Memory Cards

[flaxman]

I’ve just bought myself a modded 700D. I’m just not sure what memory card to put in it that best suits astrophotography?

[jambouk]

I just use bog standard ones; you are not going to be shooting rapid bursts of stills, so I don't think the write speed will be important. Mine are 80MB/second, 64GB ones. Mixture of makes, I favour ScanDisk but any of them can fail eventually.

Edited June 17, 2020 by jambouk

[johninderby]

Just be carefull where you buy them from. Lots of fake name brand cards on eBay that may not be the actual,capacoty claimed or may be poor quality. 

I find buying from Amazon is OK if you stick to the ones actually supplied by Amazon and not the marketplace. 

Edited June 17, 2020 by johninderby

[bomberbaz]

16 minutes ago, jambouk said:

I just use bog standard ones; you are not going to be shooting rapid bursts of stills, so I don't think the write speed will be important. Mine are 80MB/second, 64MB ones. Mixture of makes, I favour ScanDisk but any of them can fail eventually.

Is 64mb enough or do you mean GB?

[jambouk]

GB. 

[flaxman]

Would that be SD or SDHC?

[RT65CB-SWL]

'Kingston' SD cards are very good too...

I use these in my Nikon D40x & D80

If you look closely at an SD card, it will have a number between 1 and 10. This is the 'class number' and this equals to the transfer rate in MB/s... i.e. 'class-6' = 6 MB per second... 'class-10' = 10MB per second... etc - 'class-10' is the fastest and 'class-1' is the slowest at time of writing. I have my doubts on whether paying more for a professional 'class 10' SD card has any significant gains or losses. 

I would advise not to use a 'micro-SD' and 'SD adapter card'.

[Alien 13]

I tend to stick with 32 Gb capacity for my cards as it seems to offer the best cost/size option, I do prefer SanDisk extreme pro and find the cost reasonable to be honest but gets crazy with bigger capacities.

Alan

[stash_old]

I use Sandisk A1 (ignore the rubbish about Android ) bought from Picstop (cheaper direct but also on Ebay) - Be aware that the rates quoted (and some sellers lie) are for "read" speed not "write". Write speeds are always slower than quoted IME. I also use them and Samsung equiv in RPI3B+ etc work well.

https://www.picstop.co.uk/microsd-sdhc/sandisk-ultra-microsdxc-100mbs-class-10-uhsi-card-64gb.html

[almcl]

I've been using the same  32 Gb Transcend card in my astro modified Canon 700d for five years now.  Never got remotely close to filling it, taking both raw and jpg images, even when I took flats and bias along with the lights every night. 

[Louis D]

I only buy local from Fry's because they monitor their supply chain.  I've gotten too many counterfeit cards from online sellers to ever go back.  Hopefully you have a local electronics discounter there to buy from as well.

[callisto]

I've purchased a couple from these guys- https://www.memorycow.co.uk/

Fast and free delivery

[tooth_dr]

I was in Asda today and spotted some discounts on their memory cards.  The Sandisk Extreme SD 64GB card was marked down to less than the 16GB and 32GB cards (also on sale) so I couldn't not pick one up for £10.  At least it shouldnt be counterfeit.

[tooth_dr]

3 hours ago, almcl said:

I've been using the same  32 Gb Transcend card in my astro modified Canon 700d for five years now.  Never got remotely close to filling it, taking both raw and jpg images, even when I took flats and bias along with the lights every night. 

Funny I went out a few months ago to a darker site, and of course forgot to put the memory card back into my camera after clearing it earlier that day.  I had a rummage through my camera bag and found an old 1/2 GB card, and was delighted.  That was soon short-lived when I discovered with my 36MP Nikon it held just 8 photos.

[Louis D]

1 hour ago, tooth_dr said:

Funny I went out a few months ago to a darker site, and of course forgot to put the memory card back into my camera after clearing it earlier that day.  I had a rummage through my camera bag and found an old 1/2 GB card, and was delighted.  That was soon short-lived when I discovered with my 36MP Nikon it held just 8 photos.

Yep, along with fully charged batteries, I always keep a few extra memory cards in my camera bag.  I've even sold some at fairs to other old geezers who see my camera bag and ask if I could sell them a spare because they left theirs home.

[RT65CB-SWL]

On 17/06/2020 at 19:59, tooth_dr said:

Funny I went out a few months ago to a darker site, and of course forgot to put the memory card back into my camera after clearing it earlier that day.  I had a rummage through my camera bag and found an old 1/2 GB card, and was delighted.  That was soon short-lived when I discovered with my 36MP Nikon it held just 8 photos.

FWIW: my Olympus Camedia C2040 zoom uses 'SmartMedia' cards. The smallest capacity I have is 8Mb and the largest is 128Mb. Fortunately I have a few of the 128Mb; plus a few 16, 32 & 64Mb cards in between. Though the smallest capacity was a paltry 2Mb card, I never saw these or the 4Mb cards. When I purchased the C2040 it came with a 16Mb card. I also own a Nikon COOLPIX900 that uses 'Compact Flash' media/cards. That has 64Mb, plus two 128Mb and one 512Mb.

Looking back; I think I spent more on 'SmartMedia' cards then on my 'Compact Flash' and SD cards combined; or the micro-SD cards that I use with my Go-Pro clone.

Edited June 26, 2020 by Philip R