Weekly Poll: How much memory do you carry?

[wulf]

A single 1GB card. After each shoot I transfer the pictures to the computer, back them up and delete them from the card.

So far, I haven't come near to filling it up (I shudder to think about how much time it would take to sort the pictures afterwards if I did!). I would think about a larger card (or probably extra cards) if I was going on a trip where I wouldn't have access to a suitable computer for downloading every night.

Wulf

[klew]

Older Sony Cybershot: pack-in 16MB card, bought an extra 64MB Lexar Memory Stick (man, those were expensive back then), then a 128MB Lexar before a two month trip (research cruise, Tahiti and Australia) for which I paid less than the 64MB.

Current Canon Powershot: three 2GB Sandisk Ultra II SD cards, which I bought a month before I got the camera (yay for Black Friday sales), the 16MB pack-in card can only hold two pictures at max resolution (so it's backing up my Wii gamesaves). One card holds 600+ pictures at max resolution, but 16 minutes of video at max settings, and I like to take both, and the third card is backup for whatever (more pics/video, computer data, or if someone else needs one.

[jdepould]

Originally Posted by Scik

I have an 8GB and a 2GB SD card. I primarily use the 8GB and the 2GB as a backup ... I need to buy more because I am getting wary about card failure.

I really like 2GB cards because they're big enough that you can go for an hour or two of heavy shooting without swapping out the card, but they're small enough that if one fails it isn't a complete disaster.

[shannonje]

wow, i must say that i am shocked at the incredible amount of memory people carry around with them. Do you really need more than 6 GB of memory?? I have 1 2GB Transcend card that I hesitantly bought b/c it was cheap and had good reviews even though it wasn't name brand and I've been very pleased with it - rarely do i have any read/write problems - long exposures are the only times i've had to wait awhile for it to process, continuous shooting is fine. I also have a back up 256 GB. I shoot all RAW and don't generally have a problem with space - thats over 350 photos on 2 GBs. The only time 2 GBs wouldn't be enough is if I am shooting sports or other such situations that call for extended continuous shooting (weddings, etc). 2 2GB cards would be perfect - I wouldn't ever need more than that unless I was without my laptop for a couple days.
To be honest, having so much memory at your disposal i think facilitates lazy photography - shooting film is the best practice for forcing yourself to have discipline and plan your shots but a few times on my D70 i've run low on battery power and had to shake-shoot-shake (if you shake a dead battery up and down you can squeeze out 1-3 shots) and my shots came out surprisingly great just because I had to be so economical...(and this was at a national park in zambia so i was really upset about the battery issue at first - 4 hour drive in such a unique place with low battery!)
Granted, with a 2GB card I do delete photos as i shoot (an occasional break) which is generally unadvised but again, I haven't felt the need for another card except as a back-up...

[shannonje]

there's another poll idea: how often do people check the images on the back of their camera? after almost every shot? never? only at first to check exposure? only after the shoot?

personally, I rarely look at my photos until I have some natural break, am running low on card space, or if I am in a tricky lighting situation and i want to check if i'm blowing out highlights... although when i first started digital photography as a photojournalist for my university's daily i checked my lcd all the time.

[odark30]

I carry 2-1GB cards-Sandisk and have odds and ends (all sizes) in my bag. I transfer, on the go, to an Epson P4000 just in case!

[Nicole]

Originally Posted by shannonje

Do you really need more than 6 GB of memory??

I do it for redundancy reasons. If one card goes then I have backup. There have been times where I have shot 6GB though (or at least close). Although I carry the cards with me nearly every time I go out (a handful of SD cards don't take much room), I don't use them all probably 90% of the time, nor have I had a card fail on me yet (knock on wood), but I'd hate to be stuck in a situation where I actually need the additional picture and am out of memory or the technology fails.

[porterd2nz]

2x 256 MB XD cards for my Olympus P&S
8x 2 GB Silicon Power CompactFlash for my Sony Alpha

With memory cards so (relatively) cheap these days I like to have a lot, simply so that I can use a different one for different locales during a day. Shooting in RAW on the Sony Alpha, I get about 130 shots per 2 GB card or 100 if shooting in RAW+JPEG.

[Synthea]

I just added 2gb to my wimpy 256mb. I love it. When I get my dslr, I'll probably get at least 2 more 2gb.

[ryan s]

At the moment:

2x 1GB Ultra II
1x 1GB Kodak (came with the cam)

I will only buy SanDisk products

PS: my phone has a 2GB card, but I didn't count it