Help me out as I contemplate which memory card to buy for next week's WDW trip!

[IvyandLace]

"Santa" surprised my husband and I with a Sony Cybershot this Christmas (apparently for our pre-born child due in June 2012, but we get to use it on us in the meantime!)...I am trying to figure out the best "budget" memory card to get for it as I leave for WDW in one week for a 8-day trip with my mom, sister and brother-in-law and 2 year old niece. I would like to get at least an 8GB memory card and didn't know if there were better brands out there than others. Should I just try to pick up something on sale at Best Buy or Walmart?

Any help is appreciated!!! IVY

 

[prncess674]

I am a fan of buying several smaller cards in case one of them fails. Also will you bringing your laptop to download at the end of the day?

 

[Colleen27]

I'm partial to SanDisk. They're a bit more expensive but I've never had one fail on me and when it comes to a camera that's important. My last Kingston card went bad and took quite a few pictures with it into the great unknown, but that's the only card failure I've had in the 13 years since I went all digital with my photography (knock wood!).

As Prncess674 said, two 4 gig cards is better than one 8 gig, just in case one does fail or gets damaged somehow. Just be sure to have a case for it (SanDisk cards come with one as do most other brands, but a few of the cheapie brands don't) and a VERY safe place to keep it to be sure you don't lose it.

 

[rock_doctor]

Spend the money for a good card. Stay with name brand and for a camera get at least a class 4 or higher. The class number is the speed at which data can move onto and off the card. The lower the class the slower the card. 4 seems to work ok in my cameras (but a 6 would be better) so it should also for you. No need to go with a super high class number unless you get it cheap. I like newegg.com and they typically have something on sale. Stay away from ebay as well as walmart. Ebay because you can get junk and walmart because they are way (way(way)) too expensive on memory cards. Also get multiple cards unless you plan to shoot mostly video. Then the larger card will be necessary. Bring a computer with you and off load the card daily and stay away from anything that says "extreme" as they really are no better then a good normal name brand card. I own several sandisk (class 6), crucial (class 6) and transcend (class 4) cards. None have failed on me yet.

 

[Vixster]

I use a 4gb sand disk card take a few with you plus I tend to always keep them on the memory card as a back up along with on my laptop have a lovely time away

 

[safetymom]

Lexar is very good. You shoudn't think of buying a "budget" card. The cheaper cards have more issues. If you are taking photos and the memory card fails you have lost your memories.

 

[Tiger926]

Agree with all above!

In my opinion, Sandisk are the best. My digitals all prefer Sandisk cards - I buy high performance cards only, but even among brands high performance varies.

I prefer Class 10, as they are super fast!

I also have multiple memory cards and bring them on vacation, as well as computer (laptop, netbook or ipad) and even a memory stick for backup.

I wish the OP lots of great shots! Tiger

 

[Tiger926]

Agree with all above!

In my opinion, Sandisk are the best. My digitals all prefer Sandisk cards - I buy high performance cards only, but even among brands high performance varies.

I prefer Class 10, as they are super fast!

Kingston, Verbatim, PNY or Transcend are all problematic cards, IMHO.

I also have multiple memory cards and bring them on vacation, as well as some kind of computer (laptop, netbook or ipad) and even a memory stick for backup.

I wish the OP lots of great shots! Tiger

 

[LadyBeBop]

Can you use a regular memory card? Or do you have to use a pro-stick?

I have a Sony (it'a about 5 years old, but it's still good), and I can't use a regualr memory card in it. I have to use a special memory stick pro-duo. Sony, itself, puts out the best of those.

 

[Colleen27]

Can you use a regular memory card? Or do you have to use a pro-stick?

I have a Sony (it'a about 5 years old, but it's still good), and I can't use a regualr memory card in it. I have to use a special memory stick pro-duo. Sony, itself, puts out the best of those.

The newer Cybershots use SD cards.

 

[Colleen27]

. Bring a computer with you and off load the card daily and stay away from anything that says "extreme" as they really are no better then a good normal name brand card.

There is one exception to this - SanDisk uses names to indicate the speed of a card, and "extreme" is the name on their class 10 SD card (as opposed to "ultra" which is class 6, and just SanDisk with no additional name on the class 4 and slower cards).

BTW, Amazon has the 16gb SanDisk class 10 today for $30. If you're a Prime member or sign up for their free trial two day shipping is free.