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Beyond the Camera - Memory Cards
The Beyond the Camera section looks at all the extra accessories that you might need to buy to go along with your camera (not including lenses which were covered in a previous section). Where possible, we have tried to give an idea of what you can expect to pay. Beware that the cheaper option can sometimes be a false economy (especially with lens filters).
There are numerous different types of memory card - different makes and models of camera use different cards.
- SD (Secure Digital) card - used in nearly all compact cameras (including system cameras), and many entry level DSLRs.
- Compact Flash (CF) - has been around a long time, is very reliable, available in large sizes and is still the fastest form of memory card available. Used by most enthusiast and pro level DSLRs.
- xD card - used on older Fuji and Olympus cameras only.
- Memory Stick - used only by Sony cameras.
- XQD card - a new format that is potentially even faster than Compact Flash. At the time of writing the only camera to use this is the Nikon D4.
Many compact flash and SD memory cards have different speed ratings. For example a standard card might be rated at 60x speed (these are multiples of 150KB/sec). As the image files get larger, speed becomes more of an issue. High definition video also puts demands on the performance of your memory card so always try and buy the fastest you can afford.
The top makes for memory card are SanDisk and Lexar - both companies doing a range from basic to professional. SanDisk do a card called the Extreme Pro which are rated at 95MB/second (the equivalent of 633x speed). I am not sure if any camera can currently make the most of this performance - however you can be sure that if you own one, at least the memory card is not going to be the bottleneck in your system.
I have also found Kingston memory cards very reliable and considerably cheaper than SanDisk.
Beware when buying memory cards. SanDisk have a great reputation for reliability however fake SanDisk cards do exist and are often sold on the Internet. Buy from a reputable dealer as you don't want your card to die in the middle of a shoot or when it is full of precious photographs.
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Photographs
This is a site about photography so I'm sure you are expecting to see plenty of pictures.
For now, why not take a peek at the flickr galleries belonging to the two authors of this site.
Colin's Flickr Page
Phil's Flickr Page
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