The Wild Photographer

A Deep Dive into Memory Cards: Speed, Maintenance, Formatting and More

• Court Whelan • Episode 87

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Memory cards might be one of the least exciting things in your camera bag…right up until one fails, or a camera buffer "locks up" in the middle of an incredible wildlife moment, or you find your card simply isn't fast enough.

In this episode, Court does a deep dive into how memory cards actually work, what all those increasingly cryptic symbols on the front mean, and—more importantly—how to choose the right card for the way you photograph. The episode covers SD vs. CFexpress, read speed vs. write speed, UHS-I vs. UHS-II, V30/V60/V90 ratings, card capacity, camera buffers, dual-card setups, formatting, backups, field care, and a whole lot more.

At the end of the day, the best memory card is the one a photographer almost never has to think about. Court's advice is to choose something that matches the camera and the way it's being used, build a solid backup and formatting routine around it, take care of it in the field, and then get back to worrying about the much more interesting stuff happening on the other side of the lens.

A Quick Memory Card Cheat Sheet

General photography / landscapes / casual travel:
A good-quality SD card is usually plenty. If the camera supports UHS-II, it's worth considering, but there isn't necessarily a need for the fastest card available.

Wildlife, birds, and action:
Write speed becomes much more important. When shooting large RAW files at 15, 20, or 30+ frames per second, a slow card can become a bottleneck very quickly.

High-resolution cameras:
The bigger the files and the faster they're being captured, the more card speed matters.

Video:
Pay particular attention to sustained write speed. This is where V30, V60, and V90 ratings become important. Photographers should always check their camera's requirements for the specific video mode they're using.

CFexpress:
If a camera supports it and you're routinely shooting large RAW bursts, high-frame-rate wildlife, 4K/8K video, or RAW video, CFexpress can be a major performance upgrade.

Capacity:
For many still photographers, Court thinks 128GB–256GB is a great sweet spot. High-megapixel wildlife shooters and hybrid photo/video shooters may be happier around 256GB–512GB, while serious video shooters can very quickly find themselves looking at 1TB or more.

Court's 10-Point Memory Card Checklist

  1. Buy the right card for the camera. Compatibility comes first.
  2. Prioritize write speed for shooting and read speed for transferring files.
  3. Pay attention to sustained write speed for video. Look at ratings such as V30, V60, and V90 and check what the camera requires.
  4. Don't bargain-hunt too aggressively. Buy good cards from reputable brands and trustworthy retailers.
  5. Use a real memory-card case. Loose cards rattling around in the bottom of a camera bag are asking for trouble.
  6. Have a system for full vs. empty cards. Face-up/face-down, separate cases, labels—whatever works. Just make it obvious.
  7. Format cards in the camera only after the photos are safely backed up.
  8. Import → Backup → Verify → Format
  9. Don't remove cards while they're being accessed. Give the camera or computer a few seconds to finish its work.
  10. Retire suspicious cards. Court's philosophy is simple: if a card starts giving errors, transfer problems, or anything else that makes him nervous, it doesn't come on an important trip.
  11. Remember that a memory card is temporary storage—not an archive. Build a proper backup workflow for both the trip and when you get home.

Products & Resources Mentioned

ProGrade Digital CFexpress Type B + SDXC Dual-Slot Card Reader
Court mentions ProGrade readers as a fast and reliable option for working with CFexpress and SD cards.
https://shop.progradedigital.com/collections/sd-readers/products/dual-slot-cfexpress-type-b-sdxc-reader

SD Association Memory Card Formatter
The official SD Association formatting utility mentioned in the episode.
https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/

Memory Card Brands Mentioned

Court mentions several established memory-card manufacturers in the episode. He doesn't recommend one specific card model for everyone because the right choice depends heavily on camera compatibility, burst rate, video settings, and card-slot type.

SanDisk Memory Cards
https://www.sandisk.com/products/memory-cards

Sony Memory Cards
https://electronics.sony.com/imaging/imaging-accessories/memory-cards-storage

Lexar Memory Cards
https://americas.lexar.com/product-category/memory-cards/

ProGrade Digital Memory Cards
https://shop.progradedigital.com/collections/memory-cards

Kingston Memory Cards
https://www.kingston.com/en/memory-cards

B&H Photo — Memory Cards
One of the reputable retailers Court mentions for purchasing cards.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Memory-Cards/ci/1097/N/4093113320

Court's Websites

Sponsors and Promo Codes:


Court (00:00)
Hey friends, welcome back to the Wild Photographer podcast. I'm your host, Court Whelan and today we are talking about something that is frankly not the most glamorous piece of photography gear you own, but truly whether you realize this or not, and hopefully by the end of this episode, you will certainly have a very firm handle on this. It is simply put, one of the most important pieces of photography gear you use and own. We're talking about digital memory cards here, and I know, I know, this is not as thrilling as

investing or talking about nerding out on a new big telephoto lens. It's not a new mirrorless camera body with all the bells and whistles Or heck, it's not a new sophisticated tripod that looks great and kind of revolutionizes your landscape photography

or a new camera bag that just makes it easier to travel with your gear. So this is a little bit outside the box, but I guess pun intended. It is a little box. It's a little rectangle. It is a little card, something that usually, you know, for me lives in the bottom of my camera bag or a little case

But here's the thing. This tiny little card is where all of your photos live. And we put.

so much dang trust in these things. think it's about time that we did a deep dive into all the specifics of what goes into a camera memory card, the considerations, how to maintain it, et cetera, et cetera. The camera cards, know, let's be honest, these are really important bridges between that moment in the field and the finished photograph back on your computer. And because of that memory cards deserve, I think a whole lot more respect than they usually get because when memory cards work, we don't think about them at all.

but when they don't work, they do become one of the most important pieces of gear you own and your life and decisions flash before your eyes as to why did I go for this memory card? Why didn't I upgrade? Is this brand something that I should have avoided, etc, etc. There are truly few things in life more gut wrenching

than seeing a memory card error message after a great morning of photography in the field or realizing maybe in the middle of a wildlife moment, an amazing moment that your camera buffer is just choking right as the action unfolds before you. Or maybe you get back from a trip and find that the card won't mount to your hard drive like it's not recognizable by your computer. Or perhaps you're discovering that the card you bought said it was fast on the label and the reviews said it's fast, but it's just not fast enough for your camera's highest burst rate or video settings.

Today we're doing a proper deep dive. We'll talk briefly about how memory cards actually work. We'll get a little bit nerdy there, but I think it's important to understand the context. But the real goal today is a practical one. How do you basically buy the right

What do all those little symbols on the front of the card mean? What is the difference between read speed and write speed? What's the difference between SD, micro SD, CF express, compact flash, QXD, all these little acronyms floating around?

How much capacity in your card you actually need? Should you just use one big card or several smaller cards? How should you properly format them to preserve life and longevity? How do you store the cards in a trip? How do you protect them? And yeah, how do you maintain them in the field? And maybe most importantly, how to not lose your photos. How do you get these things just to work? Because that's really the big takeaway, right? How to make sure that we frankly don't think about these that often. Well, it requires a little bit of thought. So kudos to you for

joining in on this talk because you're going to learn a lot and have some great takeaways

that I think will ultimately just translate to how little you have to think about these, frankly, once you buy the right one, maintain the right one, et cetera, et cetera. Before we get into the episode, I wanted to turn you on to

Another photo resource I have out there in the world, and that is my YouTube channel. If you head on over to youtube.com/@courtwhelan you will find that I have a number of videos all about photography shocker. Right. But really what I'm diving deep in on is photo editing tutorials. So I won't belabor the point here. I would love for you to check it out. would love for you to subscribe, drop a like. And also remember, this is the best way to get a hold of me and ask questions about even other episodes.

You don't have to ask a question on the YouTube episode of something else I've talked about. I love getting questions from folks and I do answer them all. So, yep, head on over to YouTube. Check me out. Check out the channel and we'd love to see you over there. OK, let's get into the show.

First off, what does a memory card actually do? And at the most basic level, is storage, of course, right? Your camera sensor captures the image. The camera processor turns that information into a file that's, know, RAW, JPEG, HEIF, video, whatever you're shooting.

and then the camera writes that file to the memory card.

The card is what's known as non-volatile flash memory, which basically means that it can store information without needing power. You probably have hard drives, some that need power, some that don't. So this is a non-volatile type and it's great because unlike your camera, which definitely needs battery, the memory card can hold all of your files, whether there's a power source even remotely connected to it or not.

It's just static flash memory. without getting too deep in the weeds, flash memory does store data electronically in little memory cells. There are no spinning disks. There are no moving parts. And frankly, that's what makes them so great and so safe.

It's an electronic storage. And that's also why memory cards can be so small and so fast and relatively durable compared to older storage formats. But and this is an important but memory cards are not invincible. They do have a finite lifespan. They can fail. They can become corrupted. They can be damaged physically. Heck, they can even be counterfeited. They can also be too slow for your camera. This is a really, really important one. And this is actually the concept that got me into the idea this whole episode.

the first place. So yeah, they can be too slow for your camera. They can just absolutely bottleneck your workflow. So the way I want you to think about memory cards is not as boring accessories, but think of them as part of your camera system working in tandem with your great body, your great lens, your great accessories, etc, etc. All these things have to work together.

If one piece is weak, just like a chain, the whole system is a lot weaker. So while they may not be the most shiny accessory you have

the most fun thing to play with, they're really integral to the whole system. I'm going to underline that point and then move on.

Let's start with the big practical question is what kind of card does your camera take? This sounds obvious, of course, but this is where you have to start. You don't buy a card because that card is generally good. You buy a card because it's compatible with your camera and appropriate for what you shoot, right? So most cameras today use one of a few common formats. The most common is SD. That's the classic kind of postage stamp size card that most photographers know pretty well by now. SD cards are just everywhere. They're used in many mirrorless

cameras, DSLRs, compact cameras, even audio recorders and drones, trail cameras, all sorts of devices. They are kind of like what would be the standard USB thumb drive version of camera storage. But then there is micro SD, which is the tiny version. You'll see these again in drones and action cameras, phones, smaller audio devices. And sometimes they're used with adapters in larger SD slots. In fact, usually when you buy one these memory cards, comes with an adapter. Don't throw it away.

It's very important. And I generally don't recommend using micro SD with an adapter

in your main camera unless you have a reason to do so. It can work, but it's another tiny little physical connection, another adapter, another thing to lose, frankly, and another thing that can honestly go sideways. Then there's CF Express. This is the newer higher performance card that a lot of pro level cameras are using, or at least give you a card slot for the option of using

These are great for things like high frame rates, high resolution raw bursts, and especially for video things like 4K.

and 8K, yes, believe it or not, we are at 8K video recording now, raw video, which gosh, I'm not gonna go into here, but it's like shooting raw photos, know, 30 frames a second for minutes on end. And so these are great for like demanding products and workflows. CF Express, and I'm just a...

spell that out. It's the letter C and the letter F express comes in a few types, but the two most relevant for photographers are the type A and type B. And this is a really important distinction. Type A is a little bit smaller, but is pretty much proprietary for Sony cameras at the moment. Proprietary is not the right word. Sony uses those almost exclusively. They can be used for other things, but the size is really important. Type B is the one if you have Canon, Nikon, Fuji, Panasonic and others. This is what you are probably going

take. The great thing for those users like myself is that type B is less expensive than type A, although gosh memory cards are increasing in price quite a bit these days so sorry about that. Not my fault, I didn't do it.

There's also a thing called XQD, which is a bit of a stepping stone into that higher performance card world. Some Nikon and Sony cameras I'm familiar with have used QXD and some cameras that originally use QXD were then later upgraded and updated to support CF Express type B, but that depends on your camera. So you do have to check your specific model, but QXD honestly, I don't see a lot of it. So you can kind of strike that one from the memory banks because yeah, pun intended

because I really have a lot more to tell you that is definitely worth learning versus just the acronyms. Then before I move on from this nomenclature type thing, I do want to address compact flash because you might be thinking, CF is that compact flash? No, this is not CF Express. It's a different memory card. These are more square. They are not rectangular like these other ones I'm talking about. This is compact flash, the full name.

And they were very common in older professional DSLRs. They were pretty big. They were a little bit more sturdy. They were fast for their time and pretty widely used. In fact, actually my very, very first digital camera back now, 25 years ago almost,

that was using a compact flash card. they've been around for a while and they used to be kind of the gold standard for robustness and speed blah blah blah. So the first takeaway just to summarize all this is when looking for a new memory card or checking the status of your existing memory card you know check your camera's manual make sure you know what you're using. I know that that's like very basic advice given the breadth of this topic and usually the breadth of topics I do describe and explain and teach on this channel. But you know it's true it's a thing so make sure you have

the right card.

and that's because your camera does have very specific card requirements. may say SD, may say SD UHS-1, it may say SD UHS-2, it may say CF Express type B, it may have dual slots like my Canon R5. Maybe one of them is an SD and one of them is a CF Express.

Maybe you have two SD slots, maybe two CF Express slots, et cetera, et cetera. And yes, this is where camera manufacturers make things just confusing enough that you start kind of questioning what you should be doing, but I'm here to help. Nevertheless, the camera manual will tell you what your camera accepts. Start there. So again, just to kind of give you a real world example, my Canon R5 has a CF Express B slot.

and an SD slot. When I go out and source my memory cards, buy new ones, upgrade speed or whatever the size, it's not just how many gigabytes fit onto that card. That's a great place to start, but I'm really looking at the speed of that card because in all these tutorials and all these podcasts, when I talk about a high frame rate or a high drive motor, you do need a fast card for reading and writing on that card in order to actually capture the 20 frames a second, the 30 frames

second that you might be expecting. Otherwise, you're going to run into real problems. So let's just be frank there.

now once you know the format, the next big question is indeed speed of your card. Before I get into that, I wanna do a quick thanks to our sponsor, MPB.

And let's talk about all camera gear for a second, because if you're a photographer, you know exactly what I mean when I say lenses and camera gear is just a fun and inspiring part of the photographic process. Maybe your style is shifting or maybe you're prepping for a trip and need something new or specialized. Whatever the reason, the cycle of buying, selling and upgrading gear is something that we will all go through in our lives as photographers. And this is exactly where MPB comes in. It's one of the most straightforward and trustworthy ways I've found to buy, sell or trade

camera gear without all the possible friction from like online marketplaces. trust here is a big element. You're not gambling on some random online listing with MPB. Every single piece of gear is inspected, tested and individually photographed. So whatever you're seeing online and buying is exactly what you're going to get. Plus it also comes with a warranty and easy returns and that takes a ton of the risk off the table.

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you get paid and there's no negotiating, no meetups, no hassle. So whether you're refining your kit, clearing out space, or maybe funding your next photo trip, MPB is really a smart way to keep your gear working for you.

Okay, so we're talking about the speed of memory cards here, and this is where memory card labels become a very, very complex but important part of the equation. If you look on an SD card, it might say 300 MB slash S. Maybe it'll say UHS 2, V90, U3, class 10,

SDXC, of course, the gigabytes, 128 gigabytes and some various Roman numeral looking symbols and just logos all over the place. It kind of looks like a little mini NASCAR with logos and decals. It's just it's it's a lot.

let me break down all this in plain English. There are two speeds that matter most. It is your read speed.

and your write speed. Read speed is how fast data can come off the card. That matters primarily when you're transferring photos to your computer. Write speed is how fast data can be written to the card. And that matters when you're taking the photos or recording video. And for the photography world, write speed is usually the more important number. That's a really, really big point. Write speed is the more important number.

Card manufacturers often put the biggest prettiest number on the front of the card. And that's very often the maximum read speed, which is a little bit misleading because that might be a lot faster. And that's great. Like you can transfer your memory faster to your computer. This is actually still very, very helpful if you're in the field and you need to download photos every night, like I try to do on a 14 day trip. That's that could turn into a lot of time. So a card might say 300 megabytes per second on the front. That would be that MB slash.

but that does not necessarily mean that it can sustain writing at 300 MBS in your camera. That's again kind of a marketing number. It's not useless but it's not the whole story. For still photography, especially wildlife photography, write speed matters

because your camera is trying to dump all that data from its internal buffer onto the memory card. So let me explain that a little bit. When you hold down the shutter button in a high speed continuous shooting scenario, know, a burst mode, a high FPS, like lots of frames per second, the camera doesn't always write every single image directly to the card in real time. In fact, when you see the little numbers in the bottom of your LCD screen, it might be going a little bit out of order. So it first stores those images in a temporary internal memory area called the camera's

buffer. Think of the buffer as kind of like the waiting room for the photos. The camera takes the photos quickly, lines them up in the buffer, and then the card writes them away into that long term card storage. If your card is fast, that waiting room is going to clear really quickly. If your card is slow, the waiting room is going to fill up. And we all know what it's like to be in a packed full waiting room at the DMV, right? So once it fills up, your camera slows down and you may find you can no longer take 20 frames a second. You might get stuck. You might get an error on your camera.

in some cases, that's a bad thing. So this is exactly what happens, let's say when you're photographing a bird in flight or a wildlife chase bear, lion, et cetera, et cetera. Suddenly your camera goes from firing, you know, just rapid fire clicking away, but then the buffer starts filling.

Now the buffer size is partly a camera body issue.

Some cameras have bigger buffers than others. But the memory card speed ultimately determines how quickly that buffer clears. So if you have a great speed, you know, you could have a small buffer, but because it's transferring so fast, you never run into that buffer size problem. And that's why fast cards really matter for wildlife and action photography.

And that's not because every single shot needs a fast card. If you're photographing one landscape frame every 30 seconds, almost any modern memory card will keep up just fine. But if you're shooting in raw, which are big files, you have a high megapixel camera and you're at 15, 20, 30 frames a second, A slow card becomes a bottleneck very quickly.

Now, I realize this is a photography podcast, but let's talk about video for a second. Video has different card demands because instead of writing bursts of individual photos, the camera is writing a continuous stream of data. That stream has to keep going. If the card can't sustain the required write speed, the camera may just truly stop recording. It might drop frames, it might limit the recording mode, meaning you can't shoot on 4K or 8K, it drops you down to 1080. It might not even allow you to go

to the video setting in the first place. And this is where a video speed class matters on SD cards in particular. You'll see labels like V30, V60, and V90. V stands for video.

This number refers to the minimum sustained write speed in megabytes per second. So for instance, V30

means the card is rated for at least 30 megabytes per second sustained write speed. V60 means 60, V90 means 90. The sustained part is the important part, not the peak speed, but the sustained speed. Because again, video is just constant photography when you really boil down to brass tacks. So video needs consistency. It's not enough for a card to be fast for a quick burst and then slow down. It needs to maintain that flow.

So if you shoot a high bit rate video like 4K or 8K slow motion, 60 frames a second, 120 frames a second 240 frames a second. If you're shooting in log profiles or raw video, all that stuff, you have to pay really close attention to the camera's card requirements.

And again, your camera's manual is your friend here. It will often tell you exactly what card class you need for each video mode. Obviously for lower quality video, you don't need the tip top memory card, but when are you ever gonna be in front of something extraordinary? Say, you know what, this is a once in a lifetime moment. I'm gonna shoot on big old 4K, 8K video because someone might actually wanna buy this video for me. I'm gonna change to my better memory card.

No, you need to go for the better memory card right out the gates and just basically keep that in your camera the whole time.

So for photographers who barely shoot video, you may not need the absolute fastest card like the number one fastest card on planet Earth at this time. But for hybrid shooters who do some serious video, the card matters a lot. If your camera gives you warnings like card too slow or locks you out of certain settings,

malfunctioning. That is your memory card malfunctioning. That's your camera saying, hey, I can't safely write this much data to your card.

Now let's decode SD card labels a little bit more. Now we got video out of the way. First you've got capacity. You'll see SDHC, SDXC, and now SDUC. These are all four letters. So SDHC cards are generally a little bit older and they are smaller capacity. We're not seeing a whole lot of those anymore.

SDXC covers a huge range and is truly what most photographers are using today as well as what you're usually going to see come with cameras

be buying online when you search for SD memory cards. SDUC is a newer, much larger capacity standard, though for honestly most normal camera users, SDXC is still kind of the main world we're all living in.

Then next up you have bus speed BUS.

This is the little interface between the card and the camera UHS one cards have one row contacts.

UHS-II cards have a second row of contacts. Easy way to think about it. The second row allows really quite faster communication, but only if the camera supports UHS-II and the card is UHS-II. This is really important. You can get the best memory card out there, but if the camera isn't ready for it, it's not really doing much better.

A UHS-II card, and this is usually two with Roman numerals, often works in the UHS-I, but it won't go the other way around. Like it won't deliver the UHS-II speed

use that second row of contacts. It's just not set up for that. Likewise, if your camera supports UHS-II and you use a UHS-I card, the camera will be limited. It could be using both rows, but it's only using one. So that compatibility

really goes both ways. simply put the CARTing camera have to speak the same language.

Okay, next you have speed classes. have class 10, U1, U3, V30, V60, and V90. For most photographers today, I wouldn't get too hung up on the class 10. It's an older kind of baseline. Most decent cards well exceed that nowadays,

even if you get the more budget friendly cards. U3 is better than U1 and is generally what you want for most modern cameras. But if you're shooting video, remember, pay attention to that V30, V60, V90. So let's just do a rough, practical set of guidelines here. For general still photography,

We're thinking very casual travel photography, family kind of stuff, vacation photography, landscapes, and, you know, raw shooting, but moderate raw shooting, not doing high frame rates. A good UHS-1 or UHS-2 SD card is probably just fine. For wildlife bursts or if you're getting into these new high megapixel cameras, let's say anything over 24 or 32 megapixels

and or you're also doing fast frame rates.

and cameras that have UHS-II slots, I would certainly lean to UHS-II. For a serious video, again, check the camera manual, but V60, or frankly, really V90, is probably going to be required for higher-end settings. And it doesn't have to be super tip-top higher-end, but just solid, even 4K at 30 frames a second to not chance it, I would still go for the better memory card, i.e. V90.

For very high end burst shooting, like if you have a high megapixel camera shooting on raw, doing 30, maybe even 60 frames a second,

I do believe CF Express may be the better card if your camera supports it. So let's talk about CF Express because this is becoming more more common in cameras today, especially higher end cameras. as the bar is raised across all camera bodies, you know, rising tide lifts all boats. We're seeing CF Express opportunities more and more in.

you know, all cameras that are coming out. So CF Express is basically built for speed. And so since we're talking about speed, you're going to hear me probably a little bit biased in that I do like CF Express when possible.

quick nerd alert, but it does use something called PCIe and NVMe technology, which basically is similar to like high speed storage in proper computers. So you don't have to get too far into that. You don't have to be an engineer, but the practical takeaway is that CF Express can move a lot of data very quickly on par with like a proper state of the art laptop. This is why high end cameras go for it.

So from a practicality standpoint, are you shooting in high resolution raw bursts? Go for CF Express. Are you shooting 8K video, maybe even 4K video? I would use CF Express. Raw video, which is by far the most demanding, definitely CF Express. if you're trying to clear your memory card quickly, CF Express is going to be definitely, definitely the thing you want to go for.

So in summary, CF Express, can be really very, very fast compared to SD cards.

You a middle of the line CF Express card is probably faster than the top of the line SD card just because the way these things are built. But there are downsides. They are more expensive. They can run pretty hot, almost burn your fingertips when you take out after shooting a lot of video or photos. You do need a compatible card reader. A lot of laptops these days do have SD memory card slots. And that is lovely. It's a direct link to your computer. I use mine a lot. But if you do use CF Express, you need a proper reader and a quick

unsponsored pro tip. do love pro grade memory card readers. That's what I have for my my CF Express B and they're slick. I've fallen in love with it so much that I use that for my SD card slots now as well. Just super fast, super reliable. It's even a little bit magnetic so you can kind of clip it on the side of your laptop so it doesn't dangle off and get damaged.

The other thing about CFexpress is frankly, they can be overkill for some photographers.

This is one of those areas where I don't want to recommend people buy the fastest thing simply because it exists. If your camera only takes SD, then CF Express doesn't matter how much you want it. It's just not possible. If your camera takes both SD and CF Express, you should still

be kind of cognizant of like, how are you actually going to use your camera? If you're photographing landscapes, travel scenes, macro, generally slower work with the occasional burst, you may have everything you need in a great SD card. But if you're photographing wildlife action, your camera can do 20 or 30 frames a second in raw or you're shooting video. CF Express can be a huge, huge benefit. It's not that CF Express makes your image quality better. That's important to mention. A faster card does not make a sharper photo, so it doesn't

do anything to the photo itself. It doesn't make better colors, it reduce noise, it doesn't give you more dynamic range.

reliably. So it helps you really just not miss the action. It helps you and your camera keep up and move faster.

Now let's talk about capacity. How big should your cards be? 64 gigabytes, 128, 256, bigger than that?

Well, this depends on a few things. One, your camera's megapixels. Two, whether you shoot in RAW.

Three, whether you shoot in video.

4. How long you travel for 5. Your personal risk tolerance A 24MP RAW file might be very manageable. 45MP or 60MP RAW

bigger. Compressed RAW is smaller. Uncompressed RAW is much bigger.

So there really isn't one perfect answer, but I can give you some practical philosophy here. I generally do not like putting an entire trip on one enormous card. Yes, it's convenient,

But if that card is lost or stolen or just corrupted, maybe dropped and cracked or dropped into a river, who knows? I don't know what kind of trips you're taking, but these things happen. Then a huge amount of your trip is at risk photographically. On the other hand, I don't love using tiny cards where I'm constantly having to swap them out in the field. I can distinctly remember at least three times in the past when I've been in front of some incredible wildlife action. I go out at the start of the day with

600 photos available and I'm like, I can do this, you know, later in the afternoon when I come back, I don't, not going to take 600 and the most incredible thing happens. I go through all 600 photos within a couple of minutes and the action is still happening. It's getting better. And so I, then I, you know, I'm stuck. had to swap out this dang memory card. And so I don't like

needing to change all that often.

In addition, every time you swap a card, it's the chance to do something to lose it or to drop it. It might expose the card slot to some dust or, who knows what it is

So my recommendation for most photographers out there is what I do is something in the middle path. Use cards large enough that you're not constantly changing them, but not so large that one failure can just wipe out an entire trip. In addition, being able to download those memory cards daily or every few days is a huge, huge fail safe. For most still photographers out there, I think 128 or 256 gigabyte cards

a really a nice sweet spot.

If you are a very high megapixel wildlife photographer, or maybe you're doing some video as well, I really think you want to bump that up to at least 256 or really 512 is better. That can probably make some more sense for you. If you're really, really into video, especially at high bit rates and frame rates, you probably are looking at 512 or really nowadays, even a one terabyte or gosh, even two terabyte card.

These things they're expensive. I totally get it but you're trying to find that sweet spot where you you know your own cadence and your own ability to download stuff and How much risk do you have so it is very very subjective, but those are some general guidelines

So here's an easy exercise to figure this out on your own before your next trip.

look at how many photos fit on your current card when it's empty. Like you formatted it, we'll talk about formatting in a second, but when you formatted it, see how many photos are capable. Your camera will estimate this. It'll say, well, it's usually about this file size. So you have 1200 photos or 2000 photos, or I don't know, 200 photos, something like that. And then think about how many photographs you take in a day. If you're on a safari and you shoot 2000 raw images in the morning, which let's be honest is not unlikely and not impossible when

get really ramped up, you do need enough capacity for that. If you're doing slow landscape work and come back with 100 images per day, your needs are very, very different. And then again, don't forget video. A few clips can eat more card space than hundreds of still photos, depending on the settings.

Now let's talk about the one card versus two card slot thing. Many cameras, especially more high end or pro level cameras have dual card slots. And this is a really fantastic feature.

And there are usually a few ways to set them up in terms of your camera menu and how you can actually use them.

One is overflow mode where the camera fills up one card and then moves on to the second card. So this is kind of like basically adding the two together in terms of your total storage. Another one is backup mode

where the camera writes the same file, the same photo to both cards. This is backup. This is a favorite of like wedding photographers and folks that just will never be able to capture that moment ever again. You definitely don't want to bride Zilla situation going on. So having a backup memory card is huge for folks like that because they can never recreate what happened and their livelihood really depends on it. another is separation mode where maybe raw goes to one card. And if you're shooting raw plus JPEG, the JPEG goes to the other. This is really nice. If

you are on a deadline and you just need to spit out a bunch of social media photos, get over to a company, get over to an editor, et cetera. And you just want to deal with JPEGs for the first

kind of no pressure round. Or you can have still photos go to one card and video go to the other. That's how I do it and I love that system.

So again, for once in a lifetime travel and professional work, I love backup mode. Writing the same image to both cards gives you really, really good peace of mind via that redundancy. If one card fails, like they can do, you have the other. Now there is a cost. It can slow your camera down if one of the cards is slower.

your camera may write only as fast as the slowest card in that backup setup. So if you use two slots as a backup, try to use cards of similar quality and speed. Don't put a screaming fast UHS 2 card in one slot and then some really old ancient kind of mystery card just as like, well, this is sort of my backup thing from, you know, 10, 15 years ago in slot number two and expect everything to go swimmingly. It probably will not.

Remember, your camera is only as strong as the weakest link in that chain. I also like to think through what happens after the shoot. So if you write RAW to both cards, you can physically separate those cards after the day. One stays in your camera bag, one goes in your luggage, or

One stays with you and one goes in a separate pouch. The point is this is redundancy only helps if the redundant copies aren't all sitting in the same place when something goes wrong. If something goes wrong, doesn't always. It's still kind of a rarity, but we're trying to get close to perfection here, right?

Now let's talk about buying memory cards. And this is where I have the strongest feelings and maybe the best practical takeaway advice.

buy from reputable brands and reputable retailers. not buy sketchy cards. Don't buy ridiculously cheap cards. you wonder how in the world is the same brand, the same settings and everything $100 less. Well, it might be too good to be true. Memory cards are one of the most counterfeited pieces of tech gear out there, believe it or not. And counterfeit cards are dangerous because they may look real. They may even show the right capacity when you put them on your computer, but they can fail. They have a higher chance of corrupting files.

and they may have much less actual usable storage than they advertise. This is where I try not to save a little bit of money. I will always spring for the better memory card.

Sandisk, Sony, Lexar, ProGrade, Kingston, there are a number of reputable brands out there.

I'm not saying the only ones and I'm not saying that every card from every brand is perfect, but the key is to buy from real retailers like B &H Photo, Adorama, buy from a good subset of Amazon, like an actual store on Amazon, ideally authorized retailers and avoid kind of mystery marketplace listings if you're trying to go on some online forum

purchasing a card that way. Maybe it's great nine out of 10 times, but that 10th time can be disastrous.

Once you get a new card, test it. Don't wait until the day before your trip. Don't wait to be on the trip to put it in your camera the first time. Format it in the camera. Shoot some bursts. Record some video if you plan to do video. Transfer some files to your computer. Just make sure it's behaving as you'd expect.

Now the million dollar question is, should you use the newest, fastest card that your camera actually accepts? Maybe, but maybe not. And here's how I'd think about it. For beginners or casual shooters, don't overbuy wildly. Like a reliable name brand card that meets your camera's requirements is probably enough. For landscape photographers, card speed is usually far less critical than reliability and capacity. You're not usually machine gunning 30 frames a second of a mountain that isn't moving.

at least I hope not because that's a lot of photos to go through. The mountain's not going to go anywhere. So you can take those photos, take two, three at a time, take some different settings, but you're not doing a burst mode. But for wildlife photographers, speed matters much more,

especially if you shoot in RAW mode and high frame rates and you're capturing action of wildlife behaviors. For bird photographers, speed can matter even more. For hybrid shooters, especially video, speed matters a lot and minimum sustained write speed is definitely the thing to watch.

And remember, for professional work where your living counts on these photos coming back safely and perfectly, redundancy and reliability matter, I think, just as much as speed. For travel photographers, your capacity and just general reliability and having a backup system, whether it's a redundant card system or just backing up nightly, those workflows are huge.

And for people that hate waiting at the computer for files to transfer or just don't have the time like myself, you know, I probably have like 30 free minutes an entire day that I can do this kind of stuff. Fast cards plus fast readers really, really make that transfer so much more palatable. It makes your day better, makes your trip better.

When you think about the overall milieu of what's happening on trip and so many, so many chances for success or failure outside of your camera system, it might seem like a little thing, But I can tell you it's been a huge leg up in my own professional photography career to just think about this conscientiously with intention and usually getting the better memory card.

so the final bit I'll mention here is that if you're investing in fast memory cards,

investing in a fast reader that supports those speeds. Otherwise, it's kind of like you bought a racehorse and then put it behind a plow or something. like, it's just not, your system isn't working together. Like one wasn't meant for the other.

Now let's move on to formatting your memory card. This is one of the most important habits you can build. My recommendation is this. Once your photos are safely backed up, format the card in the camera that you're going to use it in. Do not just delete all the photos one by one. Don't just drag everything to the trash from your computer and call it good. Format the card and ideally format it in the

that formatting resets the file system and the structure in a really clean way for that

It reduces kind of weird file system and sync issues is basically giving your card a clean sweep a fresh start

Now key thing, and this is actually, I learned this, this is very, very obvious nowadays, but I learned this on my very first photo trip ever. This is back in Belize in 2002 or 2003 and formatting erases your card. I didn't know what formatting meant and I was going through and I was like, oh, format, might be like, that might improve things. I erased the first three days of the trip. So I scrambled and I went back to every trail, every sighting, every viewpoint that I saw at this little reserve.

leaves and retook those photos. have no idea if they were as good better or worse but you know just remember formatting erases the card so do not format until your files are backed up.

And I don't just mean like think you remember that you backed him up, like actually confirm, open the folder, make sure the files are there, ideally have a second or as my past guest said, a third backup. Jason Edwards said this pro not geo photographer. He definitely knows something. Make sure you have it backed up. I think in at least two places, because again, any sort of memory can fail, especially those on travel hard drives or they're getting knocked around. They've been with you on a number of trips.

I don't ever want anything to happen to you, but the best plan is to make a plan.

So once you do all that backing up, then you format it and just start to build this workflow habit. You you shoot, you import, you back up, you verify, and then you format. I know this sounds kind of boring and mundane and redundant, but boring workflows save photos and it saves you a lot of stress from, well, having to go back and hike every single trail that you hiked for three or four days in the Belizean rainforest. Yeah, it was fun, but wouldn't really recommend it.

Now what about formatting on the computer instead? I'll be honest, I've never done this. It's just so simple to do in my camera, but I'll dive into this a little bit. For SD cards, the SD association actually provides its own SD memory card formatter. This can be useful if you're trying to restore a card to proper SD formatting or troubleshoot issues. Hopefully you don't have to, but if you ever need to, it's the SD association. But in normal use for camera work, I still like formatting in the camera after the backup. And again, I think

More than anything, just create that habit and consistency. So don't format in the computer one trip and then format in your camera the next one. Just try to build this in so it becomes muscle memory and a habit.

Now let's talk about preserving the life of your cards, especially in the field.

Before we get into the next topic, I want to pause for a moment and think art storefronts and share something that's genuinely changed how I approach the business side of selling photographs online. And that is my website through art storefronts.

Like a lot of photographers, I'd much rather be out in the field creating and making photographs versus sitting behind a laptop and marketing and promoting and doing all this other stuff to sell my work. That side of things can feel pretty overwhelming and pretty unexciting, especially when you get back from a big amazing photo trip. And also if you're just not consistent.

with doing that stuff, I mean, on like a weekly, maybe even daily basis, you're really putting yourself on the back foot in terms of selling photographs, especially online. What I've found with Art Storefronts is that it's not just a website, it's a beautiful website, but it's really a full system built specifically for photographers who want to actually generate income from their work. They are a one-stop shop from beautiful website design to built-in promo and sales tools to marketing features that help you stay consistent, help you stay on

top of the game without all that much added work.

importantly, there are real humans that support you behind it. So you're not trying to figure everything out on your own. There's like a person you can ask if you're not getting something to upload right. You can just drop box people your photos and they'll help keyword it and upload it for you and size it.

It's pretty amazing. And here's something really great for listeners of the wild photographer. If you mentioned this podcast, Art Store Fronts will set up and optimize your photo website for you completely for free. That is like an $1,800 value.

So head on over to artstorefronts.com, check it out, and make sure you mention the Wild Photographer to get that full setup included for free. Okay, now back to the show.

So we're talking about card care in the field. Memory cards are durable, but they are small and they are relatively delicate pieces of electronics. So first of all, in terms of overall care and maintenance protection, use a card case. Don't just have these things floating around in your pack, like a real one. Don't put it in a Ziploc bag. Don't put it in the bottom pocket of a camera pouch.

use a small hard case that oftentimes comes with the card or use a card wallet, preferably something that protects them from dust and moisture and just kind of overall smushing and impact.

Second, have a system for full versus empty cards if you do plan on using multiples. This is absolutely huge for travel photography. And there are many ways to do this. You can put empty cards face up and full cards face down. So like the decal with all those little Roman numerals is up or down. You can have separate card cases even with like a big old duct tape

sticker on the front, one labeled empty, one labeled full. You can use like little colored tabs. You can buy systems for this kind of stuff. Like they're actually designed to label your cards for you. You can just use a little sticky note.

You don't have to have the perfect system. Any system is a system. So just figure out some sort of system for labeling it and it's going to save you so much stress for that one time, maybe in many years from now where you aren't really sure about whether this thing has been downloaded or not.

The worst case scenario is of course taking out a full card, putting it somewhere and then later thinking it's empty and accidentally formatting it and losing hundreds if not thousands of not yet downloaded photos. So like that's the whole goal. I'm not doing this just to be meticulous. I'm doing it to save you a catastrophic accident.

Next up, avoid touching those little contacts, like the little copper or gold contacts,

Those little metal contacts are how the card communicates with the camera and the reader, whether it's an actual memory card reader or just your computer. So keep your fingers and oil grit and just mystery substances away from those. Don't put your memory card down on a table that might have a ring from a coffee cup on it. Just be really safe, especially with those little metal contact points. Next up, avoid moisture at all costs. If you're in the rainforest or you're on boats or in snow, just generally humid places,

treat your cards extra carefully, keep them dry. If you need to use little silica gel packs in your card case or camera bag, if humidity is a concern. You can imagine metal and moisture don't really mix that well. Yes, it's a high end, a high grade type of metal. So don't be like super worried. But if you can go through a couple extra steps just to keep them dry, keep them safe,

your conscientiousness of just being aware of this is really enough to keep them safe from moisture.

Next up, don't take these cards out when there's data actually transferring between the card and a device. This goes for your camera. That's a pretty rare and unlikely scenario, but it is kind of common on the computer. If there is some sort of process, some data transferring happening, even if it's not physically downloading, but somehow your computer is talking to the card and you may not know it, don't yank it out without properly ejecting it. If it won't eject, be patient with it. Try to keep it in there until you can properly eject it. This is probably one of the more

practical things.

I generally do not like to take the memory card out immediately after turning the camera off. Modern cameras are pretty good at handling power off situations well, but I would not tempt fate here. Let the camera finish writing, make sure it's done talking to the memory card. This is especially true if you have been doing big burst photos or video clips. You don't want to totally rely on whether that light is blinking or not to tell you if it's reading and writing to and from the card.

bit extra cautious with your cards, especially when we're talking about contacts with a camera or a computer.

So now let's talk about card lifespan.

actually have a finite number of write cycles. This means that memory cards do and can wear out eventually. I think for most photographers, a quality memory card will last a long time under normal use.

So it's not anything where you need to drop everything and get a whole new batch of memory cards tomorrow. But the challenge is that cards can fail unpredictably. So I don't think of lifespan as, how many years can I squeeze out of this card per se? I think of it more of how much risk am I comfortable with if a card has been heavily used for years? If it's given me any errors in the past, if I know it's been through harsh conditions, let's say I dropped it or I accidentally did put it in a little puddle of water. It seemed to work just fine afterwards, but I don't really

know if I affected its longevity, I do probably retire it. I don't necessarily throw it away. Maybe it becomes kind of like a non-critical backup card just to have in my case in case I somehow burn through all my memory. I might use it for moving files around, but it's probably not going to my primary memory card in a once in a lifetime trip for once in lifetime moments.

My own rule to myself is simple in this regard. If a card ever makes me suspicious, like if I have any doubt, it is done for serious work.

If I see a card error or the files act or look weird, even if it's just one out of a thousand photos, maybe file transfer problems happen, or if the card doesn't mount to my computer or camera reliably, I don't try to stick it out. I don't try to rescue it. Cards are just too easy to acquire and too valuable of a piece of equipment to really risk it here.

and I realize that high-end memory cards are not cheap and they're getting less cheap by the day with our global memory issues. They can be pretty expensive and like nowadays we're talking about hundreds of dollars for a good card, but compared to the cost of a trip or the opportunity cost of a single photo that might be the shot of a lifetime, the cost of your camera gear, lenses and cameras, all that, the value of images in general, I just still don't gamble with questionable cards.

Now, should you ever delete images in camera? said don't go through the whole thing and delete everything as your way of quote unquote formatting your card. But should you delete images in the camera at all? And this is a slightly debated topic, to be honest. Technically, deleting individual images in camera is usually fine. Cameras are designed to do that. But as a workflow habit, I try not to do it too much in terms of deleting in the field. First, because the camera LCD is truly not the best place to judge your images, you may delete something that looked soft,

or improperly exposed only to realize later when you put on the computer with proper lighting conditions and a proper monitor that it was actually either a proper keeper,

or it was at least

Second, because lots of file deletion and rewriting can make your overall file systems bit messier in terms of like the numbering, et cetera, et cetera. I don't like doing it for that reason. Third, because frankly, your time in the field is better spent photographing versus peering in the back of your camera.

So now let's talk about that little lock switch that most SD cards have. It's like a little tiny tab on the side that is essentially a write protect switch. If it is locked, the camera should not be able to write to that card. This can be useful if you want to protect a full card from accidental formatting, but it can also drive you absolutely crazy if the tab gets bumped and suddenly your camera says it can't write to that card. So just, this is a practical tip. If you ever get a message like card locked, just check that little tab. You may not even realize you're

memory card has it because they're often very, very small. But it's just one of those tiny little things that can make you feel a little bit uneasy if this happens to you and you wonder, my gosh, is my camera broken? Is the memory card failing? Do I need to buy a new memory card because court said so?

just keep an eye on that. Keep an eye on what your camera is telling you. Keep an eye on what that switch might look like.

I don't personally use it. have this suspicion that if I start using the lock a lot, it might like loosen the lock and then get bumped easier. I don't know. Just just a little suspicion there. and yeah, the more you use it, like the more chance it can break, you know, you're kind of like weakening the plastic. can't imagine the plastic on that little tab is super durable. So, yeah, just handle the cards gently. Use a case. And I personally don't fuddle with those little lock switches.

Now, next question is, should you use multiple brands of cards or just stick with one? And personally, I tend to like consistency. If I know a certain brand or model works well in my camera, I like having several of that same card. It makes performance predictable. It makes labeling easier. It makes troubleshooting easier.

But also don't mind having a little bit of diversity if I'm testing new cards or gifted one, or maybe there was a great deal, a non suspicious deal. So I don't think it's a big deal, but the key is knowing what each card is going to be used for. You know, maybe your fastest cards are for wildlife bursts and video and raw photos. Maybe you have slower cards that are being used for JPEGs or for landscapes or just backup in general. If you have older cards, maybe you have those as backup for casual use or in a smaller camera.

but not for critical once in lifetime shots and truly label them if needed. Like again, I don't think there's a huge market for selling used memory cards. So if you need to take a sharpie and label them right on them, I think that's a okay. You can number your cards with a little marker of card one, card two, card three.

and you can put in like a little piece of index paper in your memory card pouch or in your camera bag, just saying, hey, card one is the fast one. Card two is the slow one. That way you don't have to decode like hieroglyphics every time you're looking at your memory cards and wondering is, is I forget if like UHS blah, blah is faster or slower.

just make some short notes to yourself. It's your future self will thank you.

Okay, so let's bring this episode home with a simple memory card checklist.

okay, number one, buy cards that match your camera. Not just the shape, which is obvious, but also the speed standard that your camera can actually use.

Number two, prioritize write speed for your shooting and read speed for transferring. Remember, write speed is the most important.

Number three, pay attention to sustained write speed if you're shooting video. V30, V60, V90, CF Express, whatever your camera requires.

go the budget option with memory cards. Buy from good brands and good retailers.

Number five, use a card case, whatever it might be.

Loose cards are risky.

Number six, consider creating a full versus empty naming or storage system. Make it physical, make it obvious, make it something you can really easily use and remember, build a habit around it and make it automatic. Number seven, format in your camera after your backups.

Remember, import, backup, verify, then format.

Number eight,

Don't pull cards out while the camera is writing or reading, whether it's to a computer, whether it's to your camera

Wait for the lights to go off. Wait a few seconds after you're turning your camera off. Don't chance it. It's seconds in the grand scheme of things, and it could save your memory card and your photos.

retire suspicious cards. And I realize that suspicious is very subjective,

And I realize that memory cards are more expensive and getting more expensive than ever. But a card that gives you anxiety just really has no place on a big trip.

Number 10, build a backup workflow. The card is temporary storage, but definitely not your archive that goes for on trip that goes after the trip. You need to transfer this to something

to make sure you have proper backups.

All right, friends, I hope this was helpful. I

hope this sort of demystified some of the ambiguity and

the myths or some of the uncertainty around memory cards and gave you some practical ways to think about buying, using, and caring for them.

you have any questions or you want me to do a deeper dive into my own backup workflows, external hard drive,

SSDs, things like cloud storage or how I organize my photos after Big Trip, leave me a comment over on YouTube. That's still one of the best ways to reach me and I genuinely love hearing what topics you think would be useful in future episodes. That's how I get my ideas.

thanks as always for listening folks and thank you so much for being a part of our little wild photographer community here. Looking forward to talking you next time.


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Court Whelan

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