at this point. Camera guy told me to go big and fast and I wouldn't have to upgrade later. The 600x is the fastest on market now, I think. Also rated a "10". Again, new to the photog world, but buying the best I can afford.

 

[Deleted]

I just bought my D3200 last week and picked up a:

Lexar Professional 600x 64GB SDXC UHS-I Flash Memory Card LSD64GCRBNA600, $51


Seems very fast and way more storage than I will ever need at this point. Camera guy told me to go big and fast and I wouldn't have to upgrade later. The 600x is the fastest on market now, I think. Also rated a "10". Again, new to the photog world, but buying the best I can afford.

Thanks for your post.

Any test results I see show the Sandisk as significantly faster on write speeds. However on read speeds, although Sandisk is the quickest, it's closely followed by Lexar & Transend. For write speeds, the Lexar is a little way off. You got a good price though.

As far as I calculate, a 32gb card will store about 1400 shots. That's one shot every minute for over 23 hours - which seems good enough to me.

Test results: Benchmarks SD Cards 2014

 

[Deleted]

I expect 32gb per slot should be enough for most folks under most situations. I would suggest that you go that route and maybe 16gb cards for backup just in case you have a card issue or happen to shoot more than expected. Worst case, you can always set the second slot for overflow if you are going to be shooting a bunch before dumping to your computer...

Thanks, I think I'm happy with the dual 32gb cards. I'm not going to be doing any Weddings - which could push the shot count high. Any African safaris, I'll have to get a system going.

 

[aroy]

Today I tried the class 4 4GB card that came with the camera. A small green light; which used to come on when ever I took/put the battery; was lighting up. Must be indication writing. Never noticed the light with my 45Mbps 32GB card. So definitely the faster card helps.

Just to figure out what speed is required for continuous 6fps
. 14bit RAW 24MP file will be approximately 42MB before compression. If it is compressed to 24MB, you will need about 150Mbps write speed.
. 12bit RAW 24MP file will be approximately 36MB before compression. If it is compressed to 20MB, you will need about 120Mbps write speed.
. 14bit RAW 16MP file will be approximately 28MB before compression. If it is compressed to 16MB, you will need about 96Mbps write speed, well within the available card speeds. Have to find out if D4S can shoot continuously at 6fps.

That means we have to wait for Nikon to speed up its I/O to cater to 150 Mbps+ cards. Once it does that, we can expect continuous shooting at 6fps at least with 24MP sensor.