Lesson No. 2 - Thanks for the Memories

Okay, I said in the very first post that I was going to assume you knew how to turn your camera on and nothing else - so let’s start there.

First, you probably want to know “When I take a photo, where does it go?” Well, if you are using a digital camera (and I am assuming that you are) your photos are being recorded onto a memory (or media) card.

There are different kinds/sizes of memory cards (aptly named this because they “remember” what you shot and store it for you until you can download the information) and you need to know what type of card your camera uses (don’t confuse the “type” with the “brand name!”)

Many of the point-n-shoot cameras on the market today use something called an SD (Secure Data) card. They are about a ½” in height and have a little divot missing from the upper right hand corner.

Likewise, many of the DSLR’s use what is called a compact flash card. They are a bit larger – about an inch wide and don’t have that little divot missing out of the corner.

Now, there are exceptions to the rule but that’s a good place to start. So, open up your user’s manual or pop open the side slot on your camera and take a look. Is it about a half inch in diameter? Does it say “SD” anywhere on the card? If so, REGARDLESS OF THE BRAND NAME, your camera is using an SD card to store the memory data for your photographs.

If your card is a bit larger (about an inch in diameter) and it says “CF” or “Compact Flash” on the card’s face, then your camera is using a Compact Flash card.

There are other types of memory cards out there – MD is one of the newer ones and is even smaller than the SD card - but, as I said earlier, most digital cameras tend to use either the SD or CF cards. You need to know the TYPE of card you use so when you go to get another one you know what to ask for.

Why are you going out to buy another card? Well, there are a couple of reasons.

First, almost every digital camera you buy comes with a card that is so small it only holds a handful of photos on it. Seriously, nobody understands the manufacturer’s reasoning for this - it’s like buying an expensive new car and only getting 1/10th of a gallon of gas to drive it home. If you spend big bucks for a new camera you would think they would give you a memory card big enough to take more than three photos - but they don’t. And that really bites.
But what REALLY bites is when you don’t know that and you buy a new camera and then head out on vacation with that itty bitty teeny tiny memory card and stop at the Grand Canyon and pull out your new digital camera and go click. click. click. And then it says, “CARD IS FULL.”

Whaaa?

Card is full?

Whaaa???

Believe me…there’s nothing worse.

So, what size memory card do you need to buy? That depends on how many photos you take on a regular outing with your camera. It also depends on the size of your photos.  Did you realize that your camera gives you the option of taking photos in different resolutions so you can get either high quality and less photos or lower quality and more photos? (That’s really a mute point, though, because we’re going to be taking the largest size photos your camera will allow because why would you want to take a once-in-a-lifetime photo and remember later that you had it on the lowest resolution, creating a less-than-perfect photo?)

So, memory cards come in lots of sizes and the larger the memory the card has, the more photos you can take. Most memory cards come in the following sizes: 128MB, 256 MB, 512MB, One GB, Two GB, Four GB, & Eight GB.

Now, get that Owner’s Manual out again and find out what size mega pixel your camera is. (It will be somewhere between 3mp and 12mp unless you have a much older digital camera.)

If you have a 5 mp or smaller camera, you can probably get by with buying the smaller size cards (the ones that end in “MB.”) However, if you have a 6mp or larger camera, you’re going to probably want to get a 512MB or larger card so you don’t run out of memory when taking photos.

I own a Canon 40D which is a 10mp (megapixel) camera. I have a One GB card and a Two GB card and I have yet to need a third card when I go out shooting for an entire day. In fact, I have only filled the Two GB card up ONCE in all the times I’ve used it – and I tend to take a LOT of photos in an outing (say 300-400).

Regardless of your camera’s megapixel size or the size of the photo images you will be taking, I’d say to get at least one 512 MB card and maybe one more in a larger size for times when you want to shoot photos all day long (say a family picnic.) The larger the memory of the card is, though, the more expensive the card will be so find a happy medium between size and price and buy what works for you. I really wouldn’t fool around too much with anything smaller than 512 MB, though, because you never know when you’ll want that extra room to take and store photos.

When going to buy a new card you’ll also see that some of them are “ultra fast” and, unless you own a high-powered DSLR camera, you really don’t need to spend the extra money for one of those. Again, I have one fast speed card and one regular speed card and I can’t really tell much difference between the two so save your money and get the lower priced card (unless you really have noticed your camera lagging behind in speed when it goes to record your images.)

Oh, and save the little plastic container they come in! You’ll want that to store your card in when it is not in the camera. It protects those delicate gold prongs from getting broken or torn so your card will be able to transmit the data from the camera to your computer.

And here’s one last thing you need to know about memory cards that you’ll want to never ever forget:

DON’T EVER PUT THE MEMORY CARD

INTO YOUR CAMERA

GOING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION.

This is one of those times where you really do have to read the Owner’s Manual for your camera so you know which end and which side goes in which way because getting it wrong can do extreme damage to your media card AND your camera - so read the manual and know which way the card goes in!

So that’s it for today’s lesson! You need to know what kind of memory card your camera uses and you need to go out and buy 1-2 cards to use for taking images. Keep the one that came with the camera for emergencies…it might get you through a tight spot some time – but don’t plan on really ever using it again.

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Questions about this or one of the other lessons?  Email me at Heyjules(dot)mwg(at)gmail(dot)com.