Ok I just took 24 pictures of my son in RAWL for the first time and it took up a whole 512mb I know that is a small card but I could usually get over 500 with jpgs. Is this normal??? I am about to shoot my first wedding and I guess I am going to need more than two cards since I will be shooting in RAW.

yeah a 512 card is almost useless. I still have one that I throw in when I'm taking jpegs on my digital rebel. I'd recommend you have at least 20gb of flash cards for a wedding. Costco has 4gb Sandisk Ultra II cards at a great price right now ($27). I wouldn't go with a capacity much higher than that as you run the risk of losing all of a particular segment of the day if one of your cards craps out on you.

500 jpgs on a 512 card? This doesn't seem reasonable unless you have the camera on the "low" resolution setting. And for a wedding you are going to need to shoot a minimum of HIGH resolution in jpeg.

You should have 10+ gb of cards when shooting jpeg and close to 20 gb if shooting raw...and these are both on the low end.

Which camera are you using?

2 cards for a wedding? Yeah, you need way more than that. Cards are so cheap these days that I recommend having enough to cover an entire wedding, plus double that for backups. I have 24GB of cards, nothing higher than 4GB capacity.

I am using a Canon 40d

Thats about right. I get about 120 RAW files from my 5D on a 2G card.

On page 181 of the Canon 40D instructions, there is a nice page of file types and sizes...

JPEG
Large - Fine - 3.5MB -- 146 on 512 Card
Large - Norm - 1.8MB -- 284 on 512 Card
Med - Fine - 2.1MB -- 243 on 512 Card
Med - Norm - 1.1MB -- 465 on 512 Card
Sm - Fine - 1.2 MB -- 427 on 512 Card
Sm - Norm - 0.7MB -- 731 on 512 Card

RAW - 12.4MB -- 41 on 512 Card
sRAW - 7.1MB -- 72 on 512 Card

As noted just below this information is "Exact file sizes depend on the subject, ISO speed, picture style, etc"

I guess this begs the question, what jpeg setting do most of us use? I for one is Large - Fine.

Wow I guess it does help to read that little instructions book. Thanks a ton!!! How many cards do you take to a wedding. It soulds like I am going to need to bring about 10 cards.

The real question is what setting do you plan on using and how many images do you think you will take.

Now I know you said that you are going to shoot RAW...have you ever shot RAW before? Are you comfortable with the differences in processing them (ACR/Lightroom), because there are differences in processing jpegs. I personally have switched to RAW, even for personal, home stuff, becuase I feel that there is greater depth to the image and the white balancing is easier (yes, LR makes it easier, but it is still trickier). Plus, I just like to use up free space on my hard drive.

Now, since you haven't shot a wedding before, how many would your normally take during a 1-2 hour session with your clients? How long are you going to be at the wedding for? Are you covering all of it, just the ceremony, how much before, how much after? These are all important in deciding the MINIMUM of what you will need...then take at least 50% more than you need.

When I second shoot all day weddings, I ususally take about 700-900 images in jpeg Large/Fine mode - and I get them on about 6 GB of cards. However, at 12.1MB per RAW image, 800 images would take up about 9,680MB or about 10GB. Well, if I were soley responsible for everything, I would probably take at least 1200-1300 images...which is closer to 15GB.

I have 2GB and 4GB cards. I agree with everybody's comments about not going over 4GB...however I think that a couple of 4GB is okay, especially for doing the ceremony, where you don't want to have to worry about having to switch cards.

Just my .02 (and its invested in Gold now, so it will be worth something one day).

Thank you Chad, that is all stuff I haven't really thought about. I am covering all the wedding and I am doing it all on my own. I am just switching to RAW and I am doing it now so that I will be ready for the wedding in 2 months. I have heard that lightroom is different with RAW so I am starting now. I haven't experienced any differences yet with it but I am sure I will. My camera takes a lot longer to turn off with the RAW images is this normal??? It said it was copying everything. I need to do some more research on RAW I think. Thank you for your .02 though I am glad I can get it now before you start charging!!

I'm guessing if you have a 512mb card it's a really slow read/write rate. The reason it takes so long to turn off sometimes is because it's writing the images in your buffer to the card. The Sandisk ultra II cards are a step up from entry level compactflash cards. I never have a problem with buffering on my 30D. The 40D has bigger raw files but I would imagine you will be fine.

I just ordered 5 more 4GB cards and a new card reader from B&H and it was under $300. I now have 48 GB in cards, mostly 4GB cards. I usually use about 16-20GB at an average wedding

You need A LOT of memory. I recently upgraded to the Nikon D300. 9 gigs shooting in raw use to cover a wedding for me. Not anymore. I just bought a 16 gig and two 8 gig cards bringing my total to 41 gigs. I know most will tell you to buy a lot of small cards, but I haven't had a issue yet with a card, and recovery software is pretty good if the card does malfunction. Anyway adorama.com has a great rebate going on for SanDisc cards. I think an 8 gig III card is going for $59 after rebate. Sounds like you need to buy faster cards as well. Buy the best you can afford, because you won't be able to afford the consequences if you don't.

I take 40 gigs to every wedding.

Dawn have you considered second shooting with someone to get a general feel? are you insured and do you have backup equipment?

I have a 40d as well, and can get about 130 RAW images on a 2gb, and about 90 if I shoot RAW+small jpg. I can get about 250 on a 4gb card. I cannot even imagine shooting a wedding with only 2 cards and at any image size other than large jpg or RAW. I think even back when I shot my first wedding in jpg, with an original drebel, I must have used at least 6gb, and now with the 40d in RAW, I use at least 12-15gb and take much more than that. memory is cheap.

I bring 20 GB is CF cards, a 40 GB card reader and my powerbook. Personally, I have lost my images to HD failure twice...call me crazy, but with the cost of memory and HD's so low we should all have at least 3 methods of backing up data. I still shoot JPG

Call this overkill or just some assurance but, we don't go to a wedding with less than 56 GB in CF cards. All of our cards are 4 GB. Not only do we have the cards, we also are backing up on 2 sources while we are at the wedding.

Maybe it's OCD but I don't think that you can ever be too careful.

I shoot alll RAW and I personally use 8 gb cards. Works a charm.

I shoot Raw and I bring a mix of 4G (primarily) and some 2G cards. (In case I need to switch out, but I know I won't need a full 4G at that point or I want to be able to finish out a few shot before putting a fresh 4G in...) I bring waaaaay too many cards to a wedding, but I think it's great to have the peace of mind that you won't run out.