What size memory card do you shoot with?

I have 8GB and higher. I use 'em all...

Road Dog wrote in post #18250197
I have 8GB and higher. I use 'em all...

I still have a 16MB (that's 0.016 GB). It doesn't get much use.

32-64

On my 7DmkII I load both slots.

The jpg's go to the SD card and RAW go to the CF card.

In the card wallet I have:

3 SD's that are all 16 GB each.
2 CF cards that are also 16 GB each.

Normally, I never fill the 2 cards that start in the camera, but I have the extras with just in case. I also have a couple of 8GB and a 4GB CF card that I have been known to toss into the bag "just in case" when headed out for a weekend trip, but only if I think I will be shooting a lot and I don't want to mess with bringing along a laptop for backup.

SanDisk Extreme PRO 32GB CompactFlash for raw files
SanDisk Extreme Pro 32GB SDHC for jpeg files

I have two of each I load the camera with one set and have the other in the card case.

.

Bassat wrote in post #18247180
I was kind of surprised to see the limited number of choices.

I agree, Bassat. It does not seem reasonable for the OP to have limited us to one choice. What about all of the people who use multiple card sizes? How can their vote precisely reflect their actual usage?

What about this guy here, Road Dog? How is he supposed to vote accurately?

Road Dog wrote in post #18250197
I have 8GB and higher. I use 'em all...

Typically, a 16, but I carry 32s as well.

At this moment 128GB CFs and 128GB and 32GB SDs. 128GB CF is Sandisk Extreme Pro, it is the largest capacity CF card still in SLC mode. The 256GB Extreme pro CF become MLC. 32GB SDs are also Extreme Pro. Again they are largest capacity in SLC mode. The 128GB SD is Extreme, it is in MLC mode. I only use it when 32GB isn't enough.

You see the theme here, From memory reliability point of view, I much prefer SLC card over MLC, and will avoid TLC in planar NAND as much as I can. For 3D NAND, such as Samsung VNAND and Sandisk/Toshiba BiCS, TLC is OK.

eelnoraa wrote in post #18275149
At this moment 128GB CFs and 128GB and 32GB SDs. 128GB CF is Sandisk Extreme Pro, it is the largest capacity CF card still in SLC mode. The 256GB Extreme pro CF become MLC. 32GB SDs are also Extreme Pro. Again they are largest capacity in SLC mode. The 128GB SD is Extreme, it is in MLC mode. I only use it when 32GB isn't enough.

You see the theme here, From memory reliability point of view, I much prefer SLC card over MLC, and will avoid TLC in planar NAND as much as I can. For 3D NAND, such as Samsung VNAND and Sandisk/Toshiba BiCS, TLC is OK.

SLC MLC NAND TLC

SLC -- Single Level Cell: the most expensive, longest lived (high write/read life), and generally fastest. Bits are stored only as 2 voltage levels, or a "1" or "0." In SLC less data is stored per cell, so the per unit storage cost is higher.

MLC -- Multi-Level Cell: is consumer grade and used in phones, cameras, and USB sticks. The stored charge in MLC may be interpreted as a variety of values, 0 to 3, or 4 possible states, and may store 2 bits. With shorter lifetimes, usually 10x less than SLC, the advantage of this memory is that the cost is 2- 4x less than SLC, but with lower write speeds. MLC typically uses some form of error correction code per block.

TLC -- Triple Level Cell: has higher power and error correction requirements, and higher wear levels. TLC is targeted at environments with predominant read uses.

As for NAND, that is a reference to the internal architecture of the chip.

(and I cannot take all the credit, much of the text above came from an explanation that I had saved from Tom's IT Pro website for a project I was working on)

KurtB wrote in post #18275589
SLC -- Single Level Cell: the most expensive, longest lived (high write/read life), and generally fastest. Bits are stored only as 2 voltage levels, or a "1" or "0." In SLC less data is stored per cell, so the per unit storage cost is higher.

MLC -- Multi-Level Cell: is consumer grade and used in phones, cameras, and USB sticks. The stored charge in MLC may be interpreted as a variety of values, 0 to 3, or 4 possible states, and may store 2 bits. With shorter lifetimes, usually 10x less than SLC, the advantage of this memory is that the cost is 2- 4x less than SLC, but with lower write speeds. MLC typically uses some form of error correction code per block.

TLC -- Triple Level Cell: has higher power and error correction requirements, and higher wear levels. TLC is targeted at environments with predominant read uses.

As for NAND, that is a reference to the internal architecture of the chip.

(and I cannot take all the credit, much of the text above came from an explanation that I had saved from Tom's IT Pro website for a project I was working on)

Not sure how this relates to the size of the memory card or how we should purchase a memory card. My Lexar and SanDisk cards bear none of these acronyms and work great.

My typical shoot does not require a lot of shots. I know that cards can fail and image get corrupted so I'm perfectly happy with 16GB cards. I shoot tethered on about 90% of my shoots and know what I'm getting before the project is finished.

if Im walking around taking photographs I tend to use 64gig Transcend cards that were their fastest at the time I bought them, for gigs I tend to use 32gig ones that are also Transcends or 16gig as they are fast enough. The exception to this are the times I use a Nikon V1 when I use 8-16gig cards and the Ricoh GX100 that I use 2-4gig cards, due to lower resolution of them. I have to admit I do not need the fastest cards any Class 10 or faster are fine I very rarely hit the buffer limit. I prefer to not change cards in the field and see that as a greater point of risk than card failure in camera, onset of arthritis makes me more prone to dropping things, so if card needs changing or near to its coffee time.

Archibald wrote in post #18276364
Not sure how this relates to the size of the memory card or how we should purchase a memory card. My Lexar and SanDisk cards bear none of these acronyms and work great.

I was merely trying to get explain my reason of choosing particular memory card. I value reliability the most, thus I pick SLC cards when I can. It related to capacity in a sense that SLC generally don't come in too large of capacity. As capacity increase, MLC or TLC will have performance level catch up due to parallelism increase, but by far they aren't as reliable as SLC

Manufactures won't tell you what they use inside. Whenever possible, they want to sell you TLC because is is lowest cost per bit. If you are happy with what you have, more power to you. Just I am in this industry for long enough, I value the additional realibility.

I have several 16B CF cards for my 7D (1 Sandisk Extreme and the rest Pro's) and a 64GB SanDisk Extreme for my 6D.