Compact Flash Cards and SD CardsOnce known as digital film, the compact flash card is one accessory you'll need with your digital SLR camera.Flash cards come in different sizes, the Secure Digital (SD), the memory stick and the compact flash card.Compact flash cards are rated by two integral criteria: speed performance and capacity. Memory card speed is the card's performance with regard to how quickly data can be transferred to or from it. The card speed is often stated as 12X, 40X etc (just as the speed of recordable CD's and DVD's is measured), and sometimes more specifically in megabytes per second (Mb/s). Ultra high speed transfer rates are up as high as 266Xand 300X are becoming more common. Just what do the transfer rates mean? A 1X speed will write to a card at 0.15MB per sec. A 16X speed card will write at 2.4MB per sec. and so on. The faster the transfer rate the less time you have to wait for the data to be transferred to the card. Purchase the card with the fastest transfer rate you can afford,in order to take advantage of all the features of your DSLR. It doesn't make sense to have a new camera and use a slow flash card. These are two benefits of a high-speed memory card. First, you can take more photos. Second, you can process them faster. Another benefit is that you will not need to stop and change cards. A high-speed card is important if you are photographing a fast-paced sporting event or an once-in-a-lifetime occasion. More importantly, high-speed memory cards make a huge difference in post-production work. With transfer rates and upload times significantly reduced, photographers enjoy a huge time savings. This gives photographers more time for photo editing, working on other projects, and promoting their business. Reliability is probably the most critical component for a memory card. Whether you're shooting a family wedding or taking your own vacation photos, you need to have peace of mind knowing your images are stored safely and there is no file corruption. A high-quality, high-speed memory card ensures you won't lose any images. Whether you're a budding photographer or a seasoned pro, there are many reasons for adding a high-speed memory card to your arsenal. Besides enhancing in-camera functions and greatly reducing photo transfer time, you get the added enhancements of security and memory features that make selecting a high-speed memory card an easy choice. If you're not using a speed-rated memory card, now's the time to make the switch! Capacities of compact flash cards range from 1GB to 32GB. You will take up more capacity in your flash card if you shoot raw and/or you shoot higher ISOs. It is a good idea to have two flash cards, and use one for a back up. The price of flash cards has decreased dramatically and are now very affordable. The top manufacturers for flash cards are Lexar Media and Scandisk. Lexar evens goes so far as to have recovery software; if you lose your images by accidentally erasing them, the software will recover them. If you are photographing weddings or events, I highly recommend this software.
|
To receive your FREE PHOTOGRAPHY NEWSLETTER enter your email and then click Subscribe
