Don't even have my camera yet but was wondering how people felt about the size of the SD card, I'm thinking smaller card which can be put in a labeled file when loaded with pictures. A large card with say 2000 pictures makes it very difficult to locate an individual picture- doesn't it? Is my thinking correct or does the camera have and easy way to locate a picture? Paul
Small or large SD card
- Thread starter tea2085
- Start date
I prefer multiple, smaller cards. 16g for me. That gets me ~450 .NEFs per card.
With larger cards, my issue would be the time spent trying to recover a billion images if the card ever becomes corrupt. Plus, having more than one card allows me to keep on shooting if a card ever becomes corrupt in-camera. Just swap out cards, and deal with the corrupt card later. If you have only one card, and it gets corrupt, you have two choices: Stop shooting, or reformat it and start losing images.
With larger cards, my issue would be the time spent trying to recover a billion images if the card ever becomes corrupt. Plus, having more than one card allows me to keep on shooting if a card ever becomes corrupt in-camera. Just swap out cards, and deal with the corrupt card later. If you have only one card, and it gets corrupt, you have two choices: Stop shooting, or reformat it and start losing images.
photogramps
Senior Member
16GB here 
RocketCowboy
Senior Member
Go big or go home! 64GB at a minimum, 128GB preferred!
Ok, I actually did start with 64GB cards, but last time around got a few 32GB cards. Was going to go 16GB, but Best Buy had the 32GB's marked down to within $3 of the 16GB so it was easy.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Ok, I actually did start with 64GB cards, but last time around got a few 32GB cards. Was going to go 16GB, but Best Buy had the 32GB's marked down to within $3 of the 16GB so it was easy.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
singlerosa_RIP
Senior Member
Sandisk Extreme Pro 95Mbs 16GB in primary slots, 8GB in secondary (overflow) slots.
Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
I stumbled onto a good deal on 32GB cards once not long ago so that's what I'm using but I keep a set of spare, 16GB cards in the bag. I don't really think this matters much except for the "having spares" part. Spare SD cards... Have some. Seriously.
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All of mine are 8gb except for the 32gb lexar card that hasn't got here yet from a buddy!
They are also sandisk extreme, extreme pro or the equivalent or possibly better lexar versions!
I would think you'd judge the card size by need according to the MPs. My needs are less because my Nikon's are lower MPs and multiple cards is the safest way to go in my opinion!
If I had a 24 MPs Nikon, I'd buy sandisk extreme or extreme pro 16gb cards as in 3-4 of them, or sandisk extreme or extreme pro 32gb cards as in at least 2 and most likely 3!
They are also sandisk extreme, extreme pro or the equivalent or possibly better lexar versions!
I would think you'd judge the card size by need according to the MPs. My needs are less because my Nikon's are lower MPs and multiple cards is the safest way to go in my opinion!
If I had a 24 MPs Nikon, I'd buy sandisk extreme or extreme pro 16gb cards as in 3-4 of them, or sandisk extreme or extreme pro 32gb cards as in at least 2 and most likely 3!
Ruidoso Bill
Senior Member
On my D800 32GB SD and 32GB CF with spare backups, My D700 isn't so memory hungry so I use 16GB CF in it with backups.
I have a slow - class 4 4GB card which came with the camera and a 32GB 45mbps which I bought. I use the 32GB mostly, but rarely accumulate more than 500 images. The card can hold an estimated 1600 RAW files. If I had to buy today, I would go for either the 8GB or the 16GB, which ever gives better deal.
The only reason I got the 32GB card was the cost - it was quite close to the 16GB price. The problem with a large number of files on a card is the time it takes for the directory listing to appear on the computer. I only use USB cable for data transfer. If the D3300 had a USB3 port, then the transfer would be much faster.
One should never keep the images on the card for storage purpose.
. It is more expensive than an external dis - 1TB USB3 disk is less than a hundred US dollars, at least five times less than the cheapest card.
. You have to transfer the images to a computer any way, whether to process them further or to archive them.
. Transferring the data to an external disk gives you a backup copy.
. In case the card gets corrupted, all your images are lost.
The only reason to use a large storage space in form of cards, is when you are away from your computer, say on a long trip and cannot transfer the images. In that case multiple cards are a better option, along with some method of keeping copies (in case there is only one slot)
The only reason I got the 32GB card was the cost - it was quite close to the 16GB price. The problem with a large number of files on a card is the time it takes for the directory listing to appear on the computer. I only use USB cable for data transfer. If the D3300 had a USB3 port, then the transfer would be much faster.
One should never keep the images on the card for storage purpose.
. It is more expensive than an external dis - 1TB USB3 disk is less than a hundred US dollars, at least five times less than the cheapest card.
. You have to transfer the images to a computer any way, whether to process them further or to archive them.
. Transferring the data to an external disk gives you a backup copy.
. In case the card gets corrupted, all your images are lost.
The only reason to use a large storage space in form of cards, is when you are away from your computer, say on a long trip and cannot transfer the images. In that case multiple cards are a better option, along with some method of keeping copies (in case there is only one slot)
I know people with every picture they ever took still on their iPhone. But the camera isn't a viewing device, the idea is to MOVE (copy and delete) the picture to the computer first chance you get. So many more things are possible on the computer. The camera should be relatively empty.
RocketCowboy
Senior Member
I don't usually show from the camera. I travel with a laptop and backup hard drive, so images get get moved from the card to computer at the end of the day.
I'll mention that I frequently shoot RAW + JPG Fine, so that's my other driver for space.
32 GB CF Lexar Pro 1000x/ 32GB SD Lexar Pro 1000x on the D800
32 GB CF Lexar Pro 1000x/Sony 32 GB XQD card on the D4
Usually for a shoot with the D800 shooting raw I'll get to around 40 GB worth of images. On the D4 maybe 30 GB (if only using one camera or the other)
The Lexar pro cards have a lifetime warranty, but personally I like to go with the fastest cards I can get.
There's a difference between image corruption during transfer, and out-and-out failure of the card.
And interesting article about card lifetimes:
http://improvephotography.com/749/memory-cards-sd-cf-replaced-old-reliability/
32 GB CF Lexar Pro 1000x/Sony 32 GB XQD card on the D4
Usually for a shoot with the D800 shooting raw I'll get to around 40 GB worth of images. On the D4 maybe 30 GB (if only using one camera or the other)
The Lexar pro cards have a lifetime warranty, but personally I like to go with the fastest cards I can get.
There's a difference between image corruption during transfer, and out-and-out failure of the card.
And interesting article about card lifetimes:
http://improvephotography.com/749/memory-cards-sd-cf-replaced-old-reliability/