Memory cards for camera ???

[Tink-n-MrIncredible]

Just bought a Kodak digital camera. What brand or type of memory card is the best? I purchase a 8gb Kodak card. When I got home I looked for reviews, only found one and it was not a good one. Any suggestions or advice on a good one to purchase? Thank you for any and all suggestions.

 

[JB2K]

All types of SD memory cards are good for your camera, regardless of brand name, so long as they have the legitimate "SD" logo on it, which means the card is recognized by the SD Card Association.

 

[Golf4food]

Go to Amazon.com and search for the type of card you need (SD or CF?), then sort by rating, and buy whichever of those with 4+ stars are on sale. Aside from that it only matters if you need a fast card to shoot video - then you'd want at least Class 6 for SD cards. Size of card just depends on how many megapixels your camera shoots, how compressed it makes resultant photos, and how many photos you are willing to risk losing if a card dies on you. You don't need to spend a ton of money on them - you can get a very good 8GB card for $20-$25 or less on sale - no need to buy the $30-$40 versions from SanDisk, for example, unless you can catch them on sale, which they sometimes do.

 

[Tink-n-MrIncredible]

The camera is a Kodak easyshare MD41, it has 12mp, 3x zoom, 2.7" screen.


What is CF?

 

[bonoriffic]

Memory cards are getting very cheap these days, so where in the past you could say you get what you pay for that isn't the case anymore.

Depending on your memory card format (SD, SDHC, Compact Flash, etc.) there are different things to look for. The bottom line is read and write speed. SDHC uses Class 2, 4, 6, 10 to designate the speed rating. Compact Flash uses 1X naming, so you could have a card that is listed as 133X.

You need to look past all that and find the read and write speed in terms of MB per second. The faster the better, although you only need to pay for the speed you need.

For example, HD video cameras will require a minimum speed, but don't really benefit from having a card significantly faster than the minimum. Digital cameras usually do benefit from getting the faster cards. Where a video camera records at an even pace, digital cameras want to record as fast as they can. Any slow down produces wait for you and limits when you can take the next picture.

No one brand is always better, but you are usually better off sticking to companies that make memory as their primary business such as Sandisk, Lexar, and Kingston.

 

[Dewy]

I've seen some good deals on memory cards in the past at accessorystuff.com

 

[wmharley]

Newegg.com is a good place..

but you can also check out www.pricewatch.com

 

[jlima]

I ALWAYS see SD cards on sale at Office Max.

 

[love2disney]

Tigerdirect.com has a great sale on SD cards for today. Check it out.

 

[dallastxcpa]

My DH is a professional photographer. A good place to order your memory cards is through Walmart online. You can them have them sent to your store so you don't pay shipping. I have found that the prices online are lower than what you pay in the store so this way you get the lower price without having to pay shipping.

While lexar and sandisc are both very good I feel that Kingston offers a comparable product for less.

 

[Golf4food]

The camera is a Kodak easyshare MD41, it has 12mp, 3x zoom, 2.7" screen.


What is CF?

That doesn't tell us anything about the type of card it uses.

CF = compact flash

The two most common card types are SD (Secure Digital) and CF (Compact Flash). SD is now also available as SDHC (HC = high capacity) and those are usually the cards that are larger than 4 GB. (SD cards originally were 2GB and under, so they added the HC when they got bigger.)

Is your card a tiny one barely bigger than a thumbnail (SD) or is it larger closer to the size of a credit card (CF)?

 

[Lewisc]

Some of the older card readers won't read HC (high capacity) cards.

Check places like techbargains and fatwallet. Companies are always running deals on memory cards.

 

[MrsPete]

Name brand isn't important in memory cards. As long as you have the right size (for example, SD vs. XD vs. Compact flash), you'll be fine. SanDisk, Lexar, Kodak . . . I own media from all these name brands for my work cameras, and I can't tell any difference. Many of my cards came from eBay.

Right now the sweet spot for digital memory seems to be around 4G. A 12-megapixel camera will fill a smaller card too quickly, and the price goes up significantly if you move up to 8G. You should be able to get a 4G for around $10. I also suggest that you don't go huge (16G, etc.) with your card because it gives you an excuse to be lazy; that is, it allows you to go too long without actually pulling the pictures off the camera and getting them processed.

Your camera will allow you to save your images in high or low resolution. Except for ebay auctions, which you want to be low-res,fast-loaders, you should always shoot in high-res. At 12-meg, a 4G card will hold plenty of pictures for the average vacation.

Do choose a high-speed card. This means that the image will "load" onto your memory card faster, allowing your camera to "recover" quickly . . . and that means you can take a second photograph more quickly. It also means that when you sit down with 100 photographs to upload, they'll hop from your camera to your computer quickly and easily.

You're talking about a point-and-shoot camera. If you choose any 4G SD memory card, you really can't go wrong.

 

[MrsPete]

One last thought . . . never get too upset about ONE negative review. If you see multiple people who dislike a product, it's probably true, but one review may easily mean that the individual who wrote it just didn't know what he was talking about. Memory cards aren't a product that inspire great emotion, so I'm not surprised that people don't review them much.

 

[bigbabyblues]

I have a Kodak SD card that we have had for my camera since 2004 and we haven't had any issues with it.

 

[marlaine]

This probably sounds like a really dumb question, but how long do the cards last? I've had my sony cybershot for a couple of years now. I'm still using the card I bought when I bought the camera. After I have my pictures developed and a cd made, I delete all the images. When do you know you need a new one?

 

[PrincessKsMom]

Just a suggestion. I always like to buy multiple cards, especially for a Disney trip. Last year I brought 5-6 with me. Each day or so I'd put a different one in the camera, just in case something happened. Paranoid, maybe, but sure enough, one went bad. A very nice, helpful DISer (NatenLogansDad) was able to walk me through a recovery program that, thankfully got most of my pictures back. Without him I would have lost 2 days' of pictures. I also have a tendancy to purchase multiple batteries too. Learned that lesson in Disney the first time I took a digital. Battery died and they didn't sell them onsite. Now I put a fresh battery in, take an extra with me, and leave 1 charging while I'm in the parks. It's expensive, but I haven't missed a shot yet.

 

[bonoriffic]

At 12-meg, a 4G card will hold plenty of pictures for the average vacation.

I'd agree with one caveat. If you also shoot video on your camera, then 4 GB won't be enough for an average vacation. Assuming non-HD video in a point and shoot, adding just 30 minutes of video will decrease your available pictures in half. Now 30 minutes of video is still a lot, but if you are making 3 minutes movies of everything, you will need a bigger card.

SLR cameras should consider 16 GB a starting point, especially if you shot in RAW and do HD video.

 

[Alesia]

This probably sounds like a really dumb question, but how long do the cards last? I've had my sony cybershot for a couple of years now. I'm still using the card I bought when I bought the camera. After I have my pictures developed and a cd made, I delete all the images. When do you know you need a new one?

The only real answer is that they work until the don't. There are so many factors that go into it, you really can't know for sure.

How often it's used plays a big part.

Smaller capacity cards are more stable than larger capacity cards.

Also, deleting individual pictures from the camera instead of reformatting the card can cause errors.

Cards that are well taken care of can last 10 years, but as cheap as they are, I'd probably replace it after 5 or 6 years.

 

[deerhart]

We purchased an Scan Disk 8gb ultra sd card for our camera. It holds at large size, fine about 2k pictures.

The ultra writes the pictures to the card faster then the regular (which with the type of camera I have is important)