Advice on video recording and SD cards

Local H Jay

So I got a new GoPro, and I decided to pick up some 128gb SD cards on the cheap to go with them. I have a trip next year and want to record a decent amount of footage. I'm debating about if going the 4K route for filming is even worth the hassle, especially to edit and export, but I'd like to have it as an option at least.

Poking around I'm seeing that in 4K I would get a little more than an hour of 4K footage. I was curious if it's better to return those 128 cards and purchase larger sizes cards. But then I looked and some folks suggested the smaller cards are better, because recording can be finnicky and you can easily lose a lot of footage. So the rationale with the multiple smaller cards makes sense, it's better to lost 1 hour rather than 5.

I suppose my question is, for the video folks out there, what is best? I got the higher transfer rate 128 for about 20 bucks each. And I see a 512 on Amazon for 60 bucks. Unsure how to proceed as an amateur filmmaker, please advise.

MichaelLC

Depends on how much you're planning on filming, and if you want to carry a bunch of cards around. Also then need to have a good tracking system to know what is recorded where.
If you're in the field, you'll usually record to smaller cards then copy those to a rugged drive which is then offloaded to a bigger pc or cloud storage at the end of the day. Multiple copies of needed.
So, it depends If you're just recording some forage for yourself, it's probably going to be fine. If you're working on Planet Earth 3, probably have some backups.