Which Size Memory Card Should I Use?

Which Size Memory Card Should I Use?

Probably like most of you, I have a plethora of different memory card sizes from 2GB up to 32GB. When I head out on a big shoot I tend to wonder if it would be better to use the smaller cards and spread the shoot out across a number of cards or shoot entirely with one. It seems every photographer has a different opinion on this one, here's what I think.

Those who choose to shoot with the smaller cards tend to all agree that they want to make sure and not put all their eggs in one basket. They would rather have 4-6 smaller cards than one large card with half or maybe even all the photos from the event. Those who shoot on the larger cards argue that they would rather keep the card in their camera the whole time and not take the chance of losing it. Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages I see with each.

But before I list those I think one important component to consider is which camera you are using. My favorites are the cameras with dual card slots - which is one of the main reasons I upgraded to the Canon 5D Mark III the day it came out. As a wedding photographer it was very important to me to have a second card recording back up images the entire time as I was shooting. Knowing that I have a back up image going to a second card gives me the peace of mind that if something happens to one of my cards (get's lost or corrupted for example) I still have the images recorded somewhere else.

On a newly formatted card, using my Mark III I can shoot approximately 125 original RAW photos on an 4GB card, 261 on an 8GB, 512 on a 16GB, and about 1000 on a 32GB card. This number fluctuates as you shoot depending on the actual size of the images. The cost for a name brand decent 4GB card runs about $25 ($6.25/GB), 8GB for $29 ($3.65/GB), 16GB for $47 ($2.97/GB) 32GB for $85 ($2.65/GB) or 64GB for $138 ($2.15/GB).

Advantages of Using Smaller Cards

- Don't fear losing all the images to a corrupt card.
- Slows down your shooting style since you know card space is limited.
- Space out your shooting throughout the day on different cards to keep from losing an entire event if a card gets lost.

Disadvantages of Using Smaller Cards

- Greater chance of losing a card if you have a number of them to keep track of.
- Risk missing a moment while swapping out a new card.
- More wear and tear on your camera components removing and inserting cards often.

While shooting with smaller cards does have it's advantages I have personally chosen to instead shoot on larger cards (namely 32GB) when I am shooting weddings.

Advantages of Using Larger Cards

- Less risk of losing your card because it stays in your camera throughout the entire shoot.
- Better cost per gigabyte of space.
- Easier organization and importing of cards
- Less chance of missing something important while changing a card out.
- Less risk of damaging a component in camera while changing card.

Disadvantages of Using Larger Cards

- Big risk of losing most or all of a shoot. All eggs in one basket.

So which option is the best choice? It really is a matter of preference and as I mentioned above it also depends on the camera you are using and the functions it provides. The way I have it set up on my 5D Mark III is that I use 32GB cards and have the RAW files recorded to it. I then have a 32GB SDHC card inserted in the second slot that acts entirely as my backup. I record medium size JPEG's to the SDHC card. It fits about 7400 medium size JPEG's on the 32GB card so I leave it in there for a couple weeks at a time backing up each shot I have taken. Then after a couple of weeks I'll back that card up to a separate hard drive on my computer before formatting and using again.

Now it's your turn. How do you manage your cards? Large ones or small ones? Why?

Trevor Dayley's picture

Trevor Dayley (www.trevordayley.com) was named as one of the Top 100 Wedding Photographers in the US in 2014 by Brandsmash. His award-winning wedding photos have been published in numerous places including Grace Ormonde. He and his wife have been married for 15 years and together they have six kids.

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It definitely depends on how much you trust your card. I only use SanDisk cards. Why? - Because I am 100% sure that there will be no technical defect.
Over the last year I had the pleasure to get to know some of the photographers of the SanDisk Extreme Team. From Landscape to Sports they all use pretty big cards (sure, they get them cheap/for free) and don't care about backing up much. They keep it in the camera all the time/day. Because at the end the risk of loosing the camera is pretty tiny, right?

SanDisk, period.

16gb cards in my 5d2, half of which are loaded with Magic Lantern (and marked as such)

Im probably one of the few that shoots smaller cards. I run about five 8GB cards for shooting live music. One card per band, never lost a card, and shooting 4 or 5 small name bands in a night... Makes it much easier to tell where one band starts and another ends.

32GB Cards + 32GB Medium Jpeg in the second slot. I'm also shooting with the 5D Mark III. I find that one card will typically get me through Getting ready photo's all the way through the ceremony and then I have another card just for Formals and the reception (yes I change between the ceremony and the formals). I always shoot in Silent mode (low speed) during weddings that i never have a problem with continuous shooting as long as I am shooting medium jpeg's to the SDHC slot.

backing up with medium JPEGS??? I guess that is better than nothing. I have actually never had a card become so corrupted, that it couldn't be saved my a software recovery option; but I have had to use a Stellar Phoenix a time or two to recover my images. Since switching to Lexar CF cards I have never needed to use recovery software. My opinion is larger cards, but save yourself a headache and invest in a High Quality fast professional card. You get way you pay for.

I go middle of the road and use 16GB cards. When I shoot multi day music festivals, I can get a good series of images per card, not missing moments. I usually carry 4-5 of them.

For backup, I have a single 32GB SD card in my 5D3 that I copy JPGs to, so I dont have to switch out that card during the day.

I use Lexar professional cards and have never had an issue. Some are 5 years old, and they still work for backups and other personal projects. However, I agree. I wouldn't chance a wedding with them.

I perfer smaller cards as I am peranoid about looking 32gb of content. However, I use them for weddings because there is always something to photograph, and I can't always be switching cards.

I use 16gb cards but have been considering purchasing a portable media device so I can back up my files on the spot (Still working with a D700). I also don't buy off brand cards and prefer Sandisk. The only time I've ever had a card failure was while hanging out with some friends the night before a wedding. We all soaked in a hot tub and I left my camera on a nearby table. I suppose the steam messed with the card somehow because my card corrupted the next time I turned it on. No biggie since there was nothing extremely important on it but it sucks all the same.

I shoot raw using two Sandisk Extreme 128GB SDXC cards. One is in the second slot in backup mode. On a D600 - the files are fairly big and I make sure to format before every shoot. It's nice not having to run into the end of a card and have to switch. Also, I've played around with video which eats space up fast.

I shoot RAW and using 128 GB CF and 128GB SD card sametime on D800 in backup mode. So I feel I'm secure.

If you are using the second card as a backup in case the first fails - why Jpegs rather than the RAW images you put on the first card? Does not make sense at all.

Lexar CF 8gb professional 300x crash in a Nikon D300s bad experience with cf Card. I prefer SD Card, they harder to crash