|
Forget mega-pixels and the other fads of the camera industry today, one of the most important things is what memory card you have. Without a memory card you won't have anywhere to store the photos you take, leaving your camera largely useless (although most new cameras have a small amount of internal storage).
There are quite a few types of memory cards available, all in different sizes, capacities and speeds, and so to help you work out which card is for you, we at ThinkCamera have put together this guide. Along with information on all the formats and why you should or shouldn't use them, there is an accompanying list of all the main camera manufacturers and what they take and weight/size/price comparisons. This isn't a review of what memory card manufacturers are best.
CompactFlash | MemoryStick | Microdrive | MMC | SecureDigital | SmartMedia | xD
THE KEY ISSUES
Size and capacity are two of the main issues, here's why...
Size matters
Naturally it's better to have one card with a large capacity rather than the equivalent in smaller cards purely for ease-of-use and human error. It's a lot easier to lose a card, especially when you have quite a few of them, and the last thing you want is to realise you've forgotten all your cards when you are halfway up a mountain taking pictures. A bigger card allows more photos to be taken and more video information too. Since prices of cards of 1GB and above are getting cheaper and tougher, there's not really any reason to buy lots of small cards. Plus, bigger capacity cards usually come in faster speeds.
Size isn't everything
Speed is important as well; in terms of memory cards the speed dictates how long you have to wait before you can take another shot, while the camera writes the photo to the card. Obviously a slower speed card will take longer to write, and this can be an issue when shooting at higher resolutions or .RAW files. Speed is also essential when shooting video so that its recorded smoothly, and when using burst modes. Speed is written in the same way as it is on CDs and DVDs where 1x = 150kb a sec, and typical sizes of 66x, 100x and 133x can be found in professional cards.
Flash vs. Hard-drives
While the majority of memory cards for cameras are flash based, there is some difference between the two, especially as both are getting smaller in size while getting bigger in capacity.
Flash memory, CompactFlash being an example, is the smaller of the two types and uses a lot less power than hard-drives, letting you take more shots with the camera before the battery putters out. Since there's no moving parts, cards using Flash memory are a lot more robust and are unlikely to break easily.
Even though hard-drives, Microdrive cards being the main player, are more prone to breaking because of their moving parts, this is a problem that is lessening because of advances in technology. Hard-drives have a better future outlook because they last longer in terms of read/write cycles than Flash cards (how many times data can be rewritten before it gets corrupted), have a bigger potential of storage space as technology shrinks, and are still a lot cheaper at the bigger sizes than Flash based counterparts.
MAIN MEMORY FORMATS
These are the cards most commonly found in digital cameras and other gadgets, and also the ones where the most development is occuring - bigger capacity, bigger speed and lower price.
CompactFlash
Overview: CompactFlash cards are one of the two main types of memory cards used in photography, SecureDigital being the other. It comes in two forms, CFI and II, the latter being a slightly thicker card. Since being introduced in 1994, CF cards are available in sizes of 8MB to 12GB, and data speeds can go up to 133x (which is equivalent to 20mb/sec) and there are plans to increase this to 440x (66mb/sec) with CF3.0. The main difference between CFI and II is in capacity, CFII is found more in sizes over 1GB
Why select a camera with CF? Due to its large size, a lot of the smaller cards can be used in the same slot, with adaptors. CF cards are used mainly in the higher-end of the camera market and can allow very high capacities and speeds for professionals. The cost of CF cards is pretty decent, with low costs per MB, which keeps the cards competitive in price.
Any disadvantages? Only that manufacturers are favouring smaller and smaller card formats to keep camera sizes down in an industry that is dominated by style, which may mean that CF is pushed more to the SLR end of the market rather than compacts.
MemoryStick
Overview: These cards were introduced by Sony in 1998 and now come in a range of sizes and formats. The family includes the MemoryStick, the MemoryStick PRO, The MemoryStick Duo, the MS PRO Duo and a new ultra-tiny format for mobiles, the M2. They can all come with MagicGate technology to protect copyrighted music. The PRO versions have higher capacity and transfer speeds than their counterparts, allowing a top capacity of 32GB in theory. Sizes at the moment are currently at 8GB for the PROs and 128mb for the standard sticks.
Why use Memory Sticks? Even the original MemoryStick was ridiculously light and small, the size comparable to a stick of chewing gum, and the Duo is even smaller. All of the smaller cards can be used in larger MS slots with adaptors, and cards have a fairly widespread range of uses, including mobile phones, mp3 players and camcorders.
But? It's a proprietary format of Sony's, and as such is considered to be more expensive than other types of memory card, despite being manufactured by Lexar and SanDisk externally. Also, if you switch cameras to another manufacturer it is very unlikely that you will get a camera that is compatible with MemorySticks.
SecureDigital
Overview: The main card of choice for digital compacts, these cards were developed in 1999 by Panasonic, SanDisk and Toshiba to compete with Sony's MemoryStick, and are based on the slightly older MMC format - SD cards being a little thicker. Storage space ranges from 32MB to 8GB and data transfer speeds are usually 66x and 133x. SanDisk have lately released a new professional card that allows speeds of 266x (or 40mb/sec).
The advantages of SD? Capacity and speed gains are on the horizon, 8GB cards being released recently under the guise of SDHC (high capacity). Some manufacturers, SanDisk being one, have integrated a USB connection into their cards to eliminate the need to connect your camera to PC or use a memory card reader. MMC cards can be used in the SD slots.
And the disadvantages? In terms of theoretical maximum speed and sizes, CF has more potential in the future, while SecureDigital development is moving towards smaller card sizes in the miniSD and the microSD.
LESS WIDESPREAD FORMATS
These formats are still in available but are used in less cameras or are being phased out. If you buy an older camera it is very likely it will use one of these cameras.
Microdrives
Overview: The Microdrive was launched in 1999 by IBM and comprises of a miniature 1 inch hard-drive that fits in a CompactFlash card (type II). Currently the maximum size is 8GB but Hitachi has announced a 20GB Microdrive that will be released in 2007. Microdrives are not commonly found in cameras, but they can be used in a camera that has a CFII slot. Instead they are usually found inside other products like Apple's iPod.
Why Microdrives are good? The higher storage models are a lot cheaper than the equivalent Flash based alternatives like CompactFlash, and are a lot faster at reading/writing than the standard CF cards. Capacity can theoretically be limitless as hard-drive technology gets more efficient and smaller.
Why Microdrives are bad? Being hard-drive based which uses moving parts, a very hard knock will likely spell the end of your card, and your data, whereas you can throw a Flash based card out of the window and still have it working. While at high storage the Microdrives are quite cost-effective, at lower storage the opposite is the case. Power requirements are a problem with hard-drives too, as power is always required to keep the discs spinning.
MMC
Overview: The Multi Media Card was a flash memory card format that was introduced in 1997 by Siemens and SanDisk, but has largely been replaced by SD cards now. They are available in capacities of up to 4GB and can be used in the slightly larger SD card slots.
Why should you use MMC? Even though SD cards have taken over in cameras, MMC memory cards still see a lot of use in mobile phones, and will still be useful while they still fit in SD card slots and offer good value. Also the MMCplus format is in development which will (they claim) offer the fastest transfer speeds and greatest flexibility for manufacturers - and will be backwards compatible with previous MMCs.
And why you shouldn't? At the moment MMC is very much a bit-player in the memory card market, in cameras especially. Until MMCplus is released there is very little reason for manufacturers to put a MMC slot in their cameras, and like SD, a lot of developers are concentrating on the smaller MMC formats like RS-MMC and MMCmobile.
xD-Picture Card
Overview: xD, standing for “extreme Digital” was developed in 2002 by Fujifilm and Olympus as a proprietary format like Sony's MemoryStick. Currently they only have a maximum storage size of 512MB but have the potential of up to 8GB in the Type M cards. A Type H has also been developed that is faster and offers special “picture effects” that can be used in compatible Olympus cameras.
Buy me? Since its proprietary, if you buy a Fujifilm or Olympus camera you will have no option but to use xD cards, although the higher-end cameras will use CF cards (the Olympus E-series SLRs). Thankfully then, the xD cards are one of the smallest types of memory card, have a very low power consumption, and are a lot faster than the Sony MemoryStick and older formats.
Leave me on the shelf? It's a very camera-only format so you won't be able to use it in other gadgets, and is only used by Fujifilm and Olympus. In addition, SD cards are a lot faster and the maximum size for xD card is only 8GB, so the format looks a bit weak in comparison with the big players. And perhaps most importantly of all, xD cards are quite expensive per MB than others.
FUTURE FORMS
The cards mentioned below are very new cards that have been announced or released in the last few months. At the moment, these cards are mainly in use in mobile phones where the small size is very useful, but its likely that they will be used in cameras very soon.
microSD
Originally being developed as Trans-Flash by SanDisk, it was renamed microSD when it was adopted by the SecureDigital Association. The cards are the smallest commercially available at the moment, being barely the size of a fingernail. The largest size on the market is 2GB and can be used in a normal SD slot with an adaptor.
miniSD
miniSD was also developed by SanDisk and introduced in 2003 as a small form factor memory card similar to the MemoryStick Duo and the xD-Picture card. Being roughly half the size of the SD, they are mainly for use in mobile phones, and like microSD they have a maximum size of 2GB and come with an adaptor for SD slots.
RS-MMC
Reduced Size MMC cards are half the size of MMC cards, being developed for use in mobiles for their tiny size - used mainly by Nokia and Siemens. As usual, max size is 2GB, and an adaptor is usually included to make it the same size as an old-school MMC card to be used in MMC/SD slots.
MMCmobile
RS-MMC has already got a successor in the form of MMCmobile, which is a low-voltage version to reduce power consumption. It's the same size, and has the same capacity levels and adaptor available.
| 
