Memory cards
Just as cameras used to capture and store their images of film, so digital cameras store their images to a memory card.
Most digital cameras come with a memory card (often one with 16 MB or 32 MB of memory). However, once you start clicking, you will be surprised how quickly the card fills up, so it is a good idea to have a 'bigger' card which allows you to stored some 50 or 100 high-quality images; something with 128 or 256 MB of memory would do.
One thing that you can check out is whether or not your computer has a slot for a memory card, and if so, which type of memory card does it take? To a degree, it would make sense to get a camera which uses the same type of card that your computer can handle. The advantage of this is that you do not then need to connect the camera to the computer, but merely swap the memory card between the two.
There are a number of different types of card and it is important to know which type of card your camera (and computer) takes, and if there is a limit to the amount of memory that it can handle. Some of the most common types of card are compact flash, secure digital, memory sticks and xD picture cards. They sell for different amounts, depending on the speed they can handle the information that the camera sends to them.
With cameras using compact flash cards, you should know that there are two forms of card – Type 1 and Type 2. Type 2 cards (which are fatter than Type1) can hold more information, but these cards will not fit all cameras that use compact flash as the card slot is not always big enough.
