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What are my storage options? Flash memory cards--which come in various formats, sizes and capacities--are commonly used to store images in a digital camera. The number of pictures you can save on a memory card generally depends upon the image resolution and quality settings you have selected on the camera. Higher compression file formats such as JPEG also allow you to fit more pictures on a card, although image quality will suffer somewhat. Before you buy a camera, carefully consider the type of media it takes, as you may own (or plan to buy) an MP3 player, PDA, or other devices that take the same kind of memory card. This way, you can save by using the card on more than one device. You can also find out more about fake memory media and how to spot them here.
1. Secure Digital/MultiMediaCard (SD/MMC)
Pros: Very popular across consumer electronics devices; small; fast; wide range of capacities up to 4GB; competitively priced; small size permits compact devices.
Cons: Not compatible with old MMC slots. Commonly found in: Compact digital cameras but recently found its way into dSLRs.
2. Secure Digital High-Capacity (SDHC)
Pros: High-capacity version of the SD format, capable of supporting up to 32GB in storage size and 6MB/s in data transfer speed; relatively affordable.
Cons: Supported only by the latest cameras; not backward-compatible with older SD host devices (e.g. older SD card readers). Commonly found in: Compact cameras, prosumer models, and recently, dSLRs.
3. Memory Stick Duo; Memory Stick Duo Pro
Pros: Pricing is now more competitive; compatible with other devices such as older Sony Ericsson phones and PSP.
Cons: May require an adapter for use in Memory Stick slots; still cost more than SD cards. Commonly found in: Most Sony digital cameras.
4. xD-Picture Card
Pros: Smaller format means smaller devices.
Cons: Relatively new and still proprietary format; hasn't yet ramped up to the capacities of SD, CompactFlash, or Memory Stick; supported by Fujifilm and Olympus only; slightly more expensive. Commonly found in: Fujifilm and Olympus cameras.
5. Large internal memory
Pros: No need for additional flash memory media; faster internal data transfer speed.
Cons: Requires USB cable to transfer images. Commonly found in: Compacts and ultracompacts.
6. CompactFlash
Pros: Comes in very large capacities (up to 32GB now); fast; competitively priced.
Cons: Larger form factor than other flash memory formats. Commonly found in: dSLRs and prosumer units.
7. Hitachi Microdrive
Pros: Fast data transfer speed.
Cons: Expensive; storage capacity for CompactFlash has already caught up. Commonly found in: dSLRs and prosumer units, but hardly in use these days.
8. SmartMedia
Pros: 0.76mm thin.
Cons: Old format replaced by xD-Picture Cards; slow; largest storage capacity produced was 128MB. Commonly found in: Older units of digital cameras from Fujifilm and Olympus.
9. Memory Stick; Memory Stick Pro
Pros: Compatible with Sony consumer electronics devices.
Cons: Not widely supported by camera manufacturers other than Sony. Commonly found in: Older units of digital cameras from Sony and Konica Minolta (selected models).
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