Memory...How much is too much?

[vibin247]

I recently purchased my current setup from B&H Photo, and I wasn't too sure how much memory I needed, so I went ahead and bought eight 4GB CompactFlash Cards, as I'm primarily shooting in RAW. I've gotten some differing opinions and most have said that's too much, and that you should be more choosing of your shots, while some say that having too much is better than too little. When I was shooting film, I was more careful of my shots, and haven't really gone over 3 or 4 rolls a day. As I don't have a laptop, and don't like the idea of using a portable hard drive, should I get rid of several of them and focus on shooting the important stuff on RAW and the rest on JPEG, or keep all as a backup?

[Molnies]

The idea of switching between RAW and JPEG for file size is not a smart idea. If you have the money to spend on hard drives or other storage I'd say go for it. I personally have 2x2GB cards, and it's rare that I need to take more than 4GB of photos per day.
Sure, it might be a good idea to have some control and not take several hundred photos on something you might only have taken two or three photos in the film days for example. I'm sure you'll find some middle ground, but keep your cards and shoot only in RAW, that's my advice.

[elysium]

20Gb worth of member, 5x 4gb mem cards would be enough for me. For just in case situations also.

Find 8gb is more than enough for a full days worth of shooting.

[jrsforums]

I recently purchased my current setup from B&H Photo, and I wasn't too sure how much memory I needed, so I went ahead and bought 8 (yes, that's 8) 4GB CompactFlash Cards, as I'm primarily shooting in RAW. I've gotten some differing opinions and most have said that's too much, and that you should be more choosing of your shots, while some say that having too much is better than too little. When I shooting film, I was more careful of my shots, and haven't really gone over 3 or 4 rolls a day. As I don't have a laptop, and don't like the idea of using a portable hard drive, should I get rid of several of them and focus on shooting the important stuff on RAW and the rest on JPEG, or keep all as a backup?

The advice to "choose your shots" is good, in that if you bother to look around and plan your shots you will, hopefully, produce better images.

That said, there is no reason not to take advantage of the tools you are using. Digital provides the ability, after the initial investment which is often greater than film, to make multiple shots with almost no add'l cost, except possibly your time.

I have heard it said that if it is worth one shot, it is worth at least 2 or 3. This is particularly true of people. I find that after the initial shot, many people will relax and a second shot, taken split seconds later, will get a much better image. Once, taking a family group of 20 people, I took 10 shots and needed 6 of them (blended in PS) to get everyone looking there best....the shots were all great...the peoples expressions weren't, especially the squirmy kids.

[Maxdave]

A photo pro once said to me "You never know when you will take the best picture of your life". I have converted this thought to digital: take as many shots as you can at the best quality settings you can. This means you need as much memory as possible. So keep yours and forget about trying to save space ...

Maxdave

[sidx001]

A photo pro once said to me "You never know when you will take the best picture of your life". I have converted this thought to digital: take as many shots as you can at the best quality settings you can. This means you need as much memory as possible. So keep yours and forget about trying to save space ...

Maxdave

Amen, Amen! I currently keep 5 4GB cards, 4 2GB cards and probably 2-3 1GB cards in my bag at all times. I also keep my Digital Foci 160GB reader as well to dump to. You can never have too much memory with you!

[Gordon S.]

I could do 20GB a day with my XT in RAW. With the 40D I figure thats 32+GB in the same situation. Of course I shoot motorsports. Theres no second chances there and you take them or lose them.

[EOS Man]

I have 7.5 GB of Ultra II's in total now and nowadays it usually takes me quite a while to fill up a single 4 GB card nowadays - maybe 1 GB of pics every 2 weeks... and even then, most of the pictures get culled for the sake of being organized and not hogging up HD space

[nwa2]

I use two 2.0Gb Extreme III's and I have another standard 2.0Gb card as a standby. I have never filled both 2.0 Gb cards in one day or even on a week holiday.

I am getting more choosy about pressing the shutter, I also tend to review my shots every couple of hours and delete the obvious rubbish.

I do agree with what was previously said that "you never know when you will take th best shot of your life". But that is no excuse for gathering dross.

[ed rader]

i have plenty of memory -- 44 gigs -- and i probably take too many pictures.

but so what?

memory is cheap and i'm not going to second guess myself everytime i press the shutter or waste a bunch of time culling out the duds.

ed rader

[Strayz]

I have 20 GB in cards, and I have to say I would liked to have about 8 more for my 12 day vacation in Alaska. (I did not download any until I got home, same for previewing. This way I did not have to drag a laptop across Alaska).

So remember it is not bad having to many CF cards (make sure to number them) but it can be catastrophic not having enough.

Don't sweat the small things go shoot some pictures!!!

[sidx001]

Being a sports shooter, I have filled 28 of my 32Gb in one day shooting a national gymnastics meet, not at all a hard thing to do when you are shooting all in RAW. I read a post the other day where a guy on here took 1710 pictures of a model during one session. If he was shooting RAW with a 40D, which averages about 13.5MB per photo, that puts his total at around 23GB of pictures...for one model session. I would hazard a guess that there wasn't a whole of of "dross" in that shoot.

[Jon]

There's no such thing as "too much". At the very least, even if you have a laptop or PSD to dump to, your cards remain as backups until you've re-formatted them. I've got something over 40 GB, maybe over 40 if I count the cards that are now "too small" for regular use.

[Tandem]

I recently bought three 16GB Sandisk Extreme III 30Mbs cards for $300 when Sandisk had their $300 rebate on three. I thought it was overkill but a good investment until last Saturday when I used up 70GB of the 72GB I had with me shooting 5 hours of figure skating. Now I want to get three more 16GB cards although the newest rebate is only for $180 on three.

I don't think you can ever really have enough memory. Someday you're going to run into a situation where you are glad you had the extra card.

I find it interesting to look back at the prices I paid for my cards and they all cost me about the same even though I've gone from 1GB cards to 16GB. I've always doubled the size of my largest card every time I've purchased new cards. I can remember back when the 16GB card was so expensive that I thought no way I would ever own one. Now I have two 1GB, two 2GB, two 4GB, two 8GB and three 16GB cards for 78GB total. Three more 16GB cards will increase that to 126GB. Believe me, I'll still find a way to fill them or at least wish I brought some smaller cards along. :)

[Woolburr]

If you just shoot casual photos for the heck of it, 8 4gb cards should last you for weeks on end...if you shoot sports...you can go through a ton of cards in a day...I wouldn't be too worried about what your friends have to say...perhaps they are just jealous of what you have.

[goldboughtrue]

"Too much" memory is when the weight of so many CF cards weighs you down.

[Tandem]

"Too much" memory is when the weight of so many CF cards weighs you down.

Good answer!

Some wedding photographers like to have multiple small cards in case one of the cards goes bad. I would go nuts if I tried to use all 1 or 2GB cards.

[tmonatr]

I read a post the other day where a guy on here took 1710 pictures of a model during one session. If he was shooting RAW with a 40D, which averages about 13.5MB per photo, that puts his total at around 23GB of pictures...for one model session. I would hazard a guess that there wasn't a whole of of "dross" in that shoot.
Depends on your definition of dross. If dross equals bad shots, probably not. If dross equals unused/culled shots there was probably a TON. Probably used less than 100 shots from the shoot.

Having alot of memory is not a bad thing. But keep in mind as you're firing bursts, at some point you have to go through all those pics in PP.

[sidx001]

Depends on your definition of dross. If dross equals bad shots, probably not. If dross equals unused/culled shots there was probably a TON. Probably used less than 100 shots from the shoot.

Having alot of memory is not a bad thing. But keep in mind as you're firing bursts, at some point you have to go through all those pics in PP.

I know that from the Gymnastics meet that I shot, there was an awful lot of crap that was shot to, :) I agree with that! I like what the above poster said about knowing that you'll have enough memory when it becomes too heavy to carry!

[RowdyReptile]

Good answer!

Some wedding photographers like to have multiple small cards in case one of the cards goes bad. I would go nuts if I tried to use all 1 or 2GB cards.
I read that in an article about pro sports photographers (i.e. at the Super Bowl). They use 2GB as the standard size, and have runners to carry the cards from the photographers to the editors (in a pressbox/media room/trailer). In that particular application, there's a timeliness in getting a photo to print (or website) within minutes so they wouldn't wait til a card is full to swap it out. Obviously your workflow is different.

Sure seems like that capacity would go up with time though, as megapixels and gigabytes becoming cheaper/faster.

[DigitalSpecialist]

I've had a card crash on me, so I much prefer to use 1gb cards if at all possible on weddings etc. I have one 8gb card and it holds more pix than I can take in an evening reception. But if the card fails, I am out all those photos for clients. So I prefer smaller 1gb cards for my work, and an Epson 3000 to offload my work to!

[vibin247]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I'll definitely keep my cards, though I will work on seeing the shots I want and getting them. I'm planning to get a laptop in the future, and if needed, a portable hard drive (Having more cards can be an organizational nightmare...)

[PM720]

Remember when the choice was 24 or 36 exposures? Man are we spoiled! ;)

That said I have 18GB now and looking a 3 more 4GB with the next rebate. :D:D:D

Scott

[Amamba]

Each card costs what, about as much as lunch with your wife in an inexpensive restaurant ? I figure under $30 for 4GB. So it's not such a huge investment. Personally I think even 3 cards would be more than enough for say a 10-day vacation.

[fxk]

I can't remember...

[CUclimber]

Wow, my shooting style must be vastly different than many of the posters in this thread.

I think I have around 16GB total, and that's with a last-minute 4GB card that I bought to ensure that I'll have enough for an upcoming 2 week trip to Mongolia.

On my last 1 week trip I think I filled 6GB (roughly 600 shots on my 20D), and ended up with 25 fantastic shots, 3 or 4 of which are portfolio-grade. Sports shooters and working professionals aside, I can't fathom taking 500+ shots per day like some of you seem to be doing.

On my professional shoots I'll do a hundred shots in a matter of minutes, but otherwise I prefer to stay away from the shotgun method of photography.

[fxk]

Wow, my shooting style must be vastly different than many of the posters in this thread.

I think I have around 16GB total, and that's with a last-minute 4GB card that I bought to ensure that I'll have enough for an upcoming 2 week trip to Mongolia.

On my last 1 week trip I think I filled 6GB (roughly 600 shots on my 20D), and ended up with 25 fantastic shots, 3 or 4 of which are portfolio-grade. Sports shooters and working professionals aside, I can't fathom taking 500+ shots per day like some of you seem to be doing.

On my professional shoots I'll do a hundred shots in a matter of minutes, but otherwise I prefer to stay away from the shotgun method of photography.

Ah - you must not be shooting RAW + JPEG - in that mode, it is NOTHING to fill a 4g card in an afternoon of shooting birds... I always bring a laptop to offload my cards if I'm going away.