My experience of cheap memory cards

dinneenp

Hi,
The question about cheap memory cards pops up every now and again here and on all photography forums. So here's my experience & story- link to blog post

Full Blog Post below (photo & Hamster clinic are links in my blog post):

As you might have noticed I haven’t posted up many photos lately. Just in case you were wondering why here’s my story and a bit of advice for you…

Memory cards are essential to digital photography (obviously) but I’ve never given them a second thought besides making sure I have some with me. Most people are the same I’d imagine. So when I saw that a well known discount store were selling memory cards at a very cheap price I decided to buy a few.
Before I did I posted a thread on Boards.ie photography forum asking if there’s any difference between cheap and more expensive memory cards (besides reading speed). A few people recommended to avoid the cheap ones but I ignored that.

About two months ago I began having some problems with my Pentax camera and memory cards. One of my cards was slightly cracked but it still worked. Next cards wouldn’t ‘pop’ in or out of my memory card slot. I had to use a pair of tweezers to ply it out. My laptop wouldn’t accept the card either so to transfer photos I had to use a cable to connect my camera to laptop.

On Guinness Arthurs Day I went to O Connell’s pub in Eyre Square, Galway to see and photograph Alabama 3. The weather was awful but they still kindly took time to pose for a group photo for me before the gig. As they were playing on a make shift stage with no security barriers I was as close as you could ever get (3 feet away) so captured loads of shots. However I noticed that when I tried to view some photos on my camera LCD screen that it gave me an error message.

At home that evening when I was trying to copy the photos to my laptop it said that the folder was empty. I tried everything but couldn’t retrieve them, much to my anger and frustration. So I decided to get my camera looked at. Surprisingly, that isn’t easy in Ireland, especially if you’re living in the West of Ireland. I phoned a few camera stores in Galway; they all said they wouldn’t repair it for me and that I’d have to post it to Pentax in the UK. I bought my camera 2nd hand from the USA so wasn’t sure would Pentax UK even look at it and even if they did the cost could be very high (like bringing a car to an official dealer for a service). So I hunted around and managed to find The Hamster Clinic, a camera repair advice thread on Boards.ie.

Basically it’s a thread for camera repair advice and there’s a guy who gives advice and also does repairs. I ended up posting my camera to him and for the mere sum of €20 he fixed it for me. If I had sent my camera off to Pentax UK I’m sure it would have cost a multiple more. Bits of my cheap memory cards were flaking off and messing up the memory card slot. I don’t know if a more expensive memory card means it’s better built but I’m not going to risk it in future. As they say (who are ‘they’ anyway?) “buy cheap and buy twice”.

The other lesson I learnt is that if you’re doing a job MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A BACKUP CAMERA. Luckily for me the Alabama concert was just some hobby photography but I was scheduled to shoot a wedding. I managed to borrow a Pentax body from another amazingly generous and trusting stranger through the Boards.ie Photography forum. (This sounds like an ad for Boards.ie Photography forum but I haven’t received any financial gratitude for my opinions…).

For Christmas this year I’ll probably ask Santa Claus for a backup 2nd hand Pentax body (@mywife- I hope you’re reading this…) in case I get the opportunity to shoot any more weddings (2 under my belt so far, hopefully more in the future)

Now I have my camera back and hopefully will start posting up some photos shortly.

Cheers,
Pa.

pullandbang

dinneenp wrote: »

A few people recommended to avoid the cheap ones but I ignored that.

Nuff said.......

Paulw

I would only ever buy a well known/trusted brand, and also buy from a known store (not ebay).

I buy Sandisk. My brand of choice. Others buy Transcend or Lexar. Any other brand, I would be cautious about relying on it.

Like anything else, it is worth spending that little extra just to get quality and reliability.

You don't have to buy the latest/fastest card, just a reliable card.

dirtyghettokid

it's good that you got your camera fixed! and yes, it's definitely a good idea to have a 2nd body when you can afford it.
i have had trouble with known brand sd cards. i have a lexar card that cracked and came apart. i'd bought it from walmart or future shop in canada, so it wasn't a fake. i wouldn't buy online though, as there are too many fakes out there.

kensutz

You play with fire you get burnt.

Mountainsandh

Hi Dineenp, I have just had the exact same problem with my k-x , card stuck in slot, cable for the last while. Thankfully my bil removed the card for me yesterday, it seems the corner where the little lock switch is got sticky, and the card was chipping off at that level.
I'm not sure it is a case of buying he most expensive card every time, but from YouTube I have gathered that the Pentax do seem to be a bit picky when it comes to sd cards.some on YouTube actually "shave" off card edges for a better fit, don't think I'd try that.

My card that got stuck was a sandisk.
I am going to try and stick to the Fuji card or other cards that appear slimmer,thickness is important I think for the Pentax sd card slot.

Borderfox

I check all my cards and format each one in camera before a job, I have weeded out about 6 different cards that were on their last legs including Transcend/Sandisk models. Shot over 80 weddings and never had a problem with this technique

Memory cards are so cheap now there is no reason to buy anything other than the best for work.

AnCatDubh

Borderfox wrote: »

Memory cards are so cheap now there is no reason to buy anything other than the best for work.

I was also going to comment on how cheap that they've become such that the previously attractive el cheapo ebay brand no longer has the appeal they previously had.

And oi, Pa and Mountainsandh - don't go jinxing me. A couple of Pentax bodies and never a problem with the sd card slot albeit yours are a little more modern than mine.

Ah, they don't make them like they used to eh :pac:

Saint_Mel

I accidently put a SanDisk Extreme CF card through a 40 degree wash a while back! Came back spic and span and working fine