Memory Cards

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Mike Farley
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Memory Cards

Postby Mike Farley » Thu 07 Nov 2019, 08:46

A couple of days ago I nearly linked to this post on the Leica Forum which purports to show the best memory cards for Leica cameras but then thought better of it. Not because most people do not have Leicas but because many of the top rated cards were in excess of most people's requirements for still photography. They have huge capacities and write speeds quicker than needed unless shooting in long bursts. And they are correspondingly expensive. Not that the write speeds are shown in the article, rather the faster read speeds which the manufacturers ALWAYS quote. There can be quite a marked difference between the two and usually it is not easy to find out what it is.

This is the link to the article: https://www.l-camera-forum.com/sd-card-leica/?

Then Mike Johnston at The Online Photographer chimed in, although he slightly missed the point of having fast cards with high capacities. He rightly points out that they are better suited for video work where capacity and write speeds really do matter, especially at higher resolutions. Which is not to say that they have no place in still photography; there will always be some circumstances when they are necessary as borne out by the comments.

Another bit of information which did come out in the comments is that memory cards are far from being a suitable method for archival storage. They rely on an electrical charge which degrades over time, three to five years being the typical period. That might come as surprise to those who think that because cards are inexpensive, especially compared to the per shot cost of film, all they have to do is buy a new one once a card is full and put the old one somewhere safe. Quite aside from cataloguing issues (finding the card which holds a particular image could be tricky), at best the use and store strategy is only a temporary solution. As are most approaches which involve long term storage of digital media. Regular backups and putting the important stuff in the Cloud are the only viable options at present.

This is the article at The Online Photographer: https://theonlinephotographer.typepad.c ... cards.html

There is also a follow-up article which looks at the emergence of even faster XQD/CFexpress cards which we might be using in future, especially once the current eye wateringly high cost drops to more affordable levels. There is also some discussion about the use of silica glass for archival purposes. Do not expect the latter to be available for home use any time soon.

https://theonlinephotographer.typepad.c ... emory.html
Regards

Mike Farley
(Visit my website and blog - www.mikefarley.net)

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