Digital camera memory card selector

Secure Digital

Secure Digital (SD) media is now the most common type of flash memory found in point-and-shoot digital cameras. Overall, the bulk of available SD cards will have higher transfer rates than CompactFlash (CF), though that's mostly because CF has been around longer, so there are more old products in the channel. With SD, however, the write speed of the card is far more important to ordinary consumers than with CF; many of today's snapshot cameras and hybrid camcorders can record VGA-quality MPEG-4 movies but require a high-speed (at least 67X, or 10MB/sec) SD card for the best results. A new format of SD has also emerged, SD+, which has a flip-down segment that gives the card a USB-compatible connector.

Product	Rated write speed (1X = 150KB per second)	Available capacities (part number)	The scoop
SanDisk Extreme III SD card	133X	1GB (SDSDX3-1024-902) Check prices	The current flagship of SanDisk's flash media lineup, the Extreme III SD line shares the title with Kingston for the fastest SD cards available. These should be your choice if you're planning on capturing large, uncompressed images or a long series of continuous shots. SanDisk's Extreme media family is also vibration-tested and subjected to extreme temperatures, ranging from -13 to 185 degrees Fahrenheit.
Kingston Ultimate SD card	120X	512MB (SD/512-U) Check prices 1GB (SD/1GB-U) Check prices 2GB (SD/2GB-U) Check prices	Speedwise, Kingston's Ultimate SD card should match SanDisk's Extreme III, though it doesn't offer the same temperature and vibration-proofing, not that those are important in the vast majority of situations. That said, we suggest you choose whichever is cheaper between Kingston and Corsair.
Corsair 133X SD card	133X	512MB (CMFSD133-512) Check prices 1GB (CF1GB-80-380) Check prices 2GB (CF2GB-80-380) Check prices	Speedwise, Corsair's 133X SD card should match SanDisk's Extreme III, though it doesn't offer the same temperature and vibration-proofing, not that those are important in the vast majority of situations. That said, we suggest you choose whichever is cheaper between Kingston and Corsair.
SanDisk Extreme SD card	60X	512MB (SDSDX-512-786) Check prices	SanDisk's Extreme line has been superceded in favor of the Extreme III, but you can still find them all over the Web. This card's 60X speed makes it perfect for cameras that take compressed JPG images--anything not TIFF or raw--and its lower prices match those of the high-resolution snapshot cameras that would benefit.
SanDisk Ultra II SD card	60X	512MB (SDSDH-512-901) Check prices	Though SanDisk markets the Ultra II as the high-speed alternative to its "built-tough" Extreme line, Ultra II cards actually match the speed of their Extreme counterparts. So unless you're venturing on an extreme vacation, buy whichever is cheapest.
Corsair 60X SD card	60X	256MB (CMFSD60-256) Check prices 512MB (CMFSD60-512) Check prices 1GB (CMFSD60-1GB) Check prices	Though still quite speedy and more than adequate in most photographic situations, Corsair's 60X card will likely lag behind the Extreme III a bit if you're doing a lot of TIFF or raw shooting.
Kingston Elite Pro SD card	50X	128MB (SD/128-S) Check prices 256MB (SD/256-S) Check prices 512MB (SD/512-S) Check prices 1GB (SD/1GB-S) Check prices	Corsair 40X, Lexar Platinum, Kingston Elite Pro, SimpleTech SD, Delkin eFilm Pro, and Lexar SD: as long as you're not shooting with the fastest camera around, these are all effectively the same. Flip a coin.
Corsair 40X SD card	40X	128MB (CMFSD40-128) Check prices 256MB (CMFSD40-256) Check prices 512MB (CMFSD40-512) Check prices 1GB (CMFSD40-1GB) Check prices	Corsair 40X, Lexar Platinum, Kingston Elite Pro, SimpleTech SD, Delkin eFilm Pro, and Lexar SD: as long as you're not shooting with the fastest camera around, these are all effectively the same. Flip a coin.
Lexar Platinum SD card	40X	256MB (SD256-40-231) Check prices 512MB (SD512-40-231) Check prices 1GB (SD1GB-40-231) Check prices	Corsair 40X, Lexar Platinum, Kingston Elite Pro, SimpleTech SD, Delkin eFilm Pro, and Lexar SD: as long as you're not shooting with the fastest camera around, these are all effectively the same. Flip a coin.
SimpleTech SD card (formerly known as SimpleTech ProX SD card)	33X	32MB (STI-SD/32) Check prices 64MB (STI-SD/64) Check prices 128MB (STI-SD/128) Check prices 256MB (STI-SD/256) Check prices 512MB (STI-SD/512) Check prices 1GB (STI-SD/1GB) Check prices	Corsair 40X, Lexar Platinum, Kingston Elite Pro, SimpleTech SD, Delkin eFilm Pro, and Lexar SD: as long as you're not shooting with the fastest camera around, these are all effectively the same. Flip a coin.
Lexar SD card	32X	32MB (SD032-231) Check prices 64MB (SD64-231) Check prices 128MB (SD128-231) Check prices 256MB (SD256-231) Check prices 512MB (SD512-231) Check prices 1GB (SD1GB-40-231) Check prices	Corsair 40X, Lexar Platinum, Kingston Elite Pro, SimpleTech SD, Delkin eFilm Pro, and Lexar SD: as long as you're not shooting with the fastest camera around, these are all effectively the same. Flip a coin.
Delkin eFilm Pro SD card	32X	256MB (DDSDPRO1-256) Check prices 512MB (DDSDPRO1-512) Check prices 1GB (DDSDPRO1-1GB) Check prices	Corsair 40X, Lexar Platinum, Kingston Elite Pro, SimpleTech SD, Delkin eFilm Pro, and Lexar SD: as long as you're not shooting with the fastest camera around, these are all effectively the same. Flip a coin.
Delkin eFilm SD card	25X	32MB (DDSDFLS1-32) Check prices 64MB (DDSDFLS1-64) Check prices 128MB (DDSDFLS1-128) Check prices 256MB (DDSDFLS2-256) Check prices 512MB (DDSDFLS1-512) Check prices 1GB (DDSDFLS1-1GB) Check prices	To Delkin's credit, its standard eFilm SD card isn't substantially slower than the higher-end eFilm Pro. And for an entry-level 4-megapixel or fast 5-megapixel camera, it could be a decent bet at the right price.
Kingston SD card	10X	32MB (SD/32) Check prices 64MB (SD/64) Check prices 128MB (SD/128) Check prices 256MB (SD/256) Check prices 512MB (SD/512) Check prices 1GB (SD/1GB) Check prices	Kingston's stock SD cards are functionally equivalent to Delkin's; go with what's cheap.
SanDisk SD card	N/A	64MB (SDSDB-64-A10) Check prices 128MB (SDSDJ-128) Check prices 256MB (SDSDJ-256) Check prices 512MB (SDSDB-512-A10) Check prices 1GB (SDSDB-1024-A10) Check prices 2GB (SDSDB-2048-A10) Check prices	Like Kingston's and Delkin's standard lines, SanDisk's vanilla CF cards are good for older, high-resolution or TIFF-shooting cameras.
SanDisk Shoot and Store SD card	N/A	32MB (SDSDS-32-A10) Check prices 64MB (SDSDS-64-A10) Check prices	Welcome to the bottom of the heap, cards so slow that the company doesn't even bother speccing them. The idea behind the Shoot & Store line: flash memory is so cheap that you can use it for long-term storage. At a price of around 20 to 30 cents per megabyte, who are we to argue?
Mini SD
SanDisk Mini SD	n/a	64MB (SDSDM-64-A10M) Check prices 128MB (SDSDM-128-A10M) Check prices 256MB (SDSDM-256-A10M) Check prices 512MB (SDSDM-512-A10M) Check prices 1GB (SDSDM-1024-A10M) Check prices	Mini SD cards haven't quite hit the digital imaging mainstream yet--as of this update, only the Canon Optura S1 camcorder supports it--but with an adapter, they're just plain old SD cards, albeit slow ones. Furthermore, manufacturers are making little effort to differentiate their products, so the bottom line is, buy cheap.
Kingston Mini SD	n/a	64MB (SDM/64) Check prices 128MB (SDM/128) Check prices 256MB (SDM/256) Check prices 512MB (SDM/512) Check prices 1GB (SDM/1GB) Check prices
Delkin eFilm Mini SD	n/a	128MB (DDMINISDFLS1-128) Check prices 256MB (DDMINISDFLS1-256) Check prices
Lexar Mini SD	n/a	32MB (SDM032-231) Check prices 64MB (SDM064-231) Check prices 128MB (SDM128-231) Check prices