Which memory card to use for digital cameras

These days digital camera is a household gadget and more like a basic necessity. So, everyone ought to have a digital camera. When we are buying we invest so much time in researching which camera suits our requirement the best. Some go for DSLR, some go for big point-and-shoot, some prefer a compact one. I am sure that the decision is not easy as we are spoiled with choice. This article adds more to your camera buying woes.

Most people do not care which memory card they buy for the camera. If you become stingy and buy the cheapest one for a given capacity(say 4GB), don't blame anyone else other than you if your camera is very slow at taking pictures. Basically, I want to make the point that the memory card plays a role in how fast you can click pictures in your camera. Also don't get the impression that memory card is the only factor. You camera could also be the reason.

These days the digital cameras can shoot at higher and higher megapixel densities. Did you ever wonder what this megapixel rating means ? A higher megapixel camera means that the camera stores lot more information than its poorer cousin which has lesser megapixel rating. This extra information will be useful if we want to have large prints. I do not want to digress but I want to advice you not to run behind higher and higher megapixels. An 8MP camera can store enough information to print the image on an A4 sheet. How often do we even print ?

Anyway, coming to our main topic...In a higher megapixel camera, large image files are created for the pictures. After clicking a picture, its corresponding image file should be written to the memory card before the next picture can be taken. So, your memory card also should be fast so that time taken to write the image file is less. The memory cards are rated as class-1, class-6, class-10 depending on the speed. for e.g. class-10 means that it can write at a guaranteed speed of 10MB per sec. Look for which class memory card you are buying and if it suits your needs and your pocket can bear it.

Not every photographer needs a fast memory card. It depends on the type of photography he wants to do. For something like bird/wildlife photography the speed at which you can click is very important as you may miss the best moment in a split second. And these kind of photographers tend you use the camera in burst mode where the camera may shoot between 3-8 frames per second. In these kind of scenarios the role played by the memory cards takes a very prominent role.

I bought a DSLR camera and did good enough research on the memory cards also. This link is a nice benchmark of different memory cards. Finally, I bought a Transcend class-6 memory card.