digital storage for a wedding

how much storage (cf cards, sd card) do you bring with to shoot a typical wedding and reception?

3 cameras

32GB cards in all 3. Never rub out of space of fill all the cards.

Also have 32 GB cards in all the SD slots and record at the same time to both cards.

Never have to worry about a card failure doing it this way

Bulletproof

64GB cards in all 4 cameras. (Spare 16gb cards in the bag).

I have 16GB cards in each of my two cameras (12MP so not huge files), with I think a spare 16GB and three spare 8GB.

• 96GB worth of cards for the 5D3
• 64GB worth of cards for the 6D

I've never gotten close to running out.

thanks for the replies, i was thinking about running with a 32 in each body (5d2, so no redundancy option) and bring along a few extra in case. seems like it should be enough.

• A. Each camera model is different in its nominal per-photo storage requirements due to pixel count.
  
• B. Each photographer is different in terms of the number of photos they tell bride/mother they will provide, for the duration of the event
  
• C. Each photographer is different in terms of the level of 'risk' of how many photos they tolerate 'losing' due to lost/broken memory card
  

Too much...
SD: 16, 32, 32, 32, 64
CF: 4, 4, 8, 16, 16, 32, 32, 32, 32

This is a good question that has been posted before. I go with the 16 GB cards now on the 5D2 and the 7D. This allows me enough RAW and large JPEG to get a session in out of the 3-4 I do during the day. I don't like having just one camera or just one card only. Seen too many cards fail or cameras stop working. One shoot the 40D shutter went and it was toast. Then a card failed right as I as formatting it.

So, cards, not too big. Cameras, have a few. Extra cards, never a bad thing. I have 3 16 GB cards, and about 4 8 GB cards, and all the little 4 GB left in my holder.

umphotography wrote in post #17443653
3 cameras

32GB cards in all 3. Never rub out of space of fill all the cards.

Also have 32 GB cards in all the SD slots and record at the same time to both cards.

Never have to worry about a card failure doing it this way

Bulletproof

Amen to That Mike, same Setup here...

32Gb card in one, 16gb in the other. Never even come close to filling them.

SuzyView wrote in post #17445608
This is a good question that has been posted before. I go with the 16 GB cards now on the 5D2 and the 7D. This allows me enough RAW and large JPEG to get a session in out of the 3-4 I do during the day. I don't like having just one camera or just one card only. Seen too many cards fail or cameras stop working. One shoot the 40D shutter went and it was toast. Then a card failed right as I as formatting it.

So, cards, not too big. Cameras, have a few. Extra cards, never a bad thing. I have 3 16 GB cards, and about 4 8 GB cards, and all the little 4 GB left in my holder.

Suzie

If you are using a camera with one card only for professional use then I have some thoughts for you to consider

A- shame on you- You should invest in a camera that has 2 card recording capabilities. This prevents any loss of data to card failure- Unless you drop in in a lake or its stolen
B- your method with smaller cards would result in the least amount of damage should you have a data loss failure
C- you stand more of a chance of losing the cards by using multiple smaller cards than you ever would from a single large card
D- the risk to your reputation as a professional and punitive damages from potential law suits are not worth the risk by using cameras that don't self back as your shooting. Especially for weddings. I know a lot of guys that do it and they are way better photographers than myself. But personally, I would never risk the change of data loss for a wedding. Its just to easy to get your butt sued off for the 3-400.00 you might save by buying a camera that has a single slot. Just not worth the risk in this sue happy climate we do business in.

Lastly- some of you might think that your contracts are written well enough to cover your butts for this. Trust me, from several reputable contract attorneys. They are not and any contract is useless if you can prove negligence. Which is easy to do with most pro quality camera these days that have dual card capabilities. Trust me. Judges are aware and so are attorneys.

update your cameras if you are shooting weddings and do everything to CYA. A card failure could put you out of business these days

I agree that full time photographers shooting 20+ weddings a year should probably be using dual card cameras but I think "shame on you" is a bit harsh. I don't shoot that volume any more (zero this year actually - a year off) but my cameras don't have dual cards. I have no plans to update. I have good cards, I test them every 6 months or so, and I use each camera during each part of the day so if the worst happens I will have something. I to use large cards, it's difficult to lose a card when it never leaves a camera.

This doesn't factor in the other ways to lose images. How many people have multiple copies of their images? How about RAID or offsite backups? Virus and malware protection? Security software up to date, using a decent firewall?

There are so many ways to lose images, bad cards are only one, and with care I think you can minimise the risk.

umphotography wrote in post #17448048
Suzie

If you are using a camera with one card only for professional use then I have some thoughts for you to consider

A- shame on you- You should invest in a camera that has 2 card recording capabilities. This prevents any loss of data to card failure- Unless you drop in in a lake or its stolen

RE A: 2 of the cameras I use have single slots. I shoot the entire day with four cameras at all times. Every scene is always shot at different focal lengths (so different cameras) so in the very, very rare event one of those two camera's cards failed it isn't that big a deal.

In my case is is a considered and calculated risk. Risk is tiny.

I use 4X 64GB in 2 cameras (dual card)

I often fill them up though because sometimes I take over 5000 photos per Wedding

I carry a spare 32GB CF card for backup in case I use up my 4 X 64GB (happens once every few weddings)

tim wrote in post #17448123
I agree that full time photographers shooting 20+ weddings a year should probably be using dual card cameras but I think "shame on you" is a bit harsh. I don't shoot that volume any more (zero this year actually - a year off) but my cameras don't have dual cards. I have no plans to update. I have good cards, I test them every 6 months or so, and I use each camera during each part of the day so if the worst happens I will have something. I to use large cards, it's difficult to lose a card when it never leaves a camera.

This doesn't factor in the other ways to lose images. How many people have multiple copies of their images? How about RAID or offsite backups? Virus and malware protection? Security software up to date, using a decent firewall?

There are so many ways to lose images, bad cards are only one, and with care I think you can minimise the risk.

Absolutely agree with Tim

It goes without saying that I use dual cards, but in fact, the CF card (a good brand) is extremely safe.

Card Reader corruption is by far the biggest culprit - but how many people use dual card readers? (i.e. download their cards to computers multiple times using 2 different card readers)

If you don't do that, then it's hypocritical to use dual card cameras and think you're being responsible

Like anything, your data management system is only as strong as the weakest link

I feel so strongly about it I even have a section on my website dealing with it: http://clartephoto.com​/risk-management