Digital Camera Memory Buying Guide

How to Select a Digital Camera Memory Card

A camera without a good memory card is like a cookie without the chocolate chips. Sure it still serves its purpose, but it is nowhere near its full potential. Having a good, large, memory card allows you to take pictures at full quality and a lot of them, depending on the card size you have. The memory card that the camera comes with is normally a 256 megabyte card, while in today's marketplace there are 16 gigabyte cards available which is roughly 60 times the size. As there are many types of flash memory card in use today, it is extremely important that you identify the exact type your digital camera uses. This information can generally be found in the product detail specs, digital camera packaging, camera body as well as the user manual.

What Type is Right Memory Card Type for Me?

On OutdoorPros.com, we carry various types of flash memory cards all used in most common digital cameras. These cards are not one size fits all so you would need to figure out the exact type of card you are currently using in order to find the right replacement for it. The types of card available are compact flash cards, secure digital cards, Memory Stick PRO Duo Cards, MicroSD Cards, and XD-memory cards. Here are some of the key specifications for each one.

Compact Flash Card - Compact Flash was one of the first on the scene and became a popular storage medium for digital cameras. In recent years, it has been widely replaced by smaller cards on the consumer end, but it is still a preferred format for Digital SLR cameras, for its superior capacity and reliability.



Secure Digital Card - Standard SD card capacities range from 4 MB to 4 GB, and for high capacity SDHC cards from 4 GB to 32 GB as of 2008. The SDXC (eXtended Capacity), a new specification announced at the 2009 CES, will allow for 2 TB capacity cards. These are the most used cards on the market right now because of how thin and compact they are while still allowing for reliable and high capacity storage.



Memory Stick PRO Duo - Memory Stick Pro Duo Card is a removable flash memory card format, launched by Sony in October 1998. In addition to the original Memory Stick, this family includes the Memory Stick PRO, a revision that allows greater maximum storage capacity and faster file transfer speeds; Memory Stick Duo, a small-form-factor version of the Memory Stick (including the PRO Duo); and the even smaller Memory Stick Micro (M2). In December 2006, Sony added the Memory Stick PRO-HG, a high-speed variant of the PRO, to be used for high definition still and video cameras.



xD Memory Card - The xD Memory Card is a type of flash memory card, used mainly in digital cameras. The cards were developed by Olympus and Fujifilm, and introduced into the market in July 2002. xD cards are used in Olympus and Fujifilm digital cameras and Olympus digital voice recorders; Fujifilm also made an MP3 player (xD-MP3) that used the cards. As of 2008, xD cards are available in capacities from 16 MB to 2 GB, but not as widely used as their SD brethern



Micro SD Card - MicroSD memory card are a relatively newer flash memory card that is about the size of your fingernail. The card was originally created by SanDisk and is now being used by many other companies in numerous portable electronics. They are being used widely in new cell phones as well as digital cameras due to their small size and huge storage capabilities. Micro SD cards can also be adapted to work inside of regular sized SD cards with adapters such as the Sandisk SDSDQAP-000-A11M.Having this ability gives them dual functionality of working in products that use MicroSD as well as SD cards.

How Much Storage Do I Need?

The next step is to determine the storage capacity that you will need. The higher the capacity of the flash memory card, the greater the numbers of photos you will be able to store. There is a large selection of flash memory capacities available today ranging from 256 megabytes all the way to 16 gigabytes. Images captured on a digital camera are saved as data files in the camera’s flash memory card. The image file size depends on image resolution (Megapixels), file format and image quality settings. Here is a graph detailing the general relationship between flash memory capacity and the image storage capability (number of images that can be stored), which hopefully can help you make the best decision.
 Compressed Image Files * Average size of compressed JPG format image with best image quality settings. If you choose a lower image quality setting, you will be able to reduce the image data size and store a larger number of images. Actual results are dependent on camera model and image compression settings. Uncompressed images are only supported by professional level digital cameras (DSLR or SLR-like). Most compact and ultra compact digital cameras do not support uncompressed image files.
 Uncompressed Image Files * Average size of uncompressed RAW format image. Actual results are dependent on camera model and file format settings.

Digital Memory Cards Summary

There are two main points when trying to find the right memory card for your camera, what is the correct card for you, and how many pictures you would like to store. If you are involved in photography and taking shots of scenery, you might want to get a bigger size card to get the best picture possible and not have to worry about always being around a computer. If you are just a casual user taking pictures of family and friends you might want to stick with a medium sized card that will not be as expensive but will still hold a decent amount of pictures for you. Whatever Memory Card you decide on, you can find it at OutdoorPros.com.