How to pick the right memory card

By | December 10, 2009, 9:17pm PST

Summary: Most new digital cameras today don’t come with memory cards (or if they do, they’re so small that they’re practically useless). Find out how to pick the right memory card for your digital camera shooting needs.

Most new digital cameras today don’t come with memory cards (or if they do, they’re so small that they’re practically useless). The most popular format for point-and-shoot cameras is the SD/SDHC memory card, but if you don’t know your SD from your SDHC, SDXC, microSD, etc., then check out this short primer from Derrick Story of MacWorld.  He provides a brief rundown of the various SD-type formats, as well as recommendations on how much storage you need for various camera uses, plus speed and class rating information.

Cutting to the chase, Story basically concludes that you don’t have to worry about speed or class unless you’re shooting in burst mode or video (or need to download images fast), and he suggests these general guidelines for choosing card capacity:

  • If you shoot Jpeg only: 2-4GB
  • If you primarily shoot in Raw mode: 4-8GB
  • If you shoot Jpeg and video: 4-16GB
  • If you shoot Raw and video: 8-32GB

[Via MacWorld]

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Janice got her hands on a Nikon Coolpix 900 back in 1998 and has been a digital camera enthusiast ever since.

Disclosure

Janice Chen

Janice Chen has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted in this blog.

Biography

Janice Chen

Janice Chen is an editorial consultant and has been covering technology for over two decades. Serving as editor in chief at CNET and Computer Shopper magazine for many years, she oversaw product coverage for the CNET and ZDNet websites. She has appeared on most of the major morning TV news programs and was featured weekly on CNN Headline News' Hotwired segment recommending personal tech ranging from digital cameras to notebook PCs. Prior to that, she appeared with Anderson Cooper on a monthly technology segment for ABC World News This Morning. Quoted in numerous publications such as the New York Times, USA Today, and People magazine, Janice has also evaluated tech products for BusinessWeek, USA Weekend magazine, and Parenting magazine among others.

Janice got her hands on a Nikon Coolpix 900 back in 1998 and has been a digital camera enthusiast ever since. A graduate of Cornell University, she resides in Maplewood, NJ, with her husband (a professional photographer who shot his last roll of film in 2003) and their two daughters.

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RE: How to pick the right memory card
three-shao 19th Sep
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Speed not important?
jred 14th Dec 2009
I mainly deal with the more inexpensive cameras, and you can be sure the people who buy cheap cameras are going to buy the cheapest memory card.

Once you take the picture, you usually have to wait a few seconds to take the next one. Is this generally due to the cheap camera or the cheap memory card?
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Speed & delay
curiousgeorge1940 14th Dec 2009
Easy answer - BOTH !
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RE: How to pick the right memory card
curiousgeorge1940 14th Dec 2009
I don't agree with the table shown for the size of the memory card. Some people are happy with 5 pictures of any event and in that case it doesn't matter... unless they go on a vacation! Might need 100 times that amount. Always get more than you need for today, without breaking the bank. An 8 Gig SD card last month cost me less than a 512 Meg card did 6 years ago...
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