You should know the ins and outs of your camera. The ins and outs of your flash. And basically the ins and outs of your editing software. BUT, a lot of you don’t even think about knowing the ins and outs of the most important of them all….YOUR MEMORY CARDS.

Believe me when I tell you…I am the worst of them all. I leave my images for days upon days on my memory cards before uploading them or clearing them. I feel like a complete and total bad a$$ when I remove the card from my fire wire before “ejecting” it from my computer dock. I leave them sitting on tables amongst my children’s goldfish snacks and I chuck them into my bag or hold them between my teeth when I don’t have a place to put them.

But then I read a blog post—but for the life of me I can no track it down to cite it today….but it changed everything about how I treat my cards. Why? Because these “cards” are what hold the priceless memories of someones big day, an irreplaceable session, and moments we or I can never re create. It is not only my job…but it is my responsibility to take care of these images and my memory cards. So today, I want to share with you some  “THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT YOUR MEMORY CARDS.”

1. Please do not ever erase images or select the “erase all images” option on  your camera. ALWAYS format your card. This simple step can prevent an array of errors from happening both to you camera and to you card. When you format your card as opposed to “erasing all images”, you are in a sense reorganizing the structure of the folder and preventing errors or corrupt files from occurring later on.

2. Something I learned when researching what kind of card or name brand to go with, was that the higher memory or file capacity the card is…the faster it will drain your cameras battery. Though it is not a huge and fast drain all at once, it is important to know why you may see a shorter battery life in your camera as you use/switch to different cards.

3.  Treat your cards like they are an egg. I know this sounds crazy…and it seems like these cf cards are sturdy and fine with some wear and tear, but from personal experience they are not. As you read above the storage of my cards were disgraceful. Between my teeth, bottom of my bag, back pocket, or mixed with the goldfish…all horrible ideas. These cards have very delicate areas on them –more towards the back/underside of the card. The connector/adapter part of the card can not be bent, scratched or broken. Your whole card will fail and images WILL BE lost. So be gentle. Invest in a memory card case. It will change you life in terms of organization and give you the reassurance that your cards and images are being protected at all times.

4. Again while I was researching about memory cards I cam across this excellent advice and service. Its called “Lexar Image Rescue Software.” So, say you are shooting, hit play back, and accidentally erase an image (though you shouldn’t be erasing anything at all in camera). Don’t panic. Apparently it is advised to stop all shooting, secure the card and run the card through the software. It has been known to even recover images after a card was formatted which is quite remarkable. If you choose to not run the software yourself, the brand LEXAR and Scandisk will actually allow you to send them your card and THEY will see what they can recover for you. (Some cards are free of charge, others will incur a small fee–but hey–if these are your clients photos and memories, no price should deter you from at least trying, right!?!?)

5. Just because the card is more expensive doesn’t mean its automatically the better card. You have to factor in the upload speed, the capacity of the card, and the edition of the card. In my personal opinion the LEXAR PROFESSIONAL cf cards are the best. I do own some SCANDISK and they haven’t failed me before, but in terms of uploading my images, Lexar is fast and reliable. Scandisk can actually upload my images out of order. I wish I could explain that one….maybe after some more research : P If you would like some more information in terms of which card may be right for you, I found two blogs that might explain it better. Blog1 or Blog2.

Though these tips you may know. May be obvious. May be old news. But for someone out there like me, I am a sponge just waiting to soak up new information that I SHOULD know, but don’t. Hopefully these tips will teach you a few things or inspire you to do some follow up research on how to better protect your cards and your priceless images.

Thats it for Tuesdays Tip….have a happy and productive day!

Stay Happy, Beautiful, Fabulous, and INFORMED!

<3 Kaitlin Noel