memory card advice?

Question

i just bought a dig. camera and want to upgrade the memory card. do i have to buy a certain brand of card? how do i know whats compatable or which one is best?

yea thats all i want is a 1 gig card and keep my 500mb for backup or something. once they are uploaded on my comp. though, that in itsself is a backup though right? unless my comp. crashes or somthing. then i can just erase whats on the card right?

Answer 1

Brand does not matter- the type of the card is what matters. Like the previous poster said, pop out your memory card and see what type it is. If you're still unsure, check the manufacturer's website or websites like dpreview.com, and they will tell you. Common types include CompactFlash (approximately 1 inch by 1 inch square), Secure Digital (SD) cards, Memory Stick (Sony only), xD cards (common in Olympus).

Beyond that, brand usually does not matter. Some of the more major manufacturers of memory include Sandisk, Lexar, and Transcend. One major warning concerning manufacturers: do not buy memory cards from eBay. There have been lots of counterfeit cards (especially Sandisk-branded ones) popping up on there recently.

Another consideration is size of the memory card. Depending on your camera model, it may only be able to accept a certain size of memory card. If you buy a card larger than that, two things may happen: 1) the card may not work at all or 2) you will only be able to format the memory card using your computer. Check your camera's specifications to make sure, but generally today's cameras will work with anything up to 1GB.

When it comes to speed, faster is better, but only up to a certain point! For example, Sandisk makes several levels of cards including the Extreme IV, but I can be almost 100% certain you will NOT need that level of card unless you have a high-end digital SLR. Cards at that level are so fast they usually exceed the speed at which the camera can feed them information, so don't go overboard. As an example, from Sandisk, don't get the Extreme series, look at the Ultra II series, still blazing fast, but much more affordable.

As always, if you have any questions concerning your camera model, etc, you can always contact me or repost another question. Better to be safe than sorry.

Answer 2

Most point and shoot cameras nowadays use SD (SecureDigital) cards. Some will use CF (CompactFlash), and if it's a Sony digital camera, then it probably uses MemoryStick. You don't have to buy a certain brand. The most trusted memory card brands are Sandisk, Lexar and Kingston. There are many more out there, but in my opinion, prices are so low these days for memory cards, that it's not worth getting the brands other than the three mentioned above just to save a few bucks.

So you need to look for two things before buying a memory card, which you can find in the user manual of your camera:

1. What type of memory card it uses (SD, CF, MemoryStick, etc).
2. What's the maximum size your camera can support (2 gigs, 4 gigs etc). You don't want to get a 4 gig memory card if your camera only supports up to 2 gigs.

Answer 3

This is like asking which is "best", Canon or Nikon and is more a matter of choice than anything else. You do have to get the same kind of card though. Open the card door, press in on it and it should pop out to where you can remove it. It will tell you what it is. That's guessing that no body bothers to read the manual till all else fails. Brand specific doesn't seem to be a problem. I have yet to hear of any complaints about any particular brand card. Cost is a matter of size and as bigger ones come out, the smaller ones go WAY down in price. The next question is "WHY?". What is wrong with the card it came with? Cards now come in sizes even over a Gig!!! I can understand getting a second (or more) back-up card, but it blows my mind why some people will spend good money to get the biggest card they can find (or afford) and then take 10 to 20 pictures before they up-load them and start over. Recently I covered the Dayton National Air Show parade and shot 165 photos, on a 1 gig card that left me with room to take another 200+ photos!!!.

Answer 4

it quite is properly superb to format your card employing the digicam. while you're uncertain take a pair attempt p.c.. to make confident that issues are working ok. i discover complicated to appreciate why you have been waiting to take photos once you probably did no longer have a formatted card (many times you do no longer ought to format them once you purchase them). nonetheless - doing the formatting interior the digicam is extra often than not superb because it ensures the cardboard will artwork with the digicam which after all is the main mandatory element.

Answer 5

I use sandisk or kingston
you can back-up pics on a cd