Memory Cards [Archive] - Digital Camera Resource Page Forums

paul3624

03-29-2008, 09:22 AM

I just purchased a Canon A570 IS and need a memory card. I'm baffled by the different SD cards available. Could someone explain the difference between the basic SD card, SD High capacity card and the Ultra II high speed SD card? What are the relative advantages and disadvantages, etc.?

Thanks,

Paul

David Metsky

03-29-2008, 09:31 AM

SD and SDHC cards have the same physical format, but use different file systems to address memory. The SD cards can only be up to 2G (or 4G with a few games) and the SDHC cards can go up to 16G and beyond. They work exactly the same, and your camera can accept both. It doesn't pay (IMO) to buy anything less then 2G at this point. Since they are pretty cheap ($10-20) you can even buy two and always have a backup.

Ultra II (and Extreme III) are used by Sandisk to describe the speed of the cards. In the SD world, they meant 60x speed and 150x speed respectively. I think that translates to Class 4 and Class 6 in SDHC. Of course, they don't use the same terms to describe cards write speeds.

For your camera, anything above 60x or Class 4 won't be beneficial, but it won't hurt anything. The camera can only write out data at a certain speed and as long as the card can meet that, you'll be fine.

I generally buy memory cards from NewEgg.com, just buying the second cheapest card with the specs that match what I need. Brands aren't really very important, the cards generally all work just fine.