Camera Labs

Hi,
If I buy a camera that is compatible with SDHC cards, would it be better to buy one 4gb card or two 2gb cards?

I ask because looking at some old posts, people have 2 x 2gb and I wondered why they wouldn't just buy 1 x 4gb. Do they buy 2 just in case something goes wrong?

Also, are Sandisk Ultra the best SDHC cards to buy?

Thanks,
Mark

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Mark
Nikon D300 / Sigma 10-20mm / Nikkor 17-55 f2.8 / Nikkor 18-200mm VR / Nikkor 50mm f1.8 / SB600 Speedlight
Mark Amy Photography
My Squidoo lens - Images of China

Hi Mark, I personally prefer to use smaller cards - around 1GB - because if one gets corrupted, lost or stolen, I won't lose all the photos from a trip.

But then I guess by carrying multiple cards, you're increasing the risk of losing one!

Gordon

PS - I use SanDisk Ultra II cards for a lot of my shots - not the fastest, but good value.

Same methodology here. Same cards also, uncannily.

I'll buy the biggest card available, not to fiddle around with those tiny chips. But only when the premium over 2x half capacity is not too high.

I bought class 2 SDHC, but it shows after 3-5 continuous shots.
Sandisk is pretty good, in Germany there is also Transcend which I bought from. No probs so far!

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

I have 2 x 2Gb Sandisk Extreme SD, a 4Gb Transcend SD and a 4Gb Transcend Class 6 SDHC for my D80.

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Nikon D80, Nikkor lenses: 35mm f1.8 G AF-S DX, 50mm f/1.8 AF D, 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G ED-IF AF-S DX, 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S VR, SB800 flash
My photos on SmugMug

If for me, i will choose two 2GB selection. A 2GB card is richly fullfill my ordinary photo shooting, the other one i woule prefer to use as my portable storage card.

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LIFE CAN'T BE WITHOUT CAMERAS

I prefer a few small cards for the same reasons everyone else has already stated. Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

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Leica M9, Nikon D300s, Leica X1, Canon S95, Zero Image 6x9

I agree with Gordon and Zorro. I prefer several smaller cards to one massive card. A friend of mine who went travelling a few years ago was in the situation where he gave his memory card into a photo development place and when they put the card in their machine, it corrupted losing all his photos. It's enough to convince me to carry several smaller cards and not put all my eggs in one basket.

Personally, I've got 1GB and 2GB Sandisk Ultra II cards. Their speed/£ ratio is unrivaled in my opinion

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My Flickr

The advantage of smaller cards is that if data loss occurs you only lose a small portion of your data.

The disadvantage is puling small cards in and out of the CF camera inference. Wear and tear on the CF door and may be an electrical discharge issue too. The less you do changeovers the less likely any adverse effects will occur.

Personally, I would prefer a high-quality high GB card. I have the SanDisk Ultra IV 8GB. I’II get another for my holiday in April. That should be enough.

As long as you are careful, you should not lose data. You also only have to worry about where one CF card is as opposed to many.

Now it has been reported on the forum that someone lost his or her data once it went in to be processed.

Therefore, the answer is, bring enough large CF cards etc with you, and process them at home instead. That is what I would do. As an IT technician, no one touches my data.