S90/S95 how much memory do you recommend?

[gshak]

I have an S95 with an 8GB SDHC card on order, and I'm wondering if that will be adequate for a typical 2 tank boat dive?

Typically I average about 2 videoclips and 20 -30 shots per dive. My previous camera was an S500, so my memory usage was quite low, but now that I'll be shooting in RAW and will no longer have a 3 minute cap on video, I have no idea what I'll really need.

Will 8GB run down the battery enough that I'll have to change both the battery and memory card at the same time anyway, or should I get a 16 or 32? (prices of 64's are still insane). I typically offload my data the first chance I get, so I'm not looking to store multiple days of photos on my camera.

 

[M_Bipartitus]

I suspect 8GB will be plenty for your needs. According to Canon an 8gb should hold ~3000 high quality jpeg or ~500 RAW images or 1hour HD video

 

[jd950]

I agree with M Bipartitus, above, but figure as long as the price is reasonable, extra capacity doesn't hurt. You can get a Transcend 16gb class 10 card for right around $32.00 shipped. The same card in 8gb flavor is about $19.00.

If I can, I like to copy pics to a laptop but also leave them on the card while on the trip, so there is a backup in case the laptop goes missing before I get home.

 

[Kilili]

I think bigger is better, and carry 5 32GB CFC. At the very least have one or more spare cards, so you can quickly swap without having to do transfer first. Unexpected things happen sometimes, esp. travelling. Cards fail, laptops fail, etc.

 

[jgoodstein]

As a wedding photographer I refuse to use cards larger then 8GB cards, I have multiple reasons but the most pressing is If I put everything on one card and lost said card.. I'd be in a world of hurt!!! 8GB seems to be a good sweet spot and I can get a couple hundred in raw mode and this seems to really be perfect for my needs. If I lost a 16GB or 32GB card.. I'd be in a worse off condition. While my dive shots are limited, i gather that unless you use the pray and spray method* or the shotgun approach*, you should be just fine with 8GB.

* These methods are when you just point and keep shooting and hope that one of them turns out to be a keeper.