SD card speed and capacity

[scowlsandgrowls]

I'm about to buy a Canon Powershot 710IS.

It comes with tiny memory so will need to replace with a bigger SD card.

Would 512mb be sufficient or should I go for 1GB.

Secondly what of the speed I see SanDisk do standard and ultra 11 cards. Is a standard card going to be fast enough?

Also has anyone any experience of Jessops own SD card?

Thanks

[stuart_hatch]

The standard card is fast enough, the faster cards are normally for SLR's with big pixel counts taking lots of pictures at once, i would advise you go for a 1GB, look on amazon, they are quite cheap on there, remember a MMC (Multimedia Card) will also work in your camera

[Gordon Solomon]

Scowls,

Good choice on the 710, it's a great little camera mate.

I'd go for 1GB unless you're the kind of person that used to have christmas, summer holidays and the following christmas on the same film! To be honest memory cards are so cheap these days in comparison to the camera that it doesn't pay to skimp either on capacity or quality IMHO. Also remember that most cameras these days use SD cards so when you upgrade (too early to mention this?) you may find your new 12MP beastie appreciates the larger, faster chips.

Take a look at our review here:

Canon PowerShot A710 IS Review: 11. Performance: Digital Photography Review

If you examine the timing notes you'll see that the files produced are around 4MB in size. So a 512MB will hold around 125-130 and the 1GB obviously double that. It's up to you really and depends on how may pics you take on your longest trips but I have a feeling that once you get the hang of the Canon your output will increase somewhat.

There is one more consideration which is the download speed to your computer if you use one to process or store your pictures. The faster cards will transfer noticeably more rapidly whether you connect the camera or use a card reader.

Finally if you or anyone else reading is considering buying Sandisk cards off ebay my advice is don't! There is a huge problem with counterfeits there on which info is freely available.

Hope this helps

Gordon Solomon

[Oddlegs]

Buy with care, SD cards are not as robust as compact flash, for example. They also need formatting before they can be used, usually in the camera, though I suggest you do a search for best methods. 2 x 512mb cards, though slightly more expensive than 1 x 1gb is a safer way to go - the dreaded 'memory card error' message is not uncommon with SD cards.

I've used compact flash on five different Canon cams over the years and never had a card failure. The first 1gb SD I bought for an A540 Christmas gift failed after a dozen shots.

[scowlsandgrowls]

Thanks for the comments.

The storage media it seems to take is SD,SDHC and MMc .

What is compact flash and is it compatible with one of the above?

My pc has a card reader with SD and MMC denoted on the outside so I would probably not be able to use SDHC.

Friends of mine got their SD cards from a Jersey site called My memory where a IGB sandisk ultra SD now appears to be about

[Kentish]

You really only need to format a new memory card. However only ever format the card in the camera as although the pc can do it, the camera does a better job and causes no compatibility issues whereas the pc will.

[Mort]

Thanks for the comments.

The storage media it seems to take is SD,SDHC and MMc .

What is compact flash and is it compatible with one of the above?

My pc has a card reader with SD and MMC denoted on the outside so I would probably not be able to use SDHC.

Not heard of SDHC, but I'm gonna guess its 'High Capacity'. As original SD cards weren't designed to get very big. So Unless the computer is branded with it, It likely won't be compatible. Unlike CF cards, the drivers are in the reader rather than the card.

Compact Flash (CF) is a different card altogether so isn't compatible. MMC cards are getting old now, and will be a lot slower than the SD cards.

Try here for some cheap 1GB cards 1Gb SD Card

SD cards are the only cards I've ever had problems with. Now i leave it in my camera and do all the transferring via camera rather than using a card drive. I don't like plugging it into the computer directly. But I think thats just my bad experience.

[bengie]

i'd get either a 1Gb or 2Gb card and wouldn't bother with a 512Mb as it just seems pointless. I've never had a memory card of any sort fail in years of use

[landwomble]

don't buy it from the high street. get it new from ebay shipped from hong kong or similar. 16 quid gets you a highspeed 2gb sd card at the moment - why mess about with 512?

jessops will relieve you of 60-70 notes for the same thing at the moment...!

[Mort]

don't buy it from the high street. get it new from ebay shipped from hong kong or similar. 16 quid gets you a highspeed 2gb sd card at the moment - why mess about with 512?

jessops will relieve you of 60-70 notes for the same thing at the moment...!

Already expressed my opinions on Memory cards from eBay. In fact only 6-7 months ago eBay announced that (I think it was) 93% of memory cards on eBay were fakes. They had a big security announcement about it. The fake high-speed ones you'll find are barely faster than the 'normal' ones and in some cases won't work at all on picky hardware.

Memory Cards are something I always buy from reputable sources now. But I agree on avoiding the high street. A decent online shop will get you a 2gb for around 20 quid and thats guaranteed authentic.