Digital Memory Cards

Digital memory cards are to digital cameras what film is to film cameras.  Digital memory cards are the medium on which your images are stored. Various cameras use various type. Most common are SD cards and flash cards. Sony cameras use memory stick cards. Be sure you know which type you need for your brand/type of camera before you go shopping to buy an extra one.

Most cameras come with a card but usually only a 32 MB card so you will very likely want to make one of your first accessory purchases an extra memory card that has more space.  Digital memory cards are now available with storage capacity of as much as 8 GB. You will probably want to buy a minimum of a 1 GB card in order to not have to use numerous cards and disrupt your shooing while you change cards. However, you may not want to go too large because then, in the case that your card became damaged or corrupted, you will lose everything where if you had 2 or 3 smaller cards, you will still have some of your images.

Your camera should come with a USB cord to use to connect the camera with your computer so that you can transfer the images from the card to the computer. Memory card readers are also available at most department stores for this purpose and many will be able to use more than one type of card so if you have more than one camera and they use different types of cards, you may want to invest in one of those as they are relatively cheap and also convenient.