1 GB CF or x4 256 MB CF?

[tamade]

Would you rather spend ur $ on a single 1 GB CF card or buy x4 256 MB CF cards?

IMHO, I would opt for the latter, at least if 1 of the 4 is spoilt/lost, I still got 3 remaining. If my single 1 GB is spolit/lost, then :cry:

What's ur pick? :dunno:

 

[showtime]

2x 512
you will find that shooting with 256 will run you out of space pretty fast.

 

[plinius]

second the option of 2 x 512

2x 512
you will find that shooting with 256 will run you out of space pretty fast.

 

[coke21]

Guess it really depends on the way you shoot. On a typical shoot how many shots do you take? Then from there you can probably judge what kind of CF cards to buy.

Personally I would use 2 512MB instead of 4 256MB, another thing to consider is how are you going to change cards without mixing them up, especially if you are in a hurry etc.

 

[blurblock]

4 x 256 is my style. Shooting in RAW, it will takes about 30 - 34 pictures, effectively simulating actual flim situation.

For me, in my bag, there are two compartment, 1 for used CF and 1 for fresh CF card to prevent mix up.

Normally, if I take until the last piece of CF card (the fifth piece is the emergency backup piece), I will switch to JPG in medium size with high quality (in Canon 10D), giving me about 120 shots (or another 3 - 4 rolls of flim equivient).

 

[HeWolf]

Would you rather spend ur $ on a single 1 GB CF card or buy x4 256 MB CF cards?

IMHO, I would opt for the latter, at least if 1 of the 4 is spoilt/lost, I still got 3 remaining. If my single 1 GB is spolit/lost, then :cry:

What's ur pick? :dunno:

Depending on the size of each image file you shoot, determine by camera brand/model, mp setting, compression (Raw, Jpeg).


Say for my S602Z, if shoot in 6mp, 'Fine' Jpeg, it will be like shooting non-stop for 6 rolls of 36x traditional film on a 512mb, before I need to reload a fresh CF.

Hence I think it's a good balance between 'convenience' vs 'all-eggs-in-basket'.

But then if I were to shoot video mode in VGA quality, then 512mb would only provide me with 7min+ continuously.

 

[Drudkh]

borrow this thread.
if I buy 1 1GB or 2GB CF card and leave it in the cam and won't take out?
will it be feasible?

 

[AlexLum]

You may want to consider getting 512MB(more decent storage than 256MB) plus a X-Drive ... keep shooting and transfer your CF file into it when there is a break inbetween

 

[chriszzz]

borrow this thread.
if I buy 1 1GB or 2GB CF card and leave it in the cam and won't take out?
will it be feasible?

Yes. Feasible. But what the others are talking about is the event of a card failure. If you have only 1 card, and it fails, you are screwed. Sometimes, you get read/write errors on the card, and you can attempt to recover the files on your PC before reformatting it. If you dun have a 2nd card, you cannot shoot anymore until you buy another card or you reformat your card, losing all your pics in the process. The chances of 2 cards failing is much smaller than 1 card failing.

Personally, I use 2 cards : 1 x 1GB and 1 X 512MB. These gives me enough capacity to shoot a whole day using RAW or highest quality JPG. And yet if one of them dies, I still have enough to last me quite a lot of shots.

Some people prefer using larger number of smaller cards. While this may be "safer" from the card-failure statistical point of view, it however greatly increases your chance of dropping a card while swapping and damaging it. So you have to find a compromise of number of cards and size of cards.

 

[Drudkh]

Yes. Feasible. But what the others are talking about is the event of a card failure. If you have only 1 card, and it fails, you are screwed. Sometimes, you get read/write errors on the card, and you can attempt to recover the files on your PC before reformatting it. If you dun have a 2nd card, you cannot shoot anymore until you buy another card or you reformat your card, losing all your pics in the process. The chances of 2 cards failing is much smaller than 1 card failing.

Personally, I use 2 cards : 1 x 1GB and 1 X 512MB. These gives me enough capacity to shoot a whole day using RAW or highest quality JPG. And yet if one of them dies, I still have enough to last me quite a lot of shots.

Some people prefer using larger number of smaller cards. While this may be "safer" from the card-failure statistical point of view, it however greatly increases your chance of dropping a card while swapping and damaging it. So you have to find a compromise of number of cards and size of cards.

i see. thanks for the great detail in explaining. :thumbsup:

 

[tamade]

I see that most of us won't be using the option of 1x 1 GB CF card then

A 256 MB CF does run out pretty fast! I've this card holder that can fit 4 CF cards, so storage isn't really an issue, then not so easy to mix up which is a 'used' card since I put them in an order.

Didn't really think of the x2 512 MB idea :embrass:

But actually buying a 256 MB CF is a more affordable solution to me at the moment, although with more money, I'd definitely like the idea of a 512 MB CF card. :bsmilie: