Deliberate1 Posted March 4, 2012 Share #1 Â Posted March 4, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) Lest there be any confusion, I am referring to the digital variety. I am putting the final touches on my kit for the 17 day trip my wife and I are taking to India. This is my first venture with the M9, and first non-film journey. In the past, I would be counting rolls of 120 film (12 exposures per) and calculating how much I really wanted to shlepp. The miracle of the 16gb Lexar card I bought as my first for the M9 gives me approximately 420 RAW images per card. Basically, storage is a non-issue - save for the expense of buying additional cards which go for about $24 per. As a MF film shooter I was most selective since the film was a finite resource. Not so with these cards. I intend to take as many cards as I think I may need and simply not reuse them. And I will have no device for hard drive back-up. I looked at the Sanho Hyper Drive device but did not want to go to the expense or trouble of another electronic device. I would be interested to know how many images per day you plan for when calculating how much flash memory to bring. Obliged, David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted March 4, 2012 Posted March 4, 2012 Hi Deliberate1, Take a look here How much memory do you travel with?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
giordano Posted March 4, 2012 Share #2 Â Posted March 4, 2012 It depends what sort of a trip it is and what sort of a photographer you are. For a holiday with lots of travelling I very seldom used more than three 36-exp rolls in any day, usually less than two. With my roll film cameras, never more than four or five rolls unless someone else was paying. With digital, I seldom make more than about 200 exposures in a day, usualy many fewer, and find that's an ample allowance for memory cards. Â But I'm sure that many people here would make a far more generous allowance. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted March 4, 2012 Share #3 Â Posted March 4, 2012 David, I understand where you're going with this, but I can't see that the answers you may get will be directly relevant or useful to you, because we all think, work and see differently. For example, I regard myself as more of a sniper than a machine-gunner. In film days I would very seldom use more than a roll or two a day. My firing rate really hasn't gone up if I use digital (I remain a heavy film user) so I would still be around the 30-50 shot a day mark if really pushing it, and more likely around the 10-20 on average. Others mileages will vary, for sure as will your own. Do what feels right and remember quality trumps quantity every time. Â Regards, Â Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted March 4, 2012 Share #4 Â Posted March 4, 2012 But do use an image tank or laptop as backup! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbealnz Posted March 4, 2012 Share #5 Â Posted March 4, 2012 Good thread, as I will be in the same boat (not really literally) later this year, 5-6 weeks in Europe. One thought was to take 4Gb cards, and as they fill, have them burned to a DVD (last time in 2007 we used photo shops to burn the cards to CD's/DVD's). That way I keep the cards, and back-up DVD's, and sort it all out when I return home. Having said that I bought a 32Gb card recently for the NEX and I am thinking of these as well for the M9, but the lure of one card to one DVD, labeled and stored (separately)is strong. Any thoughts? Good luck with the trip David. Gary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuny Posted March 4, 2012 Share #6 Â Posted March 4, 2012 Four 3 1/2 weeks in Antarctica and Argentina I brought 8 - 2GB cards, 1 - 16 GB card, a 60 GB tank and a Macbook. The cameras, shooting high density jpegs were a D2 and a borrowed V Lux 2. The 16 GB card was for the V Lux in case I wanted to do any video. I ended up processing nearly everything in downtimes (including during flights) and never used the tank or most of the cards. There were thousands of images. Â India is fabulously photogenic (you might want to check our site for what I mean and for some ideas of what to see), so as Bill suggests, look into your own experence and behavior, adn adjust accordingly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deliberate1 Posted March 4, 2012 Author Share #7 Â Posted March 4, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) David, I understand where you're going with this, but I can't see that the answers you may get will be directly relevant or useful to you, because we all think, work and see differently. Â Bill, appreciate your thoughts, as always. Your reply provokes a larger question regarding "work flow" changes once the film resource is removed from the equation (though perhaps we both have a "hybrid" style). As a snobbish shooter of MF and 4x5 films sheets, I would often deride my Nikon toting friend for his digital promiscuity (I put it a bit more coarsely to him). If this thread has any wider value, perhaps people will share, as you have, any change in shooting style with essentially an unlimited canvas. Only time will tell for me. I suspect I will take fewer images than I think I will, given my film mindset. I doubt I will violate my longstanding internal sensibilities that prompt me to pull the trigger, or walk by. But I do see myself doing some three burst bracketing in difficult lighting circumstances. And I also want to try that dynamic shooting technique for wide open shooting - when you short focus and move in slowly while shooting a three burst. That would be a very considerable change in technique that would increase the number of images while I remain equally selective when engaging the finger. Regards, David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deliberate1 Posted March 4, 2012 Author Share #8  Posted March 4, 2012 Having said that I bought a 32Gb card recently for the NEX and I am thinking of these as well for the M9, but the lure of one card to one DVD, labeled and stored (separately)is strong. Any thoughts? Good luck with the trip David. Gary  Gary, the general consensus here favors more smaller cards over fewer big ones. I do believe there is safety in numbers. One or two bad 32mb cards could be a real problem. Or if you lose a card with 800 images on it - disaster. An 8gb card will give you about 200 images. I prefer the 16gb which proves twice that. I would be twice as likely to lose twice as many cards. Burning sounds good. But if you are going too carry a computer, why not upload them to a "cloud" storage site? Happy trails to you as well! David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deliberate1 Posted March 4, 2012 Author Share #9 Â Posted March 4, 2012 Â India is fabulously photogenic (you might want to check our site for what I mean and for some ideas of what to see), so as Bill suggests, look into your own experence and behavior, adn adjust accordingly. Â Stuart, thanks for yours. My wife and I spent some time on your site. You and yours have had some wonderful journeys. I particularly like the portrait of the ticket taker in India. Powerful face screaming to be rendered in B&W (in my humble opinion) Regards David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jneilt Posted March 4, 2012 Share #10 Â Posted March 4, 2012 On our recent 5 day to rome I took about 10 cards and my macbook air. I use cards from 2g to 8g, I figure if one card goes awol on me...I will not loose 400 +/- photos. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rramesh Posted March 5, 2012 Share #11 Â Posted March 5, 2012 When I travel I usually carry 3-4 Memory Cards. 1 in camera, 1 in bag or wallet and usually 1-2 stored with my luggage. I buy the spares as it is sometimes hard to get quality cards during a trip. Â These are usually 8GB cards. I don't buy higher capacity cards as I don't like corrupted cards and I usually save my cards after a trip. I also carry a MacBook and transfer pictures to it end of day as a backup. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenPatterson Posted March 5, 2012 Share #12 Â Posted March 5, 2012 I have a Pelican SD holder that fits eight cards. I carry two 32 gig, two 16 gig, and four 8 gig. I fill them up from small to big. The 32 gig cards are primarily for my Canon camcorder, but obviously I can use them in the Leica if needed. Â Everything backs up on a 13" MBA and to an external HD. The goal is always to return home with images in 3 places. Once home and backed up to the main server then I format the SD cards for use again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted March 5, 2012 Share #13 Â Posted March 5, 2012 If I calculate correctly. That is 6000 uncompressed DNGs... What on earth do you guys find to photograph on a trip and where do you find the time to process them all? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbealnz Posted March 5, 2012 Share #14 Â Posted March 5, 2012 LOL, it's the shotgun approach Jaapv, shoot first ask questions later. Plus, film's cheap. Seriously though, I figure coming home with an unused card is a smaller price to pay than wishing you had more, especially in some remote spot. Gary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted March 5, 2012 Share #15 Â Posted March 5, 2012 When we traveled this past summer for 21 days, I took 10 of the 4 and 8 GB cards. I agree with others that don't particularly like huge capacity cards because of the risk of losing large amounts of photos if a card gets lost or broken. I averaged 72 shots per day and it amounted to 52GB. Â I also took a 256 GB SSD MacBook Air 11" notebook and 1TB mini hard drive. At night I would back up to both the notebook and the drive. I never erase the cards until I have to. So, I can keep the notebook and drive in the safe and the cards separately in my luggage, in case the safe isn't. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkP Posted March 5, 2012 Share #16 Â Posted March 5, 2012 On a 5 week trip to Europe last year I took four 16G cards which, as they filled up, were then used as additional backup to my 500GB Hyperdrive Colorspace UDMA. Â I did a modicum of editing each night on a MacBook Air to get rid of the dross, and keep some control on the number of images, before backing up on the Colorsafe. Â Rick's point about spreading out the backup is spot on. I kept the cards with me and the Colorsafe drive was kept in the hotel room safe or my wife's luggage. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter H Posted March 5, 2012 Share #17 Â Posted March 5, 2012 My shooting rate went up considerably when I switched to digital, for two reasons. Â First, because I started being more experimental with exposure settings. Partly using the monitor & histograms as an exposure meter and partly simply playing around with different settings. I still find it invaluable as a way to get an interesting reading that I might not have achieved with film because of a tendency to stick with what I understood. Â And secondly I shoot more with digital just because I can. I enjoy taking photos and the feeling of freedom to shoot just as much as I want is nice. I probably shoot less now than when I first switched, but I like exploring things, even if it means taking a dozen or more different shots of the same thing. Many more sometimes. Â But that's just personal preferences at play. I always take more memory than I need. I've never yet run short. The cost of extra memory cards is small price to pay for the freedom it gives me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgk Posted March 5, 2012 Share #18 Â Posted March 5, 2012 Last trip I went on I took 2 x 32GB and 2 x 16GB cards. Used up one 16 and one 32. No problems. Also took 4 x batteries and have since invested in 2 more. I once ran out of cards on a trip - its not going to happen again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
asmith Posted March 5, 2012 Share #19 Â Posted March 5, 2012 I find 4x2GB more than enough for the trips I take. Alwyn Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double Negative Posted March 5, 2012 Share #20 Â Posted March 5, 2012 4-8GB / day - backed up to MacBook Pro or iPad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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