I figured it was good to have a backup, but then again I never lost an image still in the camera with my D700, so do I really need a backup?

Poll result (67 votes) CF Primary, SD Backup (9 votes) Vote SD Primary, CF Backup (1 votes) Vote CF Primary, SD overflow (35 votes) Vote SD Primary, CF overflow (6 votes) Vote CF RAW, SD JPEG (14 votes) Vote SD RAW, CF JPEG (2 votes) Vote

It's an interesting phenomena. Those of us who shot film or the early DSLRs with one card slot had no backup. And once in a million there was a loss.

Fast forward to dual slots. Now that we can have backup, some of us want backup. I think there are two reasons:
1) Offering a backup mode implies that a single failure is more than a remote possibility.
2) Those of us with a heavy computer background know that, given enough time, electronics will fail.

I shoot in backup mode — with large enough cards that overflow is rarely an issue. And when I shoot — a job or just for myself — I sleep better knowing that I have two cards with the images. (Full disclosure: twice on a shoot I ran uncomfortably low on space and so blew away the backup card and turned on overflow. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do!)

And I know dozens of photogs who shoot in overflow and have never lost a frame…

Jon Kandel
A New York City Nikonian and Team Member
Please visit my website and critique the images!

If I shoot in places that I can get back to, I use overflow.
If i am just shooting the family, I shoot overflow.
When I shoot somewhere that I may not get to again (like my trip this summer to Az.), I shoot back-up.

Robin

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I've been shooting with CF as primary and SD overflow/video. I do take some family video from time to time and find it easier to off load it to the SD card so I know which to pull to transfer to computer.... I've never filled my 32gb CF card yet, I would have to take over 800 pics to fill one up.... But you never know I guess when you'll need the space.

Chris

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What part of AZ are you planning on seeing??? Would be cool to try and get some Nikonians together for some shooting...

Chris

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I never shot in backup mode until I had a card fail twice on the D800. Same card (so really one failure -- first time I thought it was full).

I didn't loose anything, but it sure gets your attention.

Linwood

Comments welcomed on pictures: Http://captivephotons.com

I shoot RAW with the primary card being in the CF slot. I then send the jpgs to the SD card slot. At the end of the day I back up the CF's to my Nexto backup drive and then using an adapter I load the jpgs onto my ipad. That way I get to see what I shot that day and I don't have to carry my computer with me on a trip to do so.

Not saying this is the way to do it, but it seems to work well for me.

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I am also old school (film for years and years) Back then I shot 20 or 24 ex instead of 36 ex , because I felt better with my vacation or job on more rolls of film (just in case) . I also had processed the odd number of rolls one time and the even number rolls at another time. I did "lose" a few rolls over the years. So I guess I believe in some sort of back up. Now with the D800, I use CF card for RAW and the SD card for jpeg. I use the SD card for not only backup, but to view on my iPad.

Virge

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If you go out and shoot birds in flight, you will quickly turn off backup. It takes too long to write to two cards and you will miss great image opportunities when using backup.

Larry Jordan

D800E, 14-24, 50, 24-70, 70-180 Micro, 70-200, 80-400mm AF-S

Website:
http://larryjordan.smugmug.com/

I shoot Raw on the CF and small JPG on the SD. I import those into my iPad for presentation at ths shoot. I'm getting an EyeFi card from Santa and am hoping to have this occur as a I shoot.

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NorcrossPics.Com

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+1 Works for me as well...


>I shoot RAW with the primary card being in the CF slot. I
>then send the jpgs to the SD card slot. At the end of the day
>I back up the CF's to my Nexto backup drive and then using an
>adapter I load the jpgs onto my ipad. That way I get to see
>what I shot that day and I don't have to carry my computer
>with me on a trip to do so.
>
>Not saying this is the way to do it, but it seems to work well
>for me.

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I use the SD as primary and the CF as overflow. Main reason is the computer I use has a built in SD card reader.

Question: Which is actually faster? Why would I want to use the CF as primary or the SD a primary?

As for backups, yes, I have had cards fail but not so bad that I could not recover the card. I try to keep an eye on what is going on during a shoot so if there looks like an issue, I select the CF slot and/or insert a new card. Most of the failures I have had are due to the card not being inserted correctly or not powering the camera off before removing the card.

This is a great thread.

Mike

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CF primary, SD overflow, SD for movies. Works really nicely like that.

I use CF for RAW and SD for large JPG. When I review my shots I find the JPGs are almost always excellent for what I wanted. If so I never use the RAW. The JPGS in the D800 are amazing. Also I can use the SD card directly in my laptop computer.

Over the years I always used RAW with the D100 but then with my D2Hs I found the JPGS were often great. Then with my D700 they kept improving. Now with the D800 and good settings on the camera the JPGS are great. So I find now I hardly ever look at the NEFS on the CF card. (they are just nice to have there in case).

Ray Gerke

D800, D700 (sold), D2HS, D7000(sold), CP510, CP520
Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 Nikkor 50mm f/1.4, Nikkor 85mm f/1.4, Nikkor 14-24 F/2.8, Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8, Nikkor 24-120VR , Nikkor Micro 60mm f/2.8, Nikkor Micro 105mm f/2.8 VR Nikkor 10.5 DX,
Sigma 30mm f/1.4, Sigma 150-500mm OS

RG_Photographics

Same for me.

CF for Primary.
SD for overflow/video.

I always shoot in RAW.

Like the majority who have voted, I use CF for primary and SD for overflow / movies. However, I have been thinking about changing this around only because my laptop has an SD slot built in.

I shoot CF Primary, SD backup. Usually. Sometimes I reverse this. I've never used overflow.

I don't shoot for my own entertainment, and people are paying me to shoot those images, so anything I can do to mitigate failures (camera or my own) is welcome.

I also only shoot RAW unless I have a compelling reason to shoot JPG. And that is incredibly rare.

------
Webpage: http://www.ptfphoto.com

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I am the sole SD primary, CF backup guy now! Since I bought my Macbook Pro Retina which has a built-in SD slot, I prefer to have the SD card as primary.

-Alex Rosen
www.flickr.com/photos/klrbee25/

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Hi Tom,

I only use the CF slot.
Even though I have not filled the buffer yet: since the maximum write speed is limited to the slowest card in the camera I just use fast CF cards.
Good Luck and Enjoy your Nikons!

Best Regards,
Marty