Dual card cameras: change cards often or use lg sz and keep shooting?

Say you shoot RAW to both cards on a 5dIII, 1Dx, or D800, etc.. Do you just use two high capacity cards for the entire wedding, say 64GB, or do you still take the time to shoot smaller capacity cards and change them out so they're not in the camera? I fear with my spastic fingers that its more likely to go to through the wash in my pocket instead of the whole camera taking a swim and it all getting shorted out. I suppose a happy medium would be to use a 64GB CF card that stays in the camera the whole wedding and change out several SD cards or vice versa. Opinions?

Multiple cards and a card wallet. And empty/full labels on them so you don't accidently grab and reuse.

All your "eggs" in one basket is a bad idea.

I mark my cards A, B, C etc that way I don't confuse them. Disrupter is right

64 GB, both cards. We have a same process after every event we shoot. Make it a point to make sure we back up when we get home. Two hard drives. And then we format and start over. Shoot everything in raw. I like the large size just in case we start doing some video or just need the space for who knows what but can tell you we have never filled them but it could happen.

DisrupTer911 wrote in post #17571120
Multiple cards and a card wallet. And empty/full labels on them so you don't accidently grab and reuse.

All your "eggs" in one basket is a bad idea.

With Dual cards in RAID-1, there are two baskets already. I believe he has that aspect covered better already with the Dual card slot. I'd hazard a guess that at that point the odds are better safer not handling the cards until your in front of a PC.

IMHO, I am shooting a lot with 32GB cards and like not having to swap too often.
That said, I use smaller cards as well.

Did I ever tell you about the time I was in Africa, week two out of three week trip with all of the "shots of a lifetime" on CF cards in the case that NEVER left my pocket,. and I lost it?

It had a happy ending but man was i scared for about 3 hours!

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #17571243
With Dual cards in RAID-1, there are two baskets already. I believe he has that aspect covered better already with the Dual card slot. I'd hazard a guess that at that point the odds are better safer not handling the cards until your in front of a PC.

^ This

I guess I'm wondering whether its more likely one will lose the cards once they leave the camera, or whether a whole camera might go for a swim... or some static shorts out the camera and all the cards in it.

I'm leaning towards a large capacity CF card and changing out SD cards periodically.

Amadauss wrote in post #17571220
64 GB, both cards. We have a same process after every event we shoot. Make it a point to make sure we back up when we get home. Two hard drives. And then we format and start over. Shoot everything in raw. I like the large size just in case we start doing some video or just need the space for who knows what but can tell you we have never filled them but it could happen.

Having not yet experienced a failure of two cards at the same time, I lean towards this idea. The backup would be to have a second body/lens combo that you would be using to get different looks/shots at each stage of the event. Should something catastrophic happen to one camera you would hopefully have enough images from the second to save the day. If you are going to go with the idea of swapping out cards, you might as well use large capacities anyway, and just not fill them up; it will leave you with options.

I use both slots to record at the same time, both 32Gb & backup to computer at the end of the event. The cards are then placed in a good weather proof container and put into a bag or zipped pocked in my jacket is I have it on at the time. List of gear used at the event to check off once we pack, including cards.

I'm trusting cards much more than I use to & I'm trusting my ability to forget gear about the same.

Why have a camera with dual slots and small cards. Foolish thinking. The purpose of dual cards is instant back up when your shooting. Record to both cards at the same time and use large cards. You stand a far better chance of loosing and misplacing a card than you ever will from having one go corrupt. I put 32BG cards in both slots on 3 separate cameras and dont take them out until i get home to download. Never lost a file yet

I have heard of cameras being stolen during weddings.

Those camera have dual card slots so you can shoot with bigger cards. Changing them often creates more ways of loosing or dropping them.
You can also perhaps use smaller card for CF and very large(eg 128gb or 256gb) in your SD card. This way you don't need to format the SD card for a few weddings and the back up is always there.

I shoot 64GB dual cards in Record to Multiple mode, so full RAW files on both cards. And I don't change them out at a wedding at all.

Having said that, I *HAVE* experienced simultaneous dual card failure in my first 1D mark III. It had some kind of electrical problem and zapped both cards at the same time.

I've had about 9 card failures over my digital career. None of them cheap brands, all Sandisk and Lexar.

The chance of a card failing is so much lower than the chance that I will lose a card that it is not even worth considering the risk of the one card going bad. I don't have a camera with 2 card slots to begin with, so I minimize my risk by using a large card that is big enough that I don't plan on filling it, and I generally keep only one other large card with me if I go overflow. If I were on a longer trip I would back the pictures up on to my tablet on cards that I filled, but 64GB goes a long long way, even today.

picturecrazy wrote in post #17603516
I shoot 64GB dual cards in Record to Multiple mode, so full RAW files on both cards. And I don't change them out at a wedding at all.

Having said that, I *HAVE* experienced simultaneous dual card failure in my first 1D mark III. It had some kind of electrical problem and zapped both cards at the same time.

I've had about 9 card failures over my digital career. None of them cheap brands, all Sandisk and Lexar.

Lloyd,

I've read that Lexar will recover the data and send you a new card. Is that correct?

Also, do you think the camera shorted the cards out? Or were they just old?

Yikes

Silver-Halide wrote in post #17603735
Lloyd,

I've read that Lexar will recover the data and send you a new card. Is that correct?

Also, do you think the camera shorted the cards out? Or were they just old?

Yikes

No, they definitely weren't old. Under a year. I bought them when I bought the 1D mark III, and it failed a few months after new.

I have no idea if Lexar recovers data. That is good to know if they actually do. Because mine were totally fried. Undetectable in any reader I tried. Luckily, it was only about an hour after the day started, so I only lost a few preparation shots. The clients had no idea.