D500 Memory Card Strategy

[Jmoffett]

I just traded from a Nikon D7500 to a D500 and am not sure how to handle the memory cards. I have historically used 256GB SD cards in my D7500, where I replaced them as they filled, Saving the old card as a backup to my hard drive. I only shoot pics, not video, but with a combination of RAW and JPG fine, combined with bracketing (primarily from lack of confidence), I generate a lot of files. Without video, I really don’t think I need the speed of the XQD or CFexpress card. With the 200 shot buffer that I would guess that I never will come close to the point where card transfer speed limits me, I am thinking the only thing I would be looking at is redundancy with the two cards. I have to admit, there was a bit of sticker shock when I priced a 256GB XQD card. Do the two slots require the cards to be the same capacity? Wondering if I I can use a smaller XQD or CF Express card such as a 128GB and have it backing up to a 256GB SD card, where I just exchange the SD card like I did with the D7500, and roll the files through the XQD. The other option would be to only use the SD card and not have redundancy. Any advice would be most appreciated

 

[simonsi]

If you set them to backup then tne D500 will run at the speed of the slowest card. Tbh if you are happy with your strategy then why not just continue it? Have you checked that your stock of old, filled cards are still readable? I only treat SD as temporary storage, not part of a backup strategy. I shoot birds and aviation just using fast SD, no need for CFE cards and I’m not constrained by buffer depth.

 

[AlanB313]

I shoot a d500 and use a 128gb cfexpress and a 128gb xqd card as primaries, with the SD card as backup or overflow. I like having 2 @128gb rather than one @ 256. That way if one card fails (never happened yet), I have a 2nd card. Or if I forget, lose, damage, or somehow can't use one.
I think the 128gb cards might be a lot less expensive.

The xqd and cfexpress cards download faster than the SD cards when I get home. I'll probably get another one or two for upcoming trips. I have two of the SD II cards as well.

I'm shooting BIF and other birds primarily,
with landscape, flowers and botany mixed in. I'm trying to do some macro too, but I'm a beginner.

I only burst shoot at full speed when I expect good action , so my work style may differ from yours. I download my files from the cards mid-trip and come back with about 4000 to 10000 images from a two week trip. I just wouldn't have time when I get back to deal with too many more on my older computer.

I've never been constrained by buffer depth either.

So my suggestion is to get several 128gb cards if budget is a concern and use your SD cards as overflow.
Enjoy your new d500!

 

[Replytoken]

If you have not already bought any XQD cards, you might find the CF Express Type B cards to be cheaper than XQD cards these days given respective market shares. And, since that is the standard going forward, you would be better off with the n ewer cards if/when you upgrade in the future. Also, you would then only need to buy a CF Express Type B card reader, since almost all of the readers are exclusive to either XQD or CF Express Type B. Lexar has a dual SD/CF Type B reader that is affordably priced and reasonably quick with its USB-C connection.

Good luck,

--Ken

 

[dabhand16]

@Jmoffett

As @Replytoken says, CF express is the way to go as XQD is old tech now and dearer too. I know someone who bought a Sony 64GB XQD card for around 140 GBP after I advised him to get an Integral 128GB CFe card for under 90GBP. He does not need the latest and greatest cards for what he shoots but he would not listen to me.

FWIW - an memory card is just like any other storage device. It should not be filled to capacity and it can get corrupted just as any other drive. I cycle my cards so that my most recently used card becomes a backup until its turn to be used again and by then the images have been backed up twice at least. With the low cost of drives now the best bang for your bucks is another drive or preferably two or more.

 

[Ralph]

I just traded from a Nikon D7500 to a D500 and am not sure how to handle the memory cards. I have historically used 256GB SD cards in my D7500, where I replaced them as they filled, Saving the old card as a backup to my hard drive. I only shoot pics, not video, but with a combination of RAW and JPG fine, combined with bracketing (primarily from lack of confidence), I generate a lot of files. Without video, I really don’t think I need the speed of the XQD or CFexpress card. With the 200 shot buffer that I would guess that I never will come close to the point where card transfer speed limits me, I am thinking the only thing I would be looking at is redundancy with the two cards. I have to admit, there was a bit of sticker shock when I priced a 256GB XQD card. Do the two slots require the cards to be the same capacity? Wondering if I I can use a smaller XQD or CF Express card such as a 128GB and have it backing up to a 256GB SD card, where I just exchange the SD card like I did with the D7500, and roll the files through the XQD. The other option would be to only use the SD card and not have redundancy. Any advice would be most appreciated

I know that people will all recommend the XQD card slot as your primary because it clears the buffer faster but I use the SD slot as the primary. Since SD cards are so inexpensive I fill a 128gig card and then store it as a backup (Like a negative). I never use the card more than once. I shoot in small burst so I very rarely have a buffer issue. I use the XQD slot as overflow. I’ve been doing this since I purchased the camera in 2019. Works great for me. I used to use the second slot as a backup but never actually saw the need for it. Overflow works better especially when you forgot an extra card.

 

[dabhand16]

I used to use the second slot as a backup but never actually saw the need for it.

Backup is for pros who make their living from photography like wedding photographers. It is also good for those I'll never be here again/see this again/very important/once in a lifetime images. In over 20 years of digital photography I've had 3 cards go corrupted on me. Fortunately not shooting anything important, but you have to have a fail safe plan according to what you are shooting and why.

Best bang for bucks with storage is an HDD. A 4TB HDD costs about 80GBP. Four 1TB SD 180 mb/s cards cost about 600GBP, eight 512GB 180 mb/sb SD cards cost about 400GBP, 16 256GB 180mb/s 720 GBP.

Plus it is easier to store, all of your pictures are in one drive and is is then very easy to make as many backups as you like. Don't rely on one back up. When my main imaging drive failed I was not bothered as I had 2 backup drives. When I tried to restore from the first backup, some of the images were corrupted! Fortunately my #2 drive was OK. So be warned, make lots of backups. I always check after a backup if the latest files are OK, but you can't go through the whole drive. I've had 3 cards fail too over 20+ years.

 

[abc123brian]

I would not recommend using SD cards as part of a backup strategy. I never looked into it, but I previously had a couple ContourHD action cameras (early GoPro competitor) using microSD cards. After not using them for a few years, I took the memory cards out to use them in something else and they wouldn’t work. I don’t remember what device, but one told me the cards reached their 10 year life and needed to be replaced. Another thing to consider is that cheap SD cards are slow and still more expensive than an external HDD to get the same capacity. You can buy a 2TB external HDD from a reliable brand like Seagate for $65. Faster SD cards are more expensive than CFE B cards and quite a bit slower. I would recommend using a two HDD backup method and reusing cards. This will be a better strategy and allow you to keep the photos better organized if you ever need/want to go looking for one.

 

[tclune]

I use a CF card as my primary storage on my D500 and the SD for overflow (there's no need for the two cards to be the same size, especially when used in this way.) I have never actually overflowed into the SD card, but I have often forgotten to put my CF card back into the camera when I removed it for downloading, so the SD card has gotten a workout more than once. FWIW

 

[StefanSC]

Any advice would be most appreciated

Update the D500s software to latest so you get CFE support.

Get a Sandisk 128GB CFE type B card and set that as main. Should get you around 3000 RAWs.

Get a dedicated CFE card reader. The ingest speed is crazy, even when compared to high end SD cards.

Set your SD card as overflow for those times when you filled the CFE and you need to keep shooting.

Empty your cards before every shoot and format in camera.

 

[Turberticus]

I've found I don't need a CF Express or XQD card for mine. I have a 64GB UHS II SD card with a 250MB/s write speed which supports a 50 frame burst at 10 FPS. I reformat it well before it becomes full, and have never found myself in a situation where I have come anywhere close to needing a 5 second burst, but that's just my shooting style.

 

[PhotoLover]

Update the D500s software to latest so you get CFE support.

Get a Sandisk 128GB CFE type B card and set that as main. Should get you around 3000 RAWs.

Get a dedicated CFE card reader. The ingest speed is crazy, even when compared to high end SD cards.

Set your SD card as overflow for those times when you filled the CFE and you need to keep shooting.

Empty your cards before every shoot and format in camera.

That's mostly what I do. I was a bit annoyed at the cost of the CFE card and reader, but while I really didn't need the speed in the camera that much shooting stills (the SD cards seemed to keep up just fine with the D500 10 fps bursts) but I do enjoy the very fast transfer to the computer.

And I format the cards in camera after copying to computer at home.

 

[PhotoLover]

I would not recommend using SD cards as part of a backup strategy. I never looked into it, but I previously had a couple ContourHD action cameras (early GoPro competitor) using microSD cards. After not using them for a few years, I took the memory cards out to use them in something else and they wouldn’t work. I don’t remember what device, but one told me the cards reached their 10 year life and needed to be replaced. Another thing to consider is that cheap SD cards are slow and still more expensive than an external HDD to get the same capacity. You can buy a 2TB external HDD from a reliable brand like Seagate for $65. Faster SD cards are more expensive than CFE B cards and quite a bit slower. I would recommend using a two HDD backup method and reusing cards. This will be a better strategy and allow you to keep the photos better organized if you ever need/want to go looking for one.

Here is one little note on lifespan of SD cards:

How long does data last on an SD card?

SD cards are faithful companions in cameras, mobile phones, and many other devices. They capture our most beautiful moments, store important documents and are thus almost indispensable. But how long can we actually rely on these little helpers?

www.pcworld.com

But either way, I prefer having an off-site backup (I use a cloud backup service). Then if the house burns down .. at least I can get my photos back! I back up my LR catalog and associated directories of photos to local harddrive and a cloud service.

 

[abc123brian]

I've found I don't need a CF Express or XQD card for mine. I have a 64GB UHS II SD card with a 250MB/s write speed which supports a 50 frame burst at 10 FPS. I reformat it well before it becomes full, and have never found myself in a situation where I have come anywhere close to needing a 5 second burst, but that's just my shooting style.

You may not actually need the extra speed, but how much does a V90 SD card cost compared to a CFE type B card? I just paid $70 for a 64GB SD card and could have got a significantly fast cfe b card for the same price. for a little more I could get a 128GB version.

Here is one little note on lifespan of SD cards:

How long does data last on an SD card?

SD cards are faithful companions in cameras, mobile phones, and many other devices. They capture our most beautiful moments, store important documents and are thus almost indispensable. But how long can we actually rely on these little helpers?

www.pcworld.com

But either way, I prefer having an off-site backup (I use a cloud backup service). Then if the house burns down .. at least I can get my photos back! I back up my LR catalog and associated directories of photos to local harddrive and a cloud service.

I also like to keep a copy in the cloud. There are some affordable options available and it’s an extra security measure. My microSD cards weren’t overused by any means, just apparently expired and nothing would read them. Maybe newer cards don‘t have that weird expiration thing, but regardless they wouldn’t be part of my storage plans. I did see online some other people having the same expired card issue I had but not many so really unsure about it.

 

[Turberticus]

You may not actually need the extra speed, but how much does a V90 SD card cost compared to a CFE type B card? I just paid $70 for a 64GB SD card and could have got a significantly fast cfe b card for the same price. for a little more I could get a 128GB version.

It was a little cheaper than a CFE Type B card, about $40. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09WLWR39S?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

I might get a CFE Type B card eventually, but for now the SD card suits my needs.

 

[Ralph]

I would not recommend using SD cards as part of a backup strategy. I never looked into it, but I previously had a couple ContourHD action cameras (early GoPro competitor) using microSD cards. After not using them for a few years, I took the memory cards out to use them in something else and they wouldn’t work. I don’t remember what device, but one told me the cards reached their 10 year life and needed to be replaced. Another thing to consider is that cheap SD cards are slow and still more expensive than an external HDD to get the same capacity. You can buy a 2TB external HDD from a reliable brand like Seagate for $65. Faster SD cards are more expensive than CFE B cards and quite a bit slower. I would recommend using a two HDD backup method and reusing cards. This will be a better strategy and allow you to keep the photos better organized if you ever need/want to go looking for one.

I don’t use my SD cards as a primary backup. I use SSDs and HD. I only use the SD cards as a fourth option or a means to get at an image I may have never dowloaded to the computer. And I have never heard of modern SD cards expiring.

 

[Jmoffett]

Thanks to everyone for sharing your experience and advice with a newbie. They have all been very helpful.

 

[abc123brian]

I don’t use my SD cards as a primary backup. I use SSDs and HD. I only use the SD cards as a fourth option or a means to get at an image I may have never dowloaded to the computer. And I have never heard of modern SD cards expiring.

I never heard of it before either and have older standard SD cards that never had that issue, but it was about six microSD cards for the action cameras that all gave the same message so not just a one off. If I recall correctly, all bought in 2010. These cards would not work, read or write, in a camera, computer, GPS. Found it very strange.

 

[EricBowles]

It would scare me to death to rely on individual SD cards to backup my hard drive. I've had hard drives fail, had memory cards fail, and have had memory cards lost or formatted prematurely. It's not a matter of if - it's a matter of when your backup solution fails. And you find out only when it's an emergency.

It's not perfect, but get at least one and preferably two or more external drives to properly backup your images or save a copy of all the images on your hard drive. I have two copies on site, another copy off site, and two more copies of my best images in various cloud services.

Compared to the cost of SD cards, backup drives are very cheap. You can buy a couple of external drives very inexpensively. Just keep in mind that external drives are fragile, so dropping one can be a big problem. When you handle backup drives, make sure they are not dropped - and more importantly, don't store both of your backups in the same place or carry them together.

When it comes to SD cards, in the D500 you can write images at around 140 MB/s. A reasonably good CFExpress card can write images at around 240 MB/s, and much faster in new cameras. At 10 fps with NEF files, you won't ever fill the buffer with a burst if you have a fast CFExpress card. The SD card will fill the buffer because it is slower, but it takes a while. I don't think speed is a big factor.

Normally I use the second card slot for overflow - not backup. Backup can have a big impact on speed. Each image has to be written sequentially to the primary card and then the second card. So your first image takes around 1/10th of a second to the CFExpress card, and then an additional 0.14 seconds to the SD card for 0.24 seconds total per image *with a very fast SD card - and a slower SD card can take as long as 0.5 seconds for a single image). That means you can shoot at the maximum frame rate until the buffer fills, and then no more than 4 fps once the buffer is filled. The buffer itself holds relatively few images - and the fact you can shoot a burst of 200 images is simply because the camera writes images almost as quickly as it can take them. But only if you write just a single image. In backup mode the speed of both cards matters, and you'll fill up the buffer quite quickly. For many Nikon cameras, once the buffer fills you can't resume writing at peak frame rate until the buffer has completely cleared - which could take 10-15 seconds or longer.

One more thing to keep in mind. If you use Lightroom for editing your photos, you also need to backup your catalog regularly - not just to your computer but also to a storage device. I have my Lightroom catalog in my Pictures folder on my computer so it gets backed up in the same manner as my photos.

 

[Woodyg3]

For what it's worth, I think keeping backup files on an external hard drive is the way to go. WAY cheaper per GB than constantly buying new memory cards. I have all of my original files and Lightroom files on a hard drive, and I periodically back that hard drive up to another one., so two copies of everything.

I format my memory cards every time I put them in the camera, and have a system for knowing if they have been backed up yet. Really fancy system, in fact. One bowl for cards that have not been backed up, and another bowl for backed up cards.

One more thing, I have been able to find used XQD cards for really great prices at times.

Just some random thoughts for your consideration.

 

[Ralph]

It would scare me to death to rely on individual SD cards to backup my hard drive. I've had hard drives fail, had memory cards fail, and have had memory cards lost or formatted prematurely. It's not a matter of if - it's a matter of when your backup solution fails. And you find out only when it's an emergency.

It's not perfect, but get at least one and preferably two or more external drives to properly backup your images or save a copy of all the images on your hard drive. I have two copies on site, another copy off site, and two more copies of my best images in various cloud services.

Compared to the cost of SD cards, backup drives are very cheap. You can buy a couple of external drives very inexpensively. Just keep in mind that external drives are fragile, so dropping one can be a big problem. When you handle backup drives, make sure they are not dropped - and more importantly, don't store both of your backups in the same place or carry them together.

When it comes to SD cards, in the D500 you can write images at around 140 MB/s. A reasonably good CFExpress card can write images at around 240 MB/s, and much faster in new cameras. At 10 fps with NEF files, you won't ever fill the buffer with a burst if you have a fast CFExpress card. The SD card will fill the buffer because it is slower, but it takes a while. I don't think speed is a big factor.

Normally I use the second card slot for overflow - not backup. Backup can have a big impact on speed. Each image has to be written sequentially to the primary card and then the second card. So your first image takes around 1/10th of a second to the CFExpress card, and then an additional 0.14 seconds to the SD card for 0.24 seconds total per image *with a very fast SD card - and a slower SD card can take as long as 0.5 seconds for a single image). That means you can shoot at the maximum frame rate until the buffer fills, and then no more than 4 fps once the buffer is filled. The buffer itself holds relatively few images - and the fact you can shoot a burst of 200 images is simply because the camera writes images almost as quickly as it can take them. But only if you write just a single image. In backup mode the speed of both cards matters, and you'll fill up the buffer quite quickly. For many Nikon cameras, once the buffer fills you can't resume writing at peak frame rate until the buffer has completely cleared - which could take 10-15 seconds or longer.

One more thing to keep in mind. If you use Lightroom for editing your photos, you also need to backup your catalog regularly - not just to your computer but also to a storage device. I have my Lightroom catalog in my Pictures folder on my computer so it gets backed up in the same manner as my photos.

Eric,
I don’t use the cards for backup per say. If you read my post I back up everything on SSDs and HDD. When I fill a card I just save them and don’t reuse. Better to save the card then to reuse it . And that is one more layer of backup but not the d primary one. SSDs and HHDs fail as well. Not including the cards I have 4 separate backups.

 

[Ralph]

One more thing, on the D500 there is very little speed advantage to using the compact flash card compared to the XQD. But the compact flash card can be used in all mirrorless Nikons and the XQD cards are basically obsolete.!

 

[Jmoffett]

Submitting this as a gut check of my intended strategy with this experienced group. Sorry for the length but just wanted you to have the complete information. I’m sure this is old hat stuff for most of you, but as a newbie, I have been losing sleep over this for our upcoming trip to Egypt. It is essentially like a wedding, in that we will only be there once and I don’t want to screw this up.

So, since my original post a few days ago, I ended up getting a Delkin 128GB Type B G4 CFExpress card and a Delkin reader.

Again, I do not shoot video, just pics with few long bursts, so buffer speed is not an issue. What I am looking for is redundancy of the two cards. Historically, on the heaviest day of shooting, I have shot 63GB worth of combined RAW and JPG. I therefore figured the 128GB would easily keep me covered for a day of shooting plus a significant safety factor. When I travel, I just carry my iPad Pro instead of my MacBook Pro to conserve space.

1. I have set my D500 to simultaneously write copies to both the CFexpress and SD cards, realizing that the write speed will be limited by the slower SD card.
2. The CFexpress and all SD cards have been formatted in the camera prior to the trip.
3. As with my former D7500, I will somewhat fill the 256GB Scandisk Extreme Pro SD cards, Remove them when they are approaching full, on a natural break basis, lock them, and securely file them away in a card carrier as a secondary backup.
4. At the end of each day, I will remove the CFexpress card, put it in the reader attached to a hub on my iPad Pro, and using the FE app, copy that day’s photos to my 2TB Scandisk Extreme Pro SSD attached to the hub. Prior to the trip, I have preloaded the SSD with folders for each day, each which contain my standard folder structure for subsequent culling and post processes.
5. ??? My intent is to then return the CF Express to the camera, temporarily pop out the SD card for safety, reformat the CFexpress card to remove everything and prepare it for the next day’s shooting. I will then put the SD card back in the camera, so it continues receiving files where it left off, unless it is approaching capacity which would be considered a natural break and time to go to the next SD Card.
6. Once back home, and on the MacBook Pro, I will copy the trip’s folders onto my 6TB iCloud Drive storage which I regularly backup onto local HD’s that I rotate.
7. Since “A Better File Rename”, “Photo Mechanic”, and “Nikon NX Studio” do not like virtual or cloud drive storage, I use a local Scandisk Extreme Pro SSD for post culling and processing, then copy the files back to iCloud Drive when done.

My thoughts are that this allows me to get the benefits of the fast transfer speed of the CFexpress card, easily grab each day’s photos as opposed to having to check dates to find the current, and most importantly, gets me the redundancy with files on the SSD for primary storage and the single use SD card as a secondary backup while on the road.

What say you?

 

[EricBowles]

Submitting this as a gut check of my intended strategy with this experienced group. Sorry for the length but just wanted you to have the complete information. I’m sure this is old hat stuff for most of you, but as a newbie, I have been losing sleep over this for our upcoming trip to Egypt. It is essentially like a wedding, in that we will only be there once and I don’t want to screw this up.

So, since my original post a few days ago, I ended up getting a Delkin 128GB Type B G4 CFExpress card and a Delkin reader.

Again, I do not shoot video, just pics with few long bursts, so buffer speed is not an issue. What I am looking for is redundancy of the two cards. Historically, on the heaviest day of shooting, I have shot 63GB worth of combined RAW and JPG. I therefore figured the 128GB would easily keep me covered for a day of shooting plus a significant safety factor. When I travel, I just carry my iPad Pro instead of my MacBook Pro to conserve space.

1. I have set my D500 to simultaneously write copies to both the CFexpress and SD cards, realizing that the write speed will be limited by the slower SD card.
2. The CFexpress and all SD cards have been formatted in the camera prior to the trip.
3. As with my former D7500, I will somewhat fill the 256GB Scandisk Extreme Pro SD cards, Remove them when they are approaching full, on a natural break basis, lock them, and securely file them away in a card carrier as a secondary backup.
4. At the end of each day, I will remove the CFexpress card, put it in the reader attached to a hub on my iPad Pro, and using the FE app, copy that day’s photos to my 2TB Scandisk Extreme Pro SSD attached to the hub. Prior to the trip, I have preloaded the SSD with folders for each day, each which contain my standard folder structure for subsequent culling and post processes.
5. ??? My intent is to then return the CF Express to the camera, temporarily pop out the SD card for safety, reformat the CFexpress card to remove everything and prepare it for the next day’s shooting. I will then put the SD card back in the camera, so it continues receiving files where it left off, unless it is approaching capacity which would be considered a natural break and time to go to the next SD Card.
6. Once back home, and on the MacBook Pro, I will copy the trip’s folders onto my 6TB iCloud Drive storage which I regularly backup onto local HD’s that I rotate.
7. Since “A Better File Rename”, “Photo Mechanic”, and “Nikon NX Studio” do not like virtual or cloud drive storage, I use a local Scandisk Extreme Pro SSD for post culling and processing, then copy the files back to iCloud Drive when done.

My thoughts are that this allows me to get the benefits of the fast transfer speed of the CFexpress card, easily grab each day’s photos as opposed to having to check dates to find the current, and most importantly, gets me the redundancy with files on the SSD for primary storage and the single use SD card as a secondary backup while on the road.

What say you?

The only issue with this is with burst photography. A burst - or a series of short bursts - at a high frame rate can easily fill the buffer since you are writing to a CFExpress card AND a much slower SD card. Nikon cameras write images sequentially - Image 1 to Primary card, then to Secondary card, then Image 2 to Primary Card, then Secondary card, etc. The camera writes the CFExpress image at around 0.10 sec, but the SD card image takes 0.15 sec, so the time for a single image is 0.25 seconds or 4 frames per second. Once the buffer fills, you drop from 10 fps to 4 fps or less.

Normally writing a backup file works. I might turn that off for fast action when I shoot bursts, and only use it for single shot activity. You always have the option of copying specific images to the SD card when there is a break in the action. That can be done in the camera - and can be done for an entire day's worth of shooting if you wish.

 

[Jmoffett]

The only issue with this is with burst photography. A burst - or a series of short bursts - at a high frame rate can easily fill the buffer since you are writing to a CFExpress card AND a much slower SD card. Nikon cameras write images sequentially - Image 1 to Primary card, then to Secondary card, then Image 2 to Primary Card, then Secondary card, etc. The camera writes the CFExpress image at around 0.10 sec, but the SD card image takes 0.15 sec, so the time for a single image is 0.25 seconds or 4 frames per second. Once the buffer fills, you drop from 10 fps to 4 fps or less.

Normally writing a backup file works. I might turn that off for fast action when I shoot bursts, and only use it for single shot activity. You always have the option of copying specific images to the SD card when there is a break in the action. That can be done in the camera - and can be done for an entire day's worth of shooting if you wish.

Thanks for the great information. I never thought about turning it off when needed and being able to subsequently copy the burst photos when time allows. That would help limit the risk to wildlife photos. While have never had a card failure, the horror stories of others scare me. I got along fine with just a single SD card slot for many years and film before that. I’m probably blowing this new capability of dual cards out of proportion.