An Intro About a Digital Camera’s Flash Memory

Digital memory is very essential although it is more often overlooked. Many kinds of memory are out in the market. Prior to purchasing a digital camera, it is good to become familiar with the types of memory a camera uses.

Memory cards are reusable and you can buy as many as you like for unlimited external capacity for your camera. The number of pictures you can save on these memory cards depend on the capacity of the card and the image file sizes.

Memory cards come in different capacities. There’s 256mb, 512mb, 1gb, 2gb or 8gb. Image files will each range from 3-5mb. Here are the most common types of memory cards for digital cameras:

• Compact Flash
The Compact Flash is considered as the most common type. Several of the current high-end digital cameras as well as digital SLRs require a compact flash.

It has two sizes - Type I and the Type II. Type II variety is thicker. Most cameras can only accept the Type I variety. However, Type II has a higher capacity. The most common Type II is the MicroDrive. Compact Flash has a controller chip that enables a much higher transfer rate. It is widely available, inexpensive relative to other memory cards and works with most digital cameras.

• Secure Digital and MultiMediaCard Memory
These are the smallest types of memory cards. These are used on portable cameras, PDAs, MP3 players and handyphones.

• xD Picture Cards
This was introduced by Fuji and Olympus in the year 2002. It has the newest “digital camera memory format.” Since it is also tiny, it is suited for small cameras. It is also compatible with CompactFlash. It is currently available only in 512 mb capacity.

• Memory Stick
This was developed for Sony CyberShot digital cameras and is only compatible to Sony gadgets PDAs, MP3 players, and Sony Vaio Computers. This is only available in 256 mb.

• MicroDrive
This is a miniature type of hard drive housed inside a CompactFlash Type II chassis. It has a 1gb maximum storage capacity. MicroDriveis generally regarded as unreliable and delicate because its parts are prone to damages and easily wear out.

• SmartMedia
This used to be the most common variety of storage media for digital cameras. Now it is being phased out due to newer versions of memory cards. This is available in 128 mb capacity.

• Card Readers
This is regarded as the most competent way of downloading data from memory cards. It is a highly recommended accessory for digital cameras. This is available either in internal or external models and is compatible with USBs.

• Portable Digital Storage
These are external hard drives that can store files. It has a capacity of up to 20 gb.