Worried about only having one card slot?

[Richard B99]

In the persuit of a bit of lighthearted fun and an enlightening tale...

There is a lot of angst expressed every time a manufacturer launches a new body with a single card slot. A feeling of insecurity over whether those little cards are fragile and will die and loose our images perhaps?

Well here’s an uplifting example of what your average SD card will put up with.

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www.nrk.no

(The linked article is in Norwegian, you can use Chrome to get a broad translation but, as they say, a picture says a thousand words and the video clips and resulting photos tell all.)

Plus, my GAS is making me think forget the drone, I need a ROV.

Enjoy.

 

[alcelc]

I never worry about it.

This is my 15th year using digital camera. Started with 8Mb SD card of no class at that time which costed me US$100, gradually moving onto 64Gb SD cards of R:95Mb/s and W:75Mb/s costs me US$30~40 now, none of them goes bad.

Throughout the years my cameras also never damage a card.

I have absolutely no concern over safety issue.

I suppose only high end cameras would have dual card slots. I suppose dual cards would be useful for instant backup, or separate still on one and video for another etc. A mid range model, usually does not use dual card, should be more than enough to keep me happy. YMMV.

 

[dave]

In the persuit of a bit of lighthearted fun and an enlightening tale...

There is a lot of angst expressed every time a manufacturer launches a new body with a single card slot. A feeling of insecurity over whether those little cards are fragile and will die and loose our images perhaps?

Well here’s an uplifting example of what your average SD card will put up with.

https://www.nrk.no/natur/xl/isbjorn...tigK7iygWXAI5JGUISGVg1L_L54c2FeT0uZemH-cPzkVo

(The linked article is in Norwegian, you can use Chrome to get a broad translation but, as they say, a picture says a thousand words and the video clips and resulting photos tell all.)

Plus, my GAS is making me think forget the drone, I need a ROV.

Enjoy.

Thanks for posting that! incredible images and an incredible story. Shows the value of GPS and modern technology. Google translate needs some more Norwegian lessons though.

Dave

 

[noggin2k1]

You can find endless people who have never had a card failure, and endless people who have had 1 or more card failure.

It's a risk not worth taking for paid professionals. Simple as that.

 

[TeddyD]

Nope..

 

[cerj]

Why worry about it? If you want 2 slots, buy a camera with 2.....

 

[Doug Haag]

My camera has two slots -- one for SD and one for XQD. But I only have a card in one of the slots. How dumb and risky is that?

 

[Wayne Larmon]

You can find endless people who have never had a card failure, and endless people who have had 1 or more card failure.

I'm from the group that has never had a failure and I'd like to hear from the people that have had card failure(s). Circumstances? Was the card a name brand card? That was purchased from a reputable vendor? (i.e., not from Amazon or eBay.) Does the user always dismount the card properly? (From the computer, when in a card reader. And doesn't snatch it out of the camera before the camera is done writing to it.)

Was the card tested before being put into service? I always test new cards with h2testw.

Did you format the card in the camera you are using it in? Each time you start a new session?

If you are having card failures, the question is why you are having failures. It might be a workflow issue, not a camera issue.

It's a risk not worth taking for paid professionals. Simple as that.

People generally aren't good at evaluating risk. Or managing risk.

It would be simple if all bodies had the option of being purchased with one slot or two (or three or four.) It is not simple when major new camera bodies are released with a single slot. The risk factor becomes more nuanced.

Wayne

 

[embie]

I have a Nikon D7200 with two card slots but...I use the second slot as overflow (2x32gb)

So, for me, convenient but not necessary, for a professional and as backup, ...indispensable.

 

[vzlnc]

In the persuit of a bit of lighthearted fun and an enlightening tale...

There is a lot of angst expressed every time a manufacturer launches a new body with a single card slot. A feeling of insecurity over whether those little cards are fragile and will die and loose our images perhaps?

Well here’s an uplifting example of what your average SD card will put up with.

https://www.nrk.no/natur/xl/isbjorn...tigK7iygWXAI5JGUISGVg1L_L54c2FeT0uZemH-cPzkVo

(The linked article is in Norwegian, you can use Chrome to get a broad translation but, as they say, a picture says a thousand words and the video clips and resulting photos tell all.)

Plus, my GAS is making me think forget the drone, I need a ROV.

Enjoy.

For my personal use 1 slot is good. But for professional or paid use, I would always use a camera with 2 slots. I would also carry a backup camera. Camera failure would be visible immediately, so I wont lose shots, but card failure could be silent and I wouldnt know till I see the images. But to be fair, lets say only the card writing mechanism in the camera failed and it didnt throw any error on the LCD, then even two slots might not prevent this. In this case I think frequent chimping is good to make sure we got the images.

 

[Richard B99]

In the persuit of a bit of lighthearted fun and an enlightening tale...

There is a lot of angst expressed every time a manufacturer launches a new body with a single card slot. A feeling of insecurity over whether those little cards are fragile and will die and loose our images perhaps?

Well here’s an uplifting example of what your average SD card will put up with.

https://www.nrk.no/natur/xl/isbjorn...tigK7iygWXAI5JGUISGVg1L_L54c2FeT0uZemH-cPzkVo

(The linked article is in Norwegian, you can use Chrome to get a broad translation but, as they say, a picture says a thousand words and the video clips and resulting photos tell all.)

Plus, my GAS is making me think forget the drone, I need a ROV.

Enjoy.

Thanks for posting that! incredible images and an incredible story. Shows the value of GPS and modern technology. Google translate needs some more Norwegian lessons though.

Yeah, it’s not quite there yet. More creative than truely accurate!

Dave

 

[Richard B99]

I think I should just point out at this point that this thread isn’t about one card slot cameras. That’s just an ‘amuse bouche’ to lead you to a great little story and some great pics that took a year to retrieve from 140m deep in the sea through sea ice.

(Honestly, I’m not at all worried about one slot cameras and care rather less about views on this subject.)

Just get to the polar bears. They are much better.

 

[Richard B99]

You can find endless people who have never had a card failure, and endless people who have had 1 or more card failure.

It's a risk not worth taking for paid professionals. Simple as that.

In the case I posted about, having two cards would not have made one iota of difference to the story. It was a far more interesting tale and he risked and lost more than just a card. The reward was far greater though (And the photographer is a pro - a very good one too).

Have I persuaded to to look more? Clue, it’s not about one card slot cameras

 

[OldSchoolNewSchool]

My digital cameras each have one card slot. In 12 years and maybe 110 cards, I've only had two card failures, and one of them was probably my fault (didn't format in a timely manner).

I don't obsess over having only a single card slot. Of course, if I was shooting professionally I might feel different about that. Some of my photography is taking pictures of amateur (and occasionally professional) models to keep their (and my) portfolio current. Since a lot of planning usually goes into these photoshoots, I usually use two or three camera bodies for the shoot. That way, if one card goes bad, the entire photoshoot doesn't go up in smoke. These photoshoots represent one-third to one-half of my picture taking, so I can't justify the higher cost of cameras with two memory card slots. Plus, I have the advantage of always having a backup camera and backup lens with me at every photoshoot.

 

[originalhype]

If you are paying for a camera that is $1500 or more than a 2nd card slot is a must. I don';t care who you are where it be enthusiast or pro any camera at that price range must have a 2nd card slot plus the tech has mature so much that procses are cheaper. now.

if the memory card get corrupt and there is no back up then you lose everything.

 

[Richard B99]

If you are paying for a camera that is $1500 or more than a 2nd card slot is a must. I don';t care who you are where it be enthusiast or pro any camera at that price range must have a 2nd card slot plus the tech has mature so much that procses are cheaper. now.

if the memory card get corrupt and there is no back up then you lose everything.

So, what did you feel about the guy in the story then? Would have having had a second card helped him?

 

[Krav Maga]

The obvious benefits of having a couple of card slots goes beyond the risk of failure. I don't know why people are so hung up on it.

The most likely scenario is human failure. People lose cards. People drop them. People forget them.

I've had just two cards fail, both times my spare card slot saved my bacon. I've had one dropped with over 800 images on it when it was fumbled handing it to someone to dump on a drive. It fell into a storm drain forever lost. My second card saved the shoot. I one time forgot to bring a card; yes, silly. But it happens. My bacon was saved by the card I had in the second slot.

To be human is to make mistakes.

Redundancy is always preferable to non redundancy. Period. End. Of. Story.

For the cost of engineering and implementing two cards in a camera, there is simply no reason to not have it.

 

[Richard B99]

The obvious benefits of having a couple of card slots goes beyond the risk of failure. I don't know why people are so hung up on it.

The most likely scenario is human failure. People lose cards. People drop them. People forget them.

I've had just two cards fail, both times my spare card slot saved my bacon. I've had one dropped with over 800 images on it when it was fumbled handing it to someone to dump on a drive. It fell into a storm drain forever lost. My second card saved the shoot. I one time forgot to bring a card; yes, silly. But it happens. My bacon was saved by the card I had in the second slot.

To be human is to make mistakes.

Redundancy is always preferable to non redundancy. Period. End. Of. Story.

For the cost of engineering and implementing two cards in a camera, there is simply no reason to not have it.

Hmm. Would it have helped in the example I noted?

 

[Krav Maga]

Hmm. Would it have helped in the example I noted?

Hmm. No, but it was an answer to the question asked: Worried about only having one card slot?

 

[TeddyD]

The obvious benefits of having a couple of card slots goes beyond the risk of failure. I don't know why people are so hung up on it.

The most likely scenario is human failure. People lose cards. People drop them. People forget them.

I've had just two cards fail, both times my spare card slot saved my bacon. I've had one dropped with over 800 images on it when it was fumbled handing it to someone to dump on a drive. It fell into a storm drain forever lost. My second card saved the shoot. I one time forgot to bring a card; yes, silly. But it happens. My bacon was saved by the card I had in the second slot.

To be human is to make mistakes.

Redundancy is always preferable to non redundancy. Period. End. Of. Story.

For the cost of engineering and implementing two cards in a camera, there is simply no reason to not have it.

Why remove a card from the camera? Well, maybe home by your computer but not even then..