Camera Labs

I've read somewhere that professional photographers prefer to format their memory cards before starting a new set, to minimise the chance of errors.

This seems like a good idea, especially when the number of photos becomes quite high. However, is there a limit to the number of formats an SD card will accept?

I do realise the CompactFlash type of media is more common for professional use. But there must be some semi-professionals out there who use SD?

I'm currently using an 150x Transcend 4Gb SD card.

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Nikon D90 + MB-D80 + SB-600 + AF-S VR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 + AF-S 35mm f/1.8 + AF 85mm f/1.8 | My photos on Flickr.

Hi Luis,
I am not a professional however I am sure that solid state SD or CF cards work like hard disk drives - that is "on paper" there is an infinite number of times these cards can be formatted. But like all storage devices they can fail at any time. I would recommend transferring prior images to a PC after the shoot & formatting the card before a new shoot. In that way you have all your images stored on another device & this leaves you with maximum space available for new data and minimum data loss in the event of a card failure.

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Dale
Nikon D600, Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 16-35mm f/4G ED VR, Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR, NIKON AF NIKKOR 28-105mm F/3.5-4.5 D, NIKON AF NIKKOR 85mm F1.8 D, Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 50mm F1.4G, Nikon AF 16mm f2.8D FISHEYE, HP Pro 9180, Adobe CS5 Master Collection, Lightroom 4, Capture NX2, DxO Optics Pro v 7, Elite Edition

Hi Luis, all flash memory has a finite lifespan and a certain number of 'writes' they'll support before giving up! It is quite a few though, so you shouldn't need to worry for camera use, but it is a concern for anyone wanting to run a standard operating system on flash memory as the constant rewrites of virtual memory can send flash to an early grave! Interestingly Vista's Readyboost apparently doesn't write constantly, hence Microsoft's claims it won't harm a USB key.

i never worry about how many times it can be formated, since i seldom format it. SEARCH IN WEB, i found this:
durability: 10.000 mating cycles, test procedure tbd
any one know?

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