Learn How To Choose Memory

Does the size of your memory card matter? No, not to your camera, but maybe it does to you. It might be the difference between running out of memory and capturing that photograph you really want.

Before you decide what size memory card to use consider how many photographs you typically shoot at a time. The needs of an occasional shooter who captures family events will be different than a travel photographer, who will be different than a fashion magazine photographer. You also have to know the size of the file your camera will need to store your images. Smaller files obviously take less space than larger files. Some cameras will let you save RAW and JPG versions of the same image. So you have to think about your photographic style and how your camera stores pictures on its memory card.

A small camera, of a camera phone, that shoots three or four megapixels should do fine with a 128MB or 256MB memory card. If you’re shooting with a newer DSLR that captures images at 8-15MB you would be better served using 2-4GB memory cards.

You might think it’s more cost effective to buy just one card with the most capacity, say 16GB, instead of a few lower capacity cards. Well, it is more cost effective, but you risk losing a lot of photographs when your memory card fails, gets lost, or is otherwise not usable.

Using Ritz Camera as a source and Lexar as a typical medium priced CompacFlash memory card, this is what you would pay:

4GB  =  $50, or $12.50/GB
8GB  =  $71, or  $8.88/GB
16GB = $120, or  $7.50/GB

You can see there is money to be saved by buying the 16GB CompacFlash. Only you know your tolerance for this kind of risk. Personally I use four 2GB CompacFlash cards with my 8MB DSLR, each card holds over 200 RAW format images.

Now it’s your turn reader. What size memory card do you use, and how did you decide to get that size?

Photo Credit

“CompactFlash Memory”, Sam Catchesides