Memory Cards and RAW

[adrian1963]

I have been using the basic SDHC memory cards just to get used to some settings on my Nikon D300S as I have been shooting in JPEG and just cropping in Adobe Photoshop Elements 9
I would like to start shooting in RAW what card would be best a SDHC or a Compact Flash Memory Card, I also have a chance to put a trail version of Photoshop Lightroom 3 on my system would this be better then Elements 9

Any help would be very welcome and seriously considered will put first photographs on here if successful or not.

 

[SMR]

If memory serves (pardon the pun), the D300S can shoot up to 14 RAW files within a couple of seconds before emptying the buffer to the card, so the only important factor will be the class (data rate) of the card you use. Get the cheapest of either SD or CF but with the highest class.

Lightroom is considerably better at organising and manipulating photographs than Elements.

 

[gentle lemur]

I agree with SMR's advice. The only thing I would add is to get at least a 4GB card to give enough space for a decent day's shooting, 8GB would be better. I confess that on Saturday I shot 17GB of photos at Edinburgh Zoo, but I did go a bit OTT with the baby drill and a chevrotain male both setting real challenges
The capacity of a card is impossible to specify exactly, depending on the contrast range, colour and detail of each subject: in my D300 an 8GB card is supposed to hold 300+ images, in practice I usually get 500+ images on mine.

Alan

 

[Simon Hampel]

I always carry two 8GB cards plus a 4GB "spare" for my 10MP Canon 40D. I rotate between the 8GB cards, when one is full (about 600 shots - I shoot RAW only), I replace it with the other card, which is erased (and occasionally formatted) when it goes into the camera.

The most photos I've ever taken in one day was just over 1,000 ... but that was before I got my 100-400mm lens, I'd probably do more per day now if I travelled back to Patagonia again!