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 Digital Camera Memory Guide
Digital
Camera Memory Cards
Digital cameras store pictures on some kind of removable
media, though some cameras ship with only internal memory and
leave extra memory purchases to the consumer. Flash-memory
cards--which come in various shapes, sizes, and capacities--are the
most prevalent type of storage media. The number of pictures you can
store on a memory card depends upon the compression settings you
choose when saving the files, as well as on how an individual camera
compresses. Higher compression allows you to fit more pictures on a
card, although image quality will suffer somewhat.
How
many pictures can I put on my media card?
Compact Flash | Floppy
disk | Microdrive | Mini
CD-R/RW | SD/MMC
|
SmartMedia
| Memory Stick | Memory
Stick Pro | xD-Picture
Card
SecureDigital and xD
Newer and smaller cards, including
SD (and cellphone-friendly miniSD) and xD are taking the
lead in the memory card market. Smaller than postage stamps,
these cards have fast read/write times, will allow cameras
to shrink in size, and will soon have the capacity to store
several GB of data. SD also has built-in security.
Camera makers using SD: Panasonic, Leica, Ricoh;
Camera makers using xD: Fujifilm, Olympus
CompactFlash
SmartMedia is almost completely
dead, but CompactFlash is still strong. It offers a low
price, a large
number of cameras (and other devices) support it, and it
reaches outstanding write times, an important factor when
you consider high-resolution cameras.
Camera makers using CompactFlash: Nikon, Kodak, Canon
MultiMedia Card
MMCs look like SD cards but
are thinner, have slower transfer rates, and do not always
work in SD gadgets. They are more likely to be used with
audio gadgets and phones.
MemoryStick
Until recently it
was a Sony-only format. Now you'll find vendors such as
SanDisk offering these cards. You'll also notice some offshoots of
MS, including MagicGate (digital audio market), the tiny
MagicGate Duo (PDAs), and MemoryStick Pro (faster read/write, maxing
out at 1GB, and marketed toward digital-video
cameras). Camera makers using MemoryStick: Sony, Samsung
Microdrives
Microdrives are also a great buy
for digicam enthusiasts with CompactFlash Type II
compatibility. Developed by IBM and now owned by Hitachi
(and licensed to others), the Microdrive has moving parts
(it's a miniature hard drive) but can hold lots of data at
very good prices. The Microdrive also has
outstanding write times.
 CompactFlash Types I and
II
0.13 x 1.6 x 1.4 in |
Pros: Comes in very large
capacities; fast; widely supported; competitively
priced
Cons: Sightly less durable than
SD/MMC, Memory Stick, or xD-Picture Card; larger than many of
the new formats
Supporting manufacturers:
Canon, Kodak, Minolta, Nikon, and
Pentax
CompactFlash: Prices
& Capacities | Floppy disk
0.13 x 3.5 x 3.6 in |
Pros: Works in any PC;
inexpensive
Cons: Using floppy disk and
drive makes cameras relatively large and bulky; very little
storage space
Supporting manufacturers:
Sony
| Hitachi
Microdrive
0.2 x 1.7 x 1.4 in |
Pros: Large capacities;
fast
Cons: Expensive; CompactFlash
capacities are quickly catching up
Supporting manufacturers: Various, usually for
pro and semipro
cameras
| Mini CD-R and
CD-RW
3.1-inch diameter |
Pros: Readable by CD and DVD
drives found on most current PCs; inexpensive; reasonably
large capacities
Cons: Using 8cm discs
and drive makes cameras relatively large and bulky
Supporting manufacturers:
Sony
| Secure Digital/
MultiMediaCard(SD/MMC)
0.06 x 0.9 x 1.3 in |
Pros: Very popular across
consumer electronics devices; small; fast; wide range of
capacities; competitively priced; small size permits compact
devices
Cons: Not compatible with old
MMC slots
Supporting manufacturers: Casio, Contax, HP,
Kodak, Konica, Kyocera, Leica, Minolta, Panasonic, Pentax, and
Toshiba
| SmartMedia
0.003 x 1.5 x 1.8 in |
Pros: None
Cons: Old, dying format being replaced by
xD-Picture Cards; slow; limited capacities
Supporting manufacturers: Older models from
Fujifilm and Olympus;
Samsung
| Sony Memory Stick; Memory Stick
Select
0.06 x 0.8 x 2.9 in |
Pros: Compatible with all Sony
consumer electronics devices; growing popularity
Cons: Limited to a maximum capacity of 256MB; not
widely supported by camera manufacturers other than Sony;
Memory Stick Select is awkwardly designed
Supporting manufacturers: Konica,
Sony
| Sony Memory Stick
Pro
0.06 x 0.8 x 2.9 in |
Pros: Large capacities
Cons: Not compatible with most devices from circa
2002 and earlier; unsupported by camera manufacturers other
than Sony
Supporting manufacturers:
Sony
| xD-Picture Card
0.06 x 0.9 x 0.8 in |
Pros: Smallest format means
smaller devices
Cons: New and still
proprietary format; possibly too small; haven't yet ramped up
to the capacities of SD, CompactFlash, or Memory
Stick
Supporting manufacturers:
Fujifilm,
Olympus
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