From a camera point of view a SanDisk card is a very traditional way to take your pictures from your camera and transfer them onto a computer. You may hear people talk about SEHC or SEXC cards. They do the same job in different ways and to varying degrees.
I for one don’t wish to plug my camera via a lead into my desktop computer, nor do I wish to Bluetooth the files over the internet either.
With my phone I use the USB leads. Phones will be the subject for another blog post.
The original SD card is labeled as such, and the gigabyte measurement used to go up to 4 GB. The new size range SDHC cards go from 4 GB to 32 GB. The SDXC cards have 32 GB upwards of memory, and these are the cards I will be reviewing today. Most of the images you see on this site will have been taken using similar cards to these. This small card has a lot of information on it. When first seen, some of it can seem necessary/unnecessary or totally baffling, so I will explain!
You will see a code MB/s on the card. The number next to it shows the maximum read speed of the card. From a photographer’s point of view - unless you are a wildlife or sports photographer - this number does not make a great deal of difference.
The large red number on the card (the ‘GB’s) gives you how many gigabytes of storage the card contains. The higher the number, the more photos you can keep, and the greater the cost.
As you read across from the GB number you will see there is a number within a ‘U’ shape which is normally a 1 or 3. This number is specific to video shooters, as is the number next to it which is within the letter ‘C’. The letter ‘C’ can indicate class 2,4,6,8, 10. These numbers are visual references for people shooting videos and are relevant to their camera requirements. In order to understand the video aspects I would point you to a You Tuber with a memorable name - Gerald Undone - as videos are not an area I get involved in. The title of his explanatory video on YouTube is ‘The best SD card for video and what do the numbers mean?’
Key Points
Firstly, it is important to buy a card which is appropriate to the shooting capacity of your camera, for example, Jacquie has an old Olympus camera which she loves using, but it can only take up to 16GB SD cards. The camera simply does not recognise anything with a larger memory.
Secondly, we normally buy our SanDisk cards from Sainsbury’s (other supermarkets are available…). We have found cards from this source to be totally reliable whereas there is, unfortunately, a market in fake SD cards on the internet, so there is much to be said for a recognised retailer. In addition, they are competitively priced and can earn you Nectar points!
Thirdly, we don’t use cards with an overly large memory as they can take a long time to fill. In our house the card is locked when it is full and stored in a fireproof box. Last year I had a hard drive crash but, thankfully, all the images the hard drive had contained were stored in my little metal box. They will be useful as long as the technology lasts. (As an aside, Zeiss have just built a camera with its own built-in memory. I’m not sure it is something I want as it is both expensive and demands a lot of trust).
As you will have realised by now, I think it is worth considering this small but vital piece of equipment. Just remember to carry a formatted spare with you at all times when out with your camera. You never know when or if it may be needed……
Mark
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