|
 A
small electronic device that stores files. With digital photography, it is
used to save images. The larger the storage capacity, the more images it
holds.
When it comes to choosing a memory card,
the type of card or format you’re going to buy primarily will be
determined by what’s compatible with your digital camera. The Canon
PowerShot Pro1’s slot will only accommodate a CompactFlash Type I or II
card, for example, so that’s the card you’d have to purchase; you
couldn’t choose to use an SD card or Memory Stick instead.
There’s more to memory cards than their type, however; you must consider
additional factors when deciding which one best fits your needs as a
photographer. The two most important features are storage capacity and
processing speed.
When it comes to choosing a memory card, the type of card ornever have to
worry about keeping track format you’re going to buy primarily
will be determined by what’s compatible with your digital camera. The
Canon PowerShot Pro1’s slot will only accommodate a CompactFlash Type I
or II card, for example, so that’s the card you’d have to purchase;
you couldn’t choose to use an SD card or Memory Stick instead. There’s
more to memory cards than their type, however; you must consider
additional factors when deciding which one best fits your needs as a
photographer.The two most important features are storage capacity and
processing speed. Capacity and speed both have increased dramatically this
past year. In last year’s Buyer’s Guide, we mentioned that the
highest available capacity was 1 GB;this year, a 12 GB card has been
announced and will be available soon, albeit for a hefty price. The
processing speeds in memory cards soared from 12x to
80x and helped greatly improve the performance of digital cameras. Here’s
a breakdown of what you need to know about these two features, as well as
other factors, when shopping for memory cards.
CAPACITY
The
number prominently featured on the front of every memory card is the
capacity. Ranging from 16 megabytes to
now
12 gigabytes, this number determines, in part, how many image files you
can fit onto a card. The number of images isn’t definitive—it depends
on your camera’s resolution, the level of compression and the quality
level of the images. This number can
vary dramatically based on the settings you choose. If you shoot
lower-resolution JPEGs,
each
file will be smaller and, therefore,enable you to save more pictures on
the card. Higher-resolution images will be larger, but also will be of
better quality. Check your camera specifications for an exact count of how
many mages you can save shooting at each resolution. Most digital cameras
come with a lowcapacity memory card that serves as a starter card.
This allows you to take several test shots, usually around 10, until you
upgrade to a higher-capacity card. Just to give you a rough estimate of
how many images fit onto a card, a 16 MB card used in a 3-megapixel camera
can store around 13 high-resolution JPEG images; a 4 GB card can store
more than 3,000 images under the same conditions. So how do you choose the
capacity? Is bigger always better? Not necessarily.
Some
photographers prefer to buy four or five memory cards of average
capacity.When one fills up, they simply insert a new card and continue
shooting.Memory cards are small and light, and it’s easy to carry
several at a time on a day of shooting. One benefit of having several
memory cards is that if you lose one, it isn’t as expensive to replace
and, more importantly, you’re not risking losing all of your images at
once.Other photographers would rather put all of their eggs in one basket.
Instead of having to deal with memory cards filling up every hour, they
prefer shooting all day on a high-capacity card, such as a 2 GB. With one
or two memory cards, you on each card.
SPEED
The
other critical number you’ll see emphasized in memory cards is the
processing speed. This indicates how quickly your images will be written,
or saved, from your camera to the memory card and is expressed in terms of
kilobytes or megabytes per second. You’ll see numbers such as 40x, with
1x equaling 150 KB per second, which means that 6 MB of data can be
written to the memory card per second. The highest speed currently
available is 80x. Memory cards perform differently in every camera. Older
cameras or lessadvanced point-and-shoots with slower processing
capabilities won’t be able to take advantage of the memory card’s full
speed. Check your camera’s specifications to see exactly how it will
perform with different cards.
MEMORY
CARDS
As
previously mentioned, memory cards come in various formats. Compact-Flash
and SecureDigital (SD) are the two most common, but others you’ll see
include SmartMedia, MultiMediaCard,Microdrive, Memory Stick and xD.The CompactFlash
(CF) card is the most widely used removable media and is available in
two different formats,Type I and Type II. Cameras with Type I slots can’t
use the thicker Type II cards, but cameras with Type II slots can use
either card. This format has seen many advances in the past year,
including increased transfer rates and capacity, and is available in
ranges of 8 MB to 12 GB. SmartMedia is
smaller than a CF card and is as thin as a credit card. With both Fujifilm
and Olympus switching some of their newer cameras to the xD-Picture Card,
this card format isn’t expected to |
