Enough Memory Cards

As noted in Chapter 1, video uses up memory card storage in a hurry. You will discover that when you are shooting video, you can quickly fill a card with 20 minutes of video. Be sure you have enough memory cards or large enough cards to handle your video shooting as well as any still photography you might be doing.

Anything less than an 8GB memory card will be a nuisance to use because you will be forever running out of space when shooting video. dSLRs will typically shoot anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes of video on an 8GB card, though again, this will vary depending on the resolution, frame rate, and compression. Most dSLRs will use either CompactFlash or SD cards. That is determined by the camera—you have to purchase the right type of card for your camera. Three or four 8GB cards or a couple of 16GB cards can be well worth having and using. (See Figure 3.2.)

And be sure that you get a fast enough memory card. Look for a minimum transfer speed listed on the card of 15MB/s. You will generally have good results with a Class 10 SDHC card or UDMA high-speed CompactFlash card. These offer speeds above 15MB/s. You should not have to search for the speed—all major memory cards now have the speed listed on the top of the memory card itself. A caution: some very cheap memory cards may appear to be rated at the correct speed, but they may not keep up with video from your camera. Some vendors of off-brand cards exaggerate the speed of their products, to put it politely.

Figure 3.2 Without the right speed for your memory card, your camera may have trouble recording video properly or at all.