Comments on: Memory Cards – Get what you pay for!

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 16:44:03 +0000

My Sony has two card slots, one for an SDHC and one for a Sony Pro card. I’ve only used Sandisk cards for the SDHC slot, and I’ve had a major problem with them in cold weather. Anything below 28F, or thereabouts, and the camera indicates “no memory card available”. The pro card works fine, so it’s not the camera, and I just switch over until I can warm the camera up, but it is aggravating.

Anyone else ever run into this problem?

By: Petr Bohacek

Petr Bohacek — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:53:46 +0000

I had similar problem with white areas in pictures with my Sandisk Extreme III 8GB card and I think it’s a problem of lightroom cause the image was displayed properly in another viewer. I’m shooting RAW.

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:55:02 +0000

I use 2 AData 8GB and 1 16 GB CF cards with a Nikon D300, and have never had a failure in 30,000 images. I know it’s possible with any card; I have had a failure with a cheapo SD card with another camera, but it wasn’t AData. Given that, I’d still rather use 2-3 8GB cards than the one 16GB card just to cut the risk.

I also do notice a difference in write speed, which to me is what makes a more expensive card worth it. You have to pay attention to the specs when you’re buying the card. Compare write speed if you’re counting on your card to keep up with you in burst shooting AND clearing out your camera’s cache between bursts. Pay attention to read speed if you care more about the time it takes to transfer the images to your PC after you shoot.

One poster mentioned ‘I never check images in the field’ as if it’s a badge of honor, or that only beginners would check their images while they’re shooting. For photographers who need those images for their livelihood, checking the images as you go (when you can) is additional insurance and is a SMART thing to do, not a sign of a insecure beginner. Anyone who places blind faith in their equipment without doublechecking it once in awhile is setting themselves up for a surprise.

By: pictureperfect

pictureperfect — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:18:29 +0000

I’ve used different cards for a number of years now, and fortunately none of them have failed (I know I’ve just jinxed myself now). I normally use Sandisk and Kingston, though I have an HP that work just fine as well.

When in doubt, I’d say always go with the proven products, especially in critical applications when speed/reliability is a factor.

As for formatting, I believe that it’s a good idea from time to time to format a card to get rid of any potential data anomalies that may be lurking and affect your new data. I have had floppy disks that would not read for my old Sony Mavica FD73 digital camera (remember those?), and once I formatted the disk, it would work just fine.

By: Kudos

Kudos — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:30:18 +0000

In the last 7 years, I’ve only had one SD card fail on me… an aData 1Gb. As far as I’m concerned, the first failure is the card’s last. Ditched it immediately. Cannot risk such a failure again (especially after the monumental data loss from the first occasion). Won’t buy aData gain. Kingston/Sandisk/PNY cards have always worked reliably for me.

By: Alex flav

Alex flav — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:36:42 +0000

Sorry, this just sounds like a Sandisk PR release.

By: Robert Melnyk

Robert Melnyk — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:49:30 +0000

Primarly Lexar…

By: Jon Mainwaring

Jon Mainwaring — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:16:02 +0000

As a professional wedding photographer reliability of memory cards is key to me!
Some great comments here and I do agree that brand names aren’t always the best. My own answer is to use two cameras for essential shots then if one card does fail I still (should!) have the image.

By: joshua baskerville

joshua baskerville — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:30:09 +0000

ive heard of an aData failing too

By: G Dan Mitchell

G Dan Mitchell — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:16:20 +0000

One bit of advice for extending the life of your card is… avoid physical damage to the card and, more important, the pins in the camera that are inserted into the card when you put it in. I’ve heard of a number of people whose “card failure” was actually due to bending a pin in the camera or their card reader. It is quite east to do this with CF (“compact flash”) cards.

And of course, if you bend the pin in the camera you are probably looking at sending your camera away for some costly repairs.