Which is better memory card 64 or 128?
- Thread starter SamySh6
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ScheisseKopf
Well-Known Member
My 16Gb card holds 4000 still photos. (MP) I always transfer my photos after I am done shooting.
Mike Mas
Well-Known Member
Rule of thumb - Unless you have special need, you should never use any more than 64 GB in your drone for the simple reason should the card fail, you'll lose twice the work on a larger card.
I have three Mavic 2 Pro batteries and have never used up a 128 GB card using all three batteries to their max.
Hi julius13. A question for you. Do you put contact details on your SD cards should you unfortunately lose your drone? If you reformat your cards on pre-flight checks would your contact info not be lost?
Check the drone manual as to the maximum capacity and minimum speed of the suggested cards. Some cameras will accept a maximum of say 64 GB cards, you can put a 128 GB card in these cameras but the card will only record up to 64 GB, the remaining 64 GB will never be used by the device. (It all has to do with how many address pins are available)
Very few non-drone flyers are going to guess that contact info is inside the drone on an SD card.
If you want a finder to be able to contact you, a better way is to use a sticker on the outside of the drone.
Is that this one?
Or this one?
Or this one?
lannes
Well-Known Member
I'd recommend the 64gb Sandisk Extreme Pro
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I'm not a photographer so there are many here more knowledgeable, but here is my take...
The UHS-II cards are significantly more expensive and I don't think our drones have the new bus to take advantage of them.
The Extreme Pro cards are faster than the Extreme cards... and again the price reflects that. While you might notice a faster transfer rate with the Extreme Pro, the Extreme is sufficient for 4k video and any "burst" of photo's I might take on the Mini 2 - and it is reccomended by DJI. I'm not convinced that the Mini 2 can take advantage of the faster write speed of the Extreme Pro.
You can get 64 gb extreme cards for about $11. 64 gb extreme pro cards will cost about $15. I use the less expensive extreme cards. If I was a professional photographer, I might make a different decision.
The UHS-II cards are significantly more expensive and I don't think our drones have the new bus to take advantage of them.
The Extreme Pro cards are faster than the Extreme cards... and again the price reflects that. While you might notice a faster transfer rate with the Extreme Pro, the Extreme is sufficient for 4k video and any "burst" of photo's I might take on the Mini 2 - and it is reccomended by DJI. I'm not convinced that the Mini 2 can take advantage of the faster write speed of the Extreme Pro.
You can get 64 gb extreme cards for about $11. 64 gb extreme pro cards will cost about $15. I use the less expensive extreme cards. If I was a professional photographer, I might make a different decision.
hiflyer201
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I copy the files and clear the card daily. I have several 32's as spares but one does me fine. I generally record start to shutdown. I probably use 1080 at 60fps more than 4k , Don't skimp on card quality!
If you go for a holiday it is useful to have more storage. I copy files to my laptop and leave the original on the memory card so, if something happens to my laptop, I have the backup in the drone!
By saying better you’re suggesting quality. They would be equal quality if by the manufacture. Remember get best quality fast video transfer when buying memory cards. Todays 4K video makes huge files. 64gb would probably be fine for you but I always say spend the extra $15 get 128gb. Like a computer drive bigger is better.
And, here is a place to start for comparison of size. The newer SSDs are not only providing a higher capacity, but the seek/read/write times are greatly reduced.
Side note for something else here: Although 4K does chew up the memory. Not all 4K is at HEVC, much is still processed at H264. I am unaware wether DJI is using the upgraded HEVC or original H264 compression or both and if so, on which birds. I can speak that my GoPro Hero8, does use both, dependent upon the 4K settings in use at the time. Generally speaking, on my GoPro Hero8, the fps determines which to use. I fly the Mavic Air and I am truly unaware if it does employ the HEVC, or strictly H264. Matters not, I run 256gb cards and have yet to fill (I’ve come close, but no cigar). On the Mavic Air, I generally run a 64gb card and swap out battery change. 5 batteries. Cards are 64gb U3. They do well for me. No complaints.
I once wrote an article titled "Why 4 x 16 is Greater Than 64". That was a few years ago but the premise still holds true.
As many have pointed out, using a smaller card means that in the event of a failure or loss, you won't lose as much of your work.
I am tempted, now, to update that article and re-title it as, "Why 4 x 16 is Greater Than 128".
That's because I would advocate for changing cards - and backing them up when you change or charge batteries.
If someone has gotten more than 16 GB of data (pictures, video) on a single battery charge, I'll be happy to revise the title. ?
Multiple lower capacity cards are slightly more expensive than a single high capacity card.
So, what do I use? 64GB mostly - because I have a lot of them. When I shut down because I'm done flying out to change batteries, I swap cards. When I get to a computer, I backup the cards that I've used. I use Adobe Lightroom Classic. Then I put them back in rotation but I don't delete anything yet. When they are getting full, I format them after backing them up.
My computer backs up to the cloud, so I pretty much always have two copies of everything until I get around to editing and purging.
A raw image such as DNG takes around 1MB per Megapixel. Jpeg is much smaller, depending on compression level but allow for 100KB per Megapixel. Video depends on resolution, frame rate and compression algorithm but you can expect to use about 300MB per minute for 4k 30fps. With overhead, that should give you almost 30 minutes of recording time on a 16GB card - about a battery worth... A 64GB card would allow over 2 hours - much more at 1080 30fps.
So... 4 x 16 is still greater than 64 and possibly also greater than 128. And 2 x 64 (backed up and swapped each time the drone is turned off) is definitely greater than 128. ?
As many have pointed out, using a smaller card means that in the event of a failure or loss, you won't lose as much of your work.
I am tempted, now, to update that article and re-title it as, "Why 4 x 16 is Greater Than 128".
That's because I would advocate for changing cards - and backing them up when you change or charge batteries.
If someone has gotten more than 16 GB of data (pictures, video) on a single battery charge, I'll be happy to revise the title. ?
Multiple lower capacity cards are slightly more expensive than a single high capacity card.
So, what do I use? 64GB mostly - because I have a lot of them. When I shut down because I'm done flying out to change batteries, I swap cards. When I get to a computer, I backup the cards that I've used. I use Adobe Lightroom Classic. Then I put them back in rotation but I don't delete anything yet. When they are getting full, I format them after backing them up.
My computer backs up to the cloud, so I pretty much always have two copies of everything until I get around to editing and purging.
A raw image such as DNG takes around 1MB per Megapixel. Jpeg is much smaller, depending on compression level but allow for 100KB per Megapixel. Video depends on resolution, frame rate and compression algorithm but you can expect to use about 300MB per minute for 4k 30fps. With overhead, that should give you almost 30 minutes of recording time on a 16GB card - about a battery worth... A 64GB card would allow over 2 hours - much more at 1080 30fps.
So... 4 x 16 is still greater than 64 and possibly also greater than 128. And 2 x 64 (backed up and swapped each time the drone is turned off) is definitely greater than 128. ?
Extrapolate and the maximum capacity card needed for a single battery charge would be 32GB. (nobody sells 22.8GB cards that I know of). And nobody gets the theoretical flight times either
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