What memory card?
 

Has anyone used a 32gb memory card in a nikon D300 camera? I thought I'd lash out with a new card as I have just started to use raw format for my photos. I found some on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com.au/PhotoFast-32G...d=p3286.c0.m14. Any advice greatly appreciated.
Susy

Hi Susy and welcome to WPF

I'm sorry to say that I can't be any help with your query as I don't use a Nikon and my biggest memory card is 8gb! I shoot RAW too but prefer to shot on smaller cards to avoid loosing to many shots if I'm unlucky enough to have another card fail on me.

Have to agree with Peter (postcardcv) on this one regarding size. I wouldn't risk losing that many pictures by having them all on a single card. The biggest card I have holds about 160 RAW files, that's quite enough pictures to be risking thank you very much.

I'd also check that the D300 can read a card as big as 32GB, this is getting seriously large and the camera may not be designed to cope with this size. Perhaps a Nikon expert can shed some light on this?

I'd be very wary about buying ANY cards from ebay, the place is rife with counterfeit "branded" cards, and very poor quality cheap unbranded cards. If you are risking your personal memories, I'd say go with a big name brand such as Lexar or SanDisk and buy from a local shop or trusted mail order supplier.

Oh, and welcome to WPF.

Duncan

I'm with Duncan & Peter - I've only just bought cards bigger than 1mb - got 2 x 4mb cards from 7dayshop and even then I'm nervous about filling them - 300+ images. When I shot a wedding last week I kept changing cards when they got to about 200 ... just in case you get card failure

Hmmmm....... I think there's a lot of paranoia about failing cards..... I've not had a failure, nor have I known anyone who has in around 6-7 years...... Saying that, I'm a bit of a hypocrit and use multiple small cards (4Mb or less) myself, 'just in case' ;)

deci,

I've never had a "failure" either, except for the one I ran over with the wheels on an office chair. :o I'd also put the risk of physical loss much higher than electronics failure. Failure comes in many flavours.

I've had two CF cards fail on me and they went within two months of each other - on both occassions I lost images that I could not re-take. I tried recovery software both times with no luck and the card manufacturer also tried without any luck.

I've had 2 cards fail on me in the last 6 years , I did read somewhere that on average you are likely to experience a card failure once every 3 or 4 years.

Hi there Susy, welcome to WPF, enjoy the forum. I no longer have my D300 but when I did I used 8 GB cards. They are plenty big enough. I would be very wary about buying cards off the internet. I got caught with a fake which worked but was so slow that the buffer kept filling after a few shots and took forever to download to the computer. I think you will find something like Sandisk Extreme III or Lexar Pro 8 GB work perfectly with the D300 if bought from a reputable dealership. They are the cards I used. Apart from the fake card I have never suffered a card failure.

I've been using dealer bought Sandisk Extreme cards as well........ maybe thats why no failures?

Thank you all for such great help and advice. I greatly appreciate everyone taking the time to offer some advice.
I probably should say that i have had a bad experience with a Sandisk card failing but I guess this is going to happen with any of the manufacturers - none are perfect. The limited lifetime warranties offered on some cards give some recourse from a failure but little comfort when you have lost your photos.
Getting back to the ebay thing. Yeah, I agree you need to be careful but I can say from experience that when you purchase something from ebay and use paypal you have a lot of security in place to recover your money should something not be right - and this I know from experience. I stick to ebay people with very very high ratings.
Anyway, I'm still in two minds over a 32gb card and I'm glad I've been able to read all your comments.
Susy

ebay readily admits that over 80% of solid state memory sold on their site are fakes. Your D300 shouldn't have any problems handling a 32Gb sized card. I'm inclinded to agree with the majority here, regarding how many shots to 'risk' on each card, and I am in favour of 2,4 and 8 Gb cards myself. However, a large capacity card is desirable in some circumstances, in the similar way a large bulk film magazine might have been for film.

oh its grate.i use only 4gb.it will ore helpful when i will go to the tour.
thanks.

A 4Gb card gives me 300+ images which is more than enough for me for a day's shooting and I have a 2Gb card just in case.

32 GB is a pretty big memory card even though you shoot raw although it largely depends on how much you shoot.