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I have a Canon EOS 1100D. There is a promotion on memory cards in a local shop. I have the choice between a SanDisk 32 Gb or 2 x 16 Gb. (Both class 10, 45 MB/s).

What would be the best purchase? The large one, or the two medium capacity? The price is +/- the same. What would a good photographer buy?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ It's an opinion really. Personal preference if you will. \$\endgroup\$
    – dpollitt
    May 12, 2013 at 13:33
  • \$\begingroup\$ If the price is the same, then the 32 GB option has a better price. If you double the capacity, the price normally goes up more than the double. But, then it's of course up to what it's worth for you, to determine which is the better buy. \$\endgroup\$
    – Guffa
    May 12, 2013 at 20:47

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Buy whatever suits you best. If you have breaks in your shooting style that allow for swapping cards, two cards may be the way to go. If you are shooting high paced events that don't allow a lot of time to swap card, or if you are good at losing small items, one card may be a better choice for you. I know more photographers who have lost pictures by misplacing a card after they swapped it at a high paced event than have lost pictures due to memory card failure.

Most problems with memory cards are caused by inserting or removing when the card is communicating with the host system. I always power down my camera before swapping cards, and never remove a CF card from a reader that is powered up. In the case of SD cards, being sure to use the OS to eject them before removal should be enough. Following those practices, I've never experienced memory card failure, SD or CF, in any of my cameras going back to 2005.

I use a 400X 32GB Transcend CF card in my 5DII most of the time and a faster 600X 16GB Transcend CF card in my 7D. I have another 400X 16GB card and a couple of 8GB cards in my bag as well. All are UDMA or faster.

In the case of my 400X 32GB Transcend card, the 16GB version has the same read speed, but a slower write speed. They were the fastest available from Transcend at the time I bought them. The 400X 32GB is fast enough for the way I use the 5DII, but the extras speed of the 600X 16GB card is needed to take advantage of the 7D's faster write speed. When using the slower card, the buffer fills up quicker during continuous shooting.

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Even though I only shoot in RAW format with my Canon 50D, I prefer to have a few 8GB cards instead of one 32GB. So if something should happen to one of the cards, I still have the pictures on the other cards.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Totally agree, however cards are getting better and better now. Personally I still have many 8GB cards + backup on-the-go \$\endgroup\$
    – user1681
    May 12, 2013 at 10:08

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