I went in for a doctor's visit last week and looked at the one way function on the "sharps" box on the wall and it occurred to me that concept would be a great way to safely store used cards on a shoot. Also last week I was AC on a shoot with my EX-3, Letus and nanoFlash and at one point felt that dreaded card panic. I managed to keep it all straight, but not worth the risk.

Get a small Pelican or Plano box... say 4" X 7" and 2 "deep. Make a rectangular opening in one end. Take a square of plastic from a blister pack (batteries, consumer electronics stuff)... it is just heavy enough to make a flexible trap door. Drill three holes below the opening and attach the plastic inside the box. Now you can push shot cards into the box and they won't come out. Conspicuously label the box if you like. If you are really paranoid you could put a band of camera tape around the box until you are ready to remove the cards and transfer to your media drive.

The box shown cost $8.00....I will clean up the opening next.

Dear George,

Nice Idea!

Of course our CompactFlash Files are such that they can not be accidently "taped over", unless they are formatted again. So, even if you put the wrong card in a nanoFlash or Flash XDR, we will not write over any existing files.

With that said, your case idea is a great idea to keep track of all of the cards that you use on a shoot.

I always put my used SxS cards in it's enclosure, then into my front pants pocket . I never leave them in a bag or case because it is possible for someone to steal (the bag or case) when I'm not looking.

The shoot that I was working on was rolling almost all the time so we were rotating cards...something I vowed never to do, but client asked for higher bit rate and rolled ALOT. Just seemed better to have a safe haven for shot cards. I have used left/right pockets.... shirt pocket/ pants pockets method but in the heat of card swapping anything can happen. I have also labeled ech card A B C D which certainly helps, but is not fool proof and what I was after here is totally fool proof.

I agree that when things get crazy it can be easy to lose track, especially when you're formatting full cards on the fly. The only trick I've used is to start with all cards (in their cases) facing up and after I shoot them they get returned to the case facing down. I never format a card facing down.

I simply use 3 zip-lock bags, clearly labeled on both sides:

Shot ready to Transfer
Transfered ready to Format
Formated Empty

I use this system for SD and SxS cards it works great and it keeps dust and pocket lint out of the cards.

Keep them in your pockets, run-bag or whatever of your choice.