SanDisk has provided some sound advice to photographers who will be buying and using digital cameras during the summer holiday season and we reproduce it here for readers of Photo Review Australia.

 

December 5, 2005: SanDisk has provided some sound advice to photographers who will be buying and using digital cameras during the summer holiday season and we reproduce it here for readers of Photo Review Australia.
When purchasing memory cards, make sure you know what type of card your digital camera requires. The most popular formats are SD, Memory Stick PRO, CompactFlash and xD Picture Card. If you are planning to snap pictures on your mobile phone, the most common formats include miniSD, microSD and RS-MMC. Always buy cards from authorised dealers and don’t let price alone be the determining factor. While cards from different manufacturers may share the same format and common characteristics such as an internal controller and flash memory chip that store images, cards can be constructed differently and the quality of component materials can vary widely.
Most digital cameras come with a low capacity memory card and an increasing number are sold without cards. If your camera has a 4- or 5-megapixel sensor, you should consider purchasing a 1-gigabyte card which will give you around 400 JPEG images at 5 megapixel resolution. Consider purchasing a flash memory card which has a faster write speed to avoid delays when data is written to the card. This is particularly important if you want to capture moving subjects such as children or sports action. A high-speed card also allows you to transfer images, music, etc. to a computer via a card reader much quicker.
Use a card reader to transfer images, especially if your household has multiple devices with different card formats. Avoid situations that can corrupt your cards, such as depleted batteries high temperatures and water exposure. If a card is exposed to water or a washing cycle, let the card dry for a couple of days – you can even use a hair dryer with a non-heat blower. Chances are the card might still function. Consider testing a completely dry card first in a card reader. If the battery is too low, you could lose images during the transfer. Never remove a card while a device or computer is writing to it or while formatting the card.
When travelling with memory cards, you can put full or empty flash cards in checked baggage or carry-ons with little risk of damage from airport scanners. If you have deleted images or reformatted a memory flash card by accident, the images usually remain stored on the card in an inaccessible memory location. Using software programs available on the Internet, it is possible to recover “lost” files including images. Before you drop your card at a professional photo processor or use a self-service kiosk, back your images on a PC or save this storage medium like a CD-ROM or USB flash drive. That way, if you card is lost or damaged, you will have the pictures backed up safely.