What are my storage options for my digital camera?

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What you need to know, from the kind of user you are to current technologies.

What are my storage options?

Digital cameras store pictures on some kind of removable media, though most cameras ship with only internal memory or a low-capacity card and leave extra memory purchases to the consumer. Flash-memory cards--which come in various shapes, sizes, and capacities--are the most popular type of storage media. The number of pictures you can store on a memory card depends upon the compression settings you choose when saving the files, as well as on how an individual camera compresses. Higher compression allows you to fit more pictures on a card, although image quality will suffer somewhat.

Before you buy a camera, carefully consider the type of media that it takes, as you may own (or plan to buy) an MP3 player, PDA, or other device that takes the same kind of card. You can save a few bucks by thinking ahead.

CompactFlash Types

0.13 by 1.6 by 1.4 inches

Pros: Comes in very large capacities; fast; competitively priced

Cons: Larger than other flash memory formats

Supporting manufacturers: Canon, Fujifilm, Nikon, Olympus, Sigma, and Sony; used mainly in digital SLRs

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Hitachi Microdrive

0.2 by 1.7 by 1.4 inches

Pros: Large capacities; fast

Cons: Expensive; CompactFlash capacities have overtaken it

Supporting manufacturers: Canon, Fujifilm, Nikon, Olympus, Sigma, and Sony; used mainly in digital SLRs

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Secure Digital; Secure Digital High Capacity(SDHC)

0.06 by 0.9 by 1.3 inches

Pros: Very popular across consumer electronics devices; small; fast; wide range of capacities; competitively priced; small size permits compact devices

Cons: SDHC not compatible with old MMC or SD slots

Supporting manufacturers: Canon, Casio, Concord, DXG, HP, Kodak, Leica, Nikon, Panasonic, Pentax, and Samsung

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Memory Stick Duo; Memory Stick Duo Pro

0.8 by 1.2 by 0.1 inches

Pros: Tiny format means tinier devices

Cons: Requires bundled adapter for use in Memory Stick slots

Supporting manufacturers: Sony

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Memory Stick Pro

0.06 by 0.8 by 2.9 inches

Pros: Large capacities

Cons: Relatively long

Supporting manufacturers: Sony

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xD-Picture Card

0.06 by 0.9 by 0.8 inches

Pros: Smallest format means smaller devices

Cons: Slow at ramping up capacities to match that of of SD, CompactFlash, and Memory Stick

Supporting manufacturers: Fujifilm, Olympus

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