CF card for travel without a computer?

I'm going on a vacation in which I will not have access to a pc to unload pics from my one CF card - an 8GB. So, I am thinking of picking up this 32GB Transcend card for the trip. I have a 7D but do not plan on taking much video, if any, or using the faster drive too often, if at all. For video I can use my 8GB card, it's pretty quick. Any thoughts on whether that card will be adequate given these requirements?

ions wrote in post #9407262
I'm going on a vacation in which I will not have access to a pc to unload pics from my one CF card - an 8GB. So, I am thinking of picking up this 32GB Transcend card for the trip. I have a 7D but do not plan on taking much video, if any, or using the faster drive too often, if at all. For video I can use my 8GB card, it's pretty quick. Any thoughts on whether that card will be adequate given these requirements?

it's probably an okay card but i'd go for two of these instead http://www.adorama.com …earchinfo=sandi​sk+extreme.

ed rader

I would too if I could get such a deal. That's US. Not going to find anything close to that here in Canada. For example, here is a similar card, not sure what the difference is exactly but the price sure sucks.

Hah! in fact the one in Canada is 20mb/s versus the 30mb/s in the US! Considering the dollar is near parity...

i have one of those cards but i only ever use it when i do really long time lapses and i leave the camera there all day

I think 4 of these Kingston 8GB cards may make more sense at $123.96 for 32GB than the $139.97 for the 32GB Transcend. Looks like I should have put this in Market Watch...

ions wrote in post #9408283
I think 4 of these Kingston 8GB cards may make more sense at $123.96 for 32GB than the $139.97 for the 32GB Transcend. Looks like I should have put this in Market Watch...

I agree. Ever heard the ditty "Don't put your eggs all in one basket?"

You'd feel pretty poor if you had one of 'em big gigantic cards, got home to discover that it failed on ya.

440roadrunner wrote in post #9408471
I agree. Ever heard the ditty "Don't put your eggs all in one basket?"

I think I'd rather carry one basket of eggs than try to juggle four of them.

440roadrunner wrote in post #9408471
You'd feel pretty poor if you had one of 'em big gigantic cards, got home to discover that it failed on ya.

Just as bad as if one of the smaller cards failed - which would be four times more likely.

I have about 16 CF cards now that I number and take with me for important shoots and trips. Most are 4 GB and I have the 5D2 which takes only 123 images in RAW + mJPEG. The 7D will only be a little better. Get yourself a little wallet for CF cards, I have the Think Tank one and it's wonderful for 10 cards, and I bought 4 GB Ultra II's from Costco, they were on sale, and I've never regretted it. I usually have my small laptop and external hard drive to download every so often, but if you don't have anything to download daily, you will be sad you didn't get enough memory right off. Think about it. A 4GB card is 3 rolls of 36 exposure film (for my 5D2). That's not a lot. I only have 1 8GB card, as stated above, eggs in one basket, heaven forbid I lose the card or it fails. During a wedding shoot, that has happened. I put in a card that didn't register in the camera. I was happy I had 7 empty cards still left in my case.

All the above advice is good with regard to the CF cards. For the future, you may want to consider getting a portable photoviewer, such as the Epson or Colorspace devices:

http://www.epson.com …BVCookie=yes&oi​d=63076680

http://www.hypershop.c​om …-COLORSPACE-UDMA-s/64.htm

I don't own a laptop, and wouldn't want to carry one with me if I did, but my Epson P-5000 goes on the trips. I find these types of devices to be excellent and reliable means to back up cards while on the go. Small, portable, and you can easily share the shots with friends.

hollis_f wrote in post #9409864
Just as bad as if one of the smaller cards failed - which would be four times more likely.

it wouldnt be as bad since you would only loose one card and only up to 25% of your photos instead of 100% of them if them 32gb card fails

dovaka wrote in post #9410505
it wouldnt be as bad since you would only loose one card and only up to 25% of your photos instead of 100% of them if them 32gb card fails

Which might be a worry - if CF cards were highly likely to fail. But I've been using them for over 15 years (I still have an 8MB - yup 0.008GB card) and I've never had one fail in the camera. It's my opinion that going through the hassle of having to keep swapping cards (with the added risk of losing one) makes about as much sense as walking around the city armed with bear repellant - just in case.

hollis_f wrote in post #9410533
Which might be a worry - if CF cards were highly likely to fail. But I've been using them for over 15 years (I still have an 8MB - yup 0.008GB card) and I've never had one fail in the camera. It's my opinion that going through the hassle of having to keep swapping cards (with the added risk of losing one) makes about as much sense as walking around the city armed with bear repellant - just in case.

your right its very unlikely to happen but it does happen. it really depends on what your doing if your just out taking pictures for the hell of it and you loose the whole week your not going to be happy when i go somewhere for a week and someone is paying me quite a bit of money to bring back pictures of a snow boarding event or something and i tell them my card crapped out, my camera broke, got stolen or any one of 100 reasons why i dont have the images i would most likely never work for them again so its easy insurance to have multiple cards and break things up just to be sure for that 1 in a million chance of something happening

dovaka wrote in post #9410613
you loose the whole week

Then I'd consider myself a complete twat for not making a backup .

hollis_f wrote in post #9410673
Then I'd consider myself a complete twat for not making a backup .

but then you have to take the card out anyway so why not just divide it amongst other cards. i also do backup every card as soon as i take it out of the camera into my hyperdrive