Digital Photography

Learn about organizing pictures, memory cards, and viewing specifications

Digital Camera Memory
You can't have too much memory for your digital camera. Memory cards come with a limit on how much they can hold and although they are reusable, they can fill up rapidly. With the current trend towards higher Megapixel ratings increasing, the need for higher capacity memory cards increases.
When you are shopping for your first digital camera, it is wise to budget for additional memory cards as most cameras are sold with low capacity memory cards. Although this has been true for quite some time, the point becomes more relevant as camera megapixel counts increase. Not only might you need to carry extra memory cards, you also probably need higher capacity cards as well. At one point in time carrying two or more 32MB memory cards was considered decent, then two or more 64MB memory cards was considered the norm and now, you are fortunate if a few 256MB memory cards will even suffice. In fact, 1GB memory cards are becoming de facto.

There are two main categories one must look at when purchasing Memory cards: type and capacity. The type of memory card is dependent upon the brand of camera one owns. There are approximately 8 main types of digital camera memory with more variations on the horizon: CompactFlash Type I, CompactFlash Type II, SmartMedia, Memory Sticks, XD Digital Cards, MicroDrives, MultiMediaCard (MMC) and Secure Digital (SD). Currently, the most popular are the CompactFlash, SmartMedia and Sony Memory Sticks.

The capacity of memory cards comes in the following amounts: beginning at 8MB, 16MB, 32MB, 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, 512MB up to 1GB. The required memory card capacity is dependent upon many things including the quantity of pictures they will take, the resolution of the pictures and the megapixel count of the camera.

When choosing the megapixel count, it is best to keep in mind what you might wish to use the camera for. Generally speaking, the higher the megapixel count the more expensive the camera will be. If you are going to use the pictures online, and you do not plan on creating high quality prints, a 2MP camera should suffice. If there is a chance that your pictures will be used for prints or you have need for high quality output, then increasing the megapixel count accordingly is recommended. The following charts (Table 2-1 and 2-2) outline the current digital camera community’s recommendations.

Table 2-1. Recommended Image Size and Dimensions

Table 2-2. Image File Size and Memory Card Size Recommendation