Best kind of tape/stickers to use on memory cards?

[Ben Creighton]

As I begin to use 3 (or 4) cameras on a shoot, and still try to fine tune my workflow, it's even more important to label each CF and/or SD card; either with a specific color or a number. So, I bought some of those pre-made number stickers, like you get at a card shop... big mistake! I put a "1" sticker on an SDHC card, and no sooner did I put it in the slot of my camera, it caught on something and fell off - inside the slot! Took me forever to fish it out without screwing up the camera. So, rookie mistake I guess. Before I go trying something else, I thought I'd ask you guys what, if anything, you use. Gaffer's tape? All my cards look the same and if they're coming out of multiple cameras, it will make post a nightmare if I don't have a good method of keeping track on the fly.

Thanks...

[Nate Haustein]

I use those neon-colored circular sticker dots you might see at a garage sale. Easy reference with the colors and you can also sharpie a number onto it. They've let to give me any trouble after a couple years of use.

[George Kilroy]

I use a marker pen the sort for writing on CDs. I mark directly on each card alphabetically, I wouldn't trust sticking anything on because od jamming, curling or falling off.
I use that letter and the date as the folder name when transferred to the computer e.g. 12-08-11-A. I know exactly what each folder then holds.

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Ben Creighton

All my cards look the same and if they're coming out of multiple cameras, it will make post a nightmare if I don't have a good method of keeping track on the fly.

TBH I don't find it so difficult to know where each card came from. We use 32GB cards & operating multiple cameras we often don't even change cards so on returning home most cards are still in their respective cameras. The cards in the audio recorders never get filled. I have in front of me all the cards from our last shoot & they comprise:-
2 x 32GB CF from C300 (cards were still in camera)
2 x 32GB CF from XF105 (cards were still in camera)
1 x 32GB SD from my 5D3 (card was still in camera)
1 x 32GB CF from my 5D2 (card was still in camera)
1 x 32GB CF from my wife's 5D3 ((card was still in camera))
1 x 32GB SD from GoPro (card was still in camera)
1 x 32GB microSD from ReplayXD 1080 (card was still in camera & is in fact never removed)
plus 1 x 32GB CF from my wife's 5D3 which she swapped during the day

I am far more concerned about mislaying or accidentally reusing a card while swapping them on the day than with figuring out which camera they came from. Even if they were in a jumble in a ziplock bag as they are at present it will only take a couple of minutes to pop them in the card reader & identify which camera they are from.

[Peter Riding]

I've been using the Dymo Labelpoint 250 for many years:

DYMO | LabelPoint 250

If you use the 12mm black on white tape (code 45013) and the Return key on the device to make the data go over two lines you can print enough data to include a card identifier on one side and website address, and landline and mobile numbers on the other side even on an SD card.

I label all my equipment but thats probably more of a photographer thing rather than video e.g. if you have 5 identical flashguns and one starts to play up you do want to be able to identify the culprit reliably once back at base. Labels are handy if you occasionally forget stuff ON SITE as well :-)

Micro SD cards such as those used in the Zoom H1 are of course too small for anything other than a colour mark made by a Sharpie pen. I leave those in the device and use the device itself as the card reader. Other SD cards get yanked out of their respective devices so that I can download quickly using USB3.

Pete