Korean Job Discussion Forums

[itaewonguy]

im looking at buying a memory card,
whats the deal with

SD, CF, SDHC, xD, MMC,

do I just go with the basic SD?
I want something that reads very fast! and is reliable..

anyone know of any good brands and models which are top notch?

sandisk? what about the other brands?

if someone has some good advice I really appreciate it..
cheers.
IG
can link me too to enuri if you can...
cheers..

[gsxr750r]

Just buying the card itself? I don't understand. Is it going into a camera or something?

[itaewonguy]

[rocklee]

You need to find out what kind of card your camera takes. If you haven't got a camera yet and deciding on a memory card first, then its the CF cards that would be the fastest.

Need more info.

[heckyaa]

Here is a site that compares the different cards in specific cameras. And be sure to read how each card is marked as there are a ton of counterfeits out there.
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007

[crazy_arcade]

sd is most common and has basically become the standard, no?

[chevro1et]

[Wrench]

The fastest is CF I believe.

[ptarmigan]

I am not the world's greatest expert on flash cards, but I do have some experience, so don't take this as gospel.

Speed is not the Compact Flash's strong suit. It is the original design, though it has been improved white retaining the form factor. I believe the bigger ram chip tends to be slower and take more battery juice. The SD and XD cards are highly efficient.

But there are slow CFs, SDs and XDs and fast ones, which you pay more for.

But I have cameras that run on XDs, SDs and CFs. I don't think it makes any practical difference unless you are doing specialized, pro photography. It also might make a difference when uploading a 2 gb card, but with a USB 2 slot, I don't think it is a big deal.

Modern digital cameras have an internal buffer memory that is used to store the photo while it is being transferred to the memory card. This allows a good camera to take a burst of three or so pictures quickly, though it may then take a noticeable time for the frames to be sent to the memory card. More noticeable is the time it take to retrieve the picture from the card for viewing, but even with the 5 mb files on my S9100 with a slow, old 500 mb CF card, it is not an issue. If I were a professional news photographer it would be.

Normally, one picks the camera first, and then buys the memory card for it. Your question, while the epitome of ignorance, also contains the seed of wisdom. For deciding on a memory card format is a good starting point for picking a camera.

For instance, the Memory Stick, of which there are many, many flavors, is only used by Sony. Sony makes some great cameras. But you gotta buy Memory Stick (although pro models like the Alpha also take CF). And if your camera breaks and you want to use the flash memory, you've gotta buy another Sony. See?

XD cards are only used by Fuji and Olympus, two excellent brands. I see reviewers who knock the XD cards. I find that I get a heck of a lot of battery life on Fujis using XD cards. And the price now is roughly the same as SD cards.

However, I see that the Fuji S7000 that just came out has the option of using XD or SD. This is cool. It is a camera definitely worth looking at if you are a newbie. So is the S6000fd.

I have the Fuji S9100. It has slots for both a 2 gb XD card and a CF up to 6 gb. Nowadays, you only find CF on pro or semi-pro, or DSLR cameras.They have the potential with microdrives of much greater capacity, plus are in a stronger plastic shell. Pros need this because their per picture file sizes are much larger. Forget CF.

So you choices are SD, the most common, XD, and Memory Stick. MMC is extinct, as far as I can tell.

All things being equal, SD is the way to go. Another nice thing about SD is you can recycle your old card in other devices, such as GPS or MP3 player. But I personally prefer Fuji. So don't let memory card format dictate your camera choice.

Actually, a bigger question is about the batteries. If you don't like proprietary memory cards, you ain't gonna like proprietary batteries. I don't. Not when you are travelling and have to lug along a batter charger (and AC converter) just for the camera. What are these camera manufacturers thinking?

Profit.

You can get cameras that run off of NIMH AAs. A Fuji will typically get about 400 shots with a set of four. Bring an extra set, and that should do you for a week-long vacation, or whatever.

One other thing - very important. When you look at the memory card type for the camera, you need to also find out what capacity card it will take. I bought a 1 GB SD card, and found that one of my cameras will only take a 500 mb card, while the other will take up to a 2 gb SD card. Unfortunately, the manufacturers rarely state this fact, perhaps because they were designed before they began making the bigger cards. So finding out is sometimes a matter of trial and error.

These days, you probably want a camera that will take at least a 2 gb memory card, though this depends on the resolution and file sizes of the camera. Look at how many high resolution pictures you can get on a card. You will want to be able to get at least 200. And if you are shooting video, that will use up more space.

Just keep in mind that the price of memory cards is always falling, so in a year or so 2 gb, or even 4 gb will be fairly cheap. Don't sweat the card.