Honey, did you remember to buy film? Is there film in the camera? Have we used all the film? Well, those days of questions are pretty much in the past. Thanks to the digital revolution, digital memory cards are the digital equivalent of film. These small removable memory cards are what digital cameras use to store the photos they have taken. Most of these memory cards measured in gigabytes (GB) and still popular, the megabytes (MB) digital memory cards are still available. These digital memory cards can store hundreds of digital images depending upon the format. Here is the beauty of a digital memory card. When the card is full, you have the option to either delete images from the card or transfer them to a computer or storage device to free up space for additional pictures. Obviously, you aren’t buying more film, just storing them on your PC. With the cost of storage continuously dropping and the size of hard drives increasing, you could store thousands of photos on your home computer.
Digital Formats
Let’s discuss the formats of digital memory cards. There are several memory card formats available, including CompactFlash, Secure Digital (SD), mini-SD, Memory Stick, SmartMedia, MultiMedia Card (MMC), and xD Picture Card. With all these types of digital storage, you could get very confused. Your digital camera requirements will dictate the format that you use. With the exception of a few cameras that can accommodate two types of storage device, digital cameras requires a specific memory card format and unfortunately are not compatible with any other type of memory cards. Maybe someday there will be a digital standard for digital cameras. That would sure make life easier. Remember your choice, 8-track, 4 –track, cassette now there is CD’s and DVD’s. It could happen!