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Photo monkeys: which flash card?

DirtMcGirk

<b>WAY</b> Dumber than N8 (to the power of ten alm
Feb 21, 2008
6,379
1
Oz
So due to some ass clown stealing my camera I had to buy a new one. Decided to step up, bought me a Nikon D300S.
It's the business.

However, the flash card I got, all 256mb of it, holds about 6 photos at 12.3mp.

Which flash card do you suggest? I shoot a lot of photos, am in love with the high size/fine setting, and sometimes I have been known to shoot sports or have other people shoot me doing sports.

I had a 2gb card in my last camera. It was awesome. But I don't remember which one it was.

Any suggestions?
 

worship_mud

Turbo Monkey
Dec 9, 2006
1,464
2
i have a 4 GB Lexar professional with write acceleration (133x speed) in my '08 nikon D200, which is good for several hundred pics (i only shoot jpeg in high res, ca. 3-5 mb / pic), could be outdated, i don't follow the technical evolution of flash cards too closely. but it's enough for me, writes fast enough without running out of buffer space.

whatever you get, don't buy a too big one.
i am a bit weak in organizing and don't always download what i shoot, so the card fills up untill i have ca. 800 shots on it and i have no idea what else is on the card and if i can erase it. this is annoying when you want to shoot and run out of card space. scrolling through several hundred pics and deciding what to erase while your kid is doing her first pedalstrokes on her new bikes is not that cool.
get a 2GB card (unless you shoot in RAW) , should be enough. and download immediatly after every photo session. :-)
 
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Quo Fan

don't make me kick your ass
I have a Canon 30D, and I use Sandisk Ultra II 4gig cards. I also have several 2gig cards lying around that I use as back ups. I shoot RAW, and usually download after each shoot.

Kingston also makes decent cards, (most people use their memory in their computers) and they are also less expensive than Sandisk.

In all honesty, you don't NEED to buy the most expensive cad on the market. There are plenty of budget options available.

[sarcasm]But, you being the lawyer type, and all status conscious, worrying about how everybody perceives you, then but the most expensive stuff you can find because we all know that expensive=quality. :D[/sarcasm]
 

DirtMcGirk

<b>WAY</b> Dumber than N8 (to the power of ten alm
Feb 21, 2008
6,379
1
Oz
[sarcasm]But, you being the lawyer type, and all status conscious, worrying about how everybody perceives you, then but the most expensive stuff you can find because we all know that expensive=quality. :D[/sarcasm]
E.A.B.O.D, smart ass.
 

narlus

Eastcoast Softcore
Staff member
Nov 7, 2001
24,658
63
behind the viewfinder
if you shoot jpg a 2GB card will be fine, and you don't have to worry about UDMA or other transfer rate crap.

if you shoot RAW and do a lot of burst shooting, see if your camera does support UDMA and if it's worth it (for me it wasn't as the speed in clearing the camera's buffer would only increase my burst total from 13 to 14, and the cards are a lot more expensive).

i use SanDisk pretty exclusively...have a bunch of older 2GB cards, 3 4GB and 2 8GB. if you are gonna take video take that into your storage need considerations.
 

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
they prices for cards are so cheap now...a 8gb cost $16, 16gb is $30....the prices basically double when you do up to the next card size.
i use Kingston Elite Pro 133x and Sandisk Ultra II's
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
The D300 supports UDMA so if you're doing a lot of high def video or shooting primarily bursts of RAW files, UDMA cards will both work faster in your camera and transfer faster to your computer (with a compatible card reader).

Me, I shoot raw but don't do huge bursts of shots (rarely more than 4-5 in a burst). Any 133x rated card will be sufficiently fast. I got a whole bunch of Transcend 133x 8gb cards for Christmas a couple years ago and have been perfectly happy with them - no failures.
 

SkaredShtles

Michael Bolton
Sep 21, 2003
65,379
12,533
In a van.... down by the river

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now

Prettym1k3

Turbo Monkey
Aug 21, 2006
2,864
0
In your pants
Mr. Dirty... I'm shooting with a D300.

I have an older SanDisk Extreme III 4gb, and two SanDisk Ultra 8gb cards.

They are all 30 MB/s write speed. Plenty for rattling off 6 fps for however long I need.

Oh... and I shoot RAW. Strictly RAW.
 

north20

Chimp
Nov 5, 2007
85
0
East Cascades - PNW
Any reputable brand card with 33mb and up speeds should be more than sufficient for your camera. Brand wise, I've developed a strong preference for Lexar, SanDisk, and Transcend but I'm sure other brands are fine as well.

That said, and as others have noted, if you're going to shoot a lot of video buy the best/fastest you're willing to shell out for - it makes a difference.

And iirc, the D300s can use both CF and SD cards. Each has it's fans, but I have a strong preference for CF in terms of reliability and speed.

Lastly, and this is especially true if you'll be shooting a lot of video, buy a good card reader that will transfer those files to your pc at something higher than glacial speeds. I use this one; been totally reliable and stupid fast compared to anything else I've used:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/492648-REG/Lexar_RW034_001_Professional_UDMA_FireWire_800.html