There is no greater fun than shooting digital. This is especially true when it comes to the "film." For my wildlife photography, I prefer Lexar Platinum II 80x CF cards(2GB and 4GB). I use the 2GB in the Nikon D2H and the 4GB in the Nikon D2X. These cards permit me to capture approximately 400 RAW +Jpeg files per card. Keeping cameras, cards and computers happy, however, requires a definite CF card workflow.

First and foremost, I format the CF card after I have uploaded images - right away! I do this in the computer; you can also do it in the camera, but in either case, it should be done before you shoot again.

When shooting, I normally replace CF cards when I get down to the point where there is only room left in the card for 30 images. I do this because one burst from the D2H is 24 files. If I fill the buffer with 24 images, wait for it to write to the card and then have to replace the card to continue shooting, I will miss the next shot. So I always swap out cards before getting to this point. When a card is full, I place it in the CF card wallet so the white label of the card is facing me. This tells me the card is full and others with the Lexar label facing me are empty.

Finally and perhaps most importantly, each night at the latest, I upload all the day's images. Digital is unique because it gives us the ability to improve our photography. We can see what we did right, what we did wrong, which story elements we captured and which ones we need to still to get. Using the Lexar 32-bit cardbus reader and 80X cards, this task is quickly accomplished. After that's done, the cards are formatted and I'm ready to shoot again.

Moose Peterson Bio