[::maroma::]

I am getting a new digital camera which uses both Secure Digital and MultiMedia type memory cards. It's my first digital camera, so I'm a bit ignorant on the differences in the flash memory cards.

I'm looking to get a large format one, and I was wondering if there is a significant advantage of one over the other. I understand that SD gets as high as 512MB, where the MM cards get to 256MB. I'm still deciding on just how large of a card I'm going to get. Could an enlightened one please fill me in on the important differences? Or point me to a site where I may find the answers?

[dracoleb]

SD has an advantage in that it can be locked to protect data and has a faster write speed. The price difference is not that much, and you may have a hard time finding MM cards just because there is not much demand for them. Personally I would get an SD, 256 should be more than enough unless you have something like a 6 Mega-pixel camera.

[::maroma::]

Originally posted by dracoleb:
SD has an advantage in that it can be locked to protect data and has a faster write speed. The price difference is not that much, and you may have a hard time finding MM cards just because there is not much demand for them. Personally I would get an SD, 256 should be more than enough unless you have something like a 6 Mega-pixel camera.

Thanks for the information. I am getting a 4 MP camera. I'm taking it to Hawaii for a week and don't want to run out of space. I'm not sure how many images (and maybe a few film clips) I could fit on a 256MB card. I will most likely have it on a high setting. But I suppose if I do run out of space, I've always got the 16MB SD card that's included.

[SplijinX]

I currently have a 4MP Minolta Dimage F100 with a 256MB SD card. In the "fine" picture quality setting at 4MP (2272 x 1704 resolution) I get about 125 photos, in "normal" picture quality at 4MP I get about 250 pictures.

Dropping it down to 3MP (1600 x 1200 res) you get about doubled the amount of photos with my camera, which is quite a few.

Not sure what you intend on using the photos for whether it be just for viewing on the computer or for printing, but if you choose the latter I highly recommend keeping it at the highest resolution and quality possible so that you can have prints up to 8"x10", otherwise they get pretty grainy.

Remeber you can always delete unwanted photos from your camera so you take the best ones home - so buy your memory card accordingly. Just make sure to have some rechargable batteries that work with your camera.

[::maroma::]

Originally posted by SplijinX:
I currently have a 4MP Minolta Dimage F100 with a 256MB SD card. In the "fine" picture quality setting at 4MP (2272 x 1704 resolution) I get about 125 photos, in "normal" picture quality at 4MP I get about 250 pictures.

Dropping it down to 3MP (1600 x 1200 res) you get about doubled the amount of photos with my camera, which is quite a few.

Not sure what you intend on using the photos for whether it be just for viewing on the computer or for printing, but if you choose the latter I highly recommend keeping it at the highest resolution and quality possible so that you can have prints up to 8"x10", otherwise they get pretty grainy.

Remeber you can always delete unwanted photos from your camera so you take the best ones home - so buy your memory card accordingly. Just make sure to have some rechargable batteries that work with your camera.

Great, thanks for the tips. I'm sure that I will get a similar number of photos from the same size card that you have. 125 photos at high res seems pretty good. I will also be taking some small video clips, so I'm sure that number will be reduced.

But yes, I will take my photos at the highest res. I usually do this, since I never really know if I'm ever going to print them. So just in case, I shoot at the highest. It looks like a 256MB card should suite me well. This trip I'm taking is probably one of the few times I'll be shooting this much. Most of the time it's just a few photos or movies and then I unload the card.

Thanks again for all the info!