Memory
aka Media Cards

Often called Digital Film, Memory or Media Cards come in a variety of formats: Compact Flash, Secure Digital, XD Memory, Micro Drive, Smart Media, Memory Stick, among others. Regardless of the type needed, these cards are used by digital cameras for the recording of one's pictures and photographs.

These also come in a variety of storage capacities. As technology improves and develops, the capacity of these cards continue to grow. My first cards had capacities of 8 and 16 megabites, but now, in 2006, cards are made that have capacities as high as 16 gigabites. The cards I use most often now range in capacity from 512 MBs to 2GBs, although I still use my smaller capacity cards from time to time, and have one 4GB card.

Although some of my digital cameras will take different types of cards, all but one can use Compact Flash, and so that is the only type I use, other than for the one that only uses SD cards, besides the fact that I believe Compact Flash are the most secure and rugged type of memory cards available.

Of course, as with most things, these various cards are made by a variety of manufacturers. I would suggest staying with well-known brand names, such as Kingston, Kodak, Lexar, Olympus, Sandisk, Sony, etc. rather than taking chances on unknown brands.

I have mostly stayed with cards made by SanDisk as my primary brand, simply because SanDisk is what I started out with and I have never had a problem with any of them. However, I do have one Kodak card (which is made by Lexar) and a Konica card which came with one camera, plus several cards from Kingston Technology and Lexar.

I'm sure I'd feel secure with other major brand names, as well, but I'm quite happy mostly staying with Kingston, Lexar, and SanDisk.

To transfer images to my computer, I have the SanDisk CF-SM card reader for CompactFlash and SmartMedia cards, model SDDR-75. This works quickly and is simpler, at least for me, than uploading directly from cameras.

I have several Hukuba four card media cases to protect my CompactFlash cards. These are hard plastic or metal (pictured right) cases that protect the cards from moisture, dust, and shock. Unused cards are left in the case face up. When I've filled a card I replace it in the case face down, making them easily identifiable.

However, I'm now changed over to the Gepe Extreme Card Safe, pictured at left, for all my larger capacity cards, which seems more secure, and coming in four colors allows for easier management.

This way, I can have different capacity or types of cards in their own color.

They come in black, blue, red, and green neon. A little more expensive than the Hakuba card holders, but I think well worth the cost.

I primarily use different brands of cards together to help with my organization. Primarily, Kingston cards are used with the D70s, Lexar with the D100, and Sandisk with the D200.

My current inventory of Compact Flash Memory/Media cards follow:

Konica 8MB Standard = 1

Sandisk 256MB Standard = 4

Lexar Platinum II 1GB = 3

Sandisk 2GB Ultra II = 4

Sandisk 16MB Standard = 1

Kingston 512MB Elite Pro = 4

Sandisk 1GB Standard = 6

Sandisk 2GB Extreme III = 2

Sandisk 64MB Standard = 1

Lexar Platinum II 512MB = 4

Sandisk 1GB Ultra II = 1

Kingston 4GB Elite Pro = 1

Sandisk 128MB Standard = 2

Sandisk 512MB Standard = 4

Sandisk 1GB Extreme III = 2

*Lexar 4GB = 0

Kingston 256MB = 4

Kingston 1GB Elite Pro = 4

Kingston 2GB Elite Pro = 1

*Sandisk 4GB Ultra II = 0

Lexar 256MB Platinum = 2

Kodak 1GB Standard = 1

Lexar Platinum II 2GB = 1

*Possible 8GB Card = 0

* Cards showing a zero number are ones I'm considering.

Plus, my current inventory of Secure Digital (SD) cards are as follow:

Canon 16MB Standard = 1

Sandisk 256MB Standard = 2

Sandisk 512MB Standard = 2

Sandisk 1GB Standard = 1

Kingston 256MB Elite Pro = 3

Kingston 512MB Elite Pro = 4

Kingston 1GB Standard =2

*Sandisk 2GB Standard = 0

To store my SD cards, I also got card holders from Hakuba and Gepe, as pictured below.

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