SanDisk 2 GB SD Memory Card ( SDSDB-2048-A11, Retail Package)

164 of 165 people found the following review helpful:
5 out of 5 stars Great for shooting video, all Kodak cameras need
By     Steven Quigley
I've been using the SanDisk standard speed SD card series for four years and have never had a problem with these inexpensive, yet reliable cards. My oldest one (a 512MB) is still used very frequently, having captured thousands of photographs. Now that the prices are getting lower and the sizes bigger, I would suggest that if you're only shooting still shots, 2GB is probably way more than you'll ever need. A 2GB card will probably hold about 900 photos depending on your camera's megapixels and JPEG compression. That's like 40+ rolls of 35mm film! However, if your camera shoots video, this card is steal since you'll never know when you need more space.

FOR KODAK OWNERS: In July 2006, I replaced a SanDisk regular SD card like this one with a SanDisk Ultra II card for my Kodak DX7590, because I was hoping that it would allow my camera to write high-quality 5MP pictures faster. But to my surprise, it timed exactly the same. So I emailed Kodak, and this was their response: "We appreciate your interest in high speed memory for your digital camera. Our cameras are designed to operate, write and read SD cards at set voltage speeds. Therefore, there is no advantage to using faster memory in Kodak cameras."

So if you use a Kodak dock or USB cable to transfer images from a Kodak camera to your computer, this standard SanDisk card is all you need...there's no advantage to paying extra for a high-speed card like the Ultra II. However, if you use a card reader to get images from the SD card to your computer, and speed is important to you, then it might be worthwhile to pay a little more for the Ultra II since read and write speeds through the card reader could be substantially faster.

How to Format a Memory Card with a Nikon D700

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Formatting your memory cards for your Nikon D700 DSLR camera is an inevitable and important procedure which can save your shots from corrupting or getting errors. Here's how to format your memory card using a Nikon D700.

Steps

1. Insert the memory card you wish to format into the Nikon D700's body using the memory card slot on its' right side. Make sure the power if OFF before you insert the card and that you place the card in correctly. The D700 will only accept CF cards, so make sure you have this type available.
2. Turn the camera on with the power switch. Only do this after you have inserted the memory card and closed the memory card slot.
3. Press and hold both the Trash and MODE buttons down for about 2 seconds. Together, these are known as the 'Format' button. The Trash button is located on the back face of the D700 body next to the Preview button, and the MODE button is located on the top of the D700 body next to the shutter button and power switch. If done correctly, the letters 'For' should appear blinking in the shutter-speed sections of both the view finder and control panel.
4. Press and hold both the Trash and MODE buttons again to format the memory card. This will delete all photographs on your memory card and format it. Do not turn of the camera or remove the memory card while the card is being formatted. If you do not want to format the memory card, simply do not press the Trash and MODE buttons the second time and wait for the blinking 'For' to disappear, which it will do after about 6 seconds.
5. Wait until the blinking 'For' disappears. The display will now show the full amount of photographs that can now be taken on the formatted card.
6. Alternatively, you can also format your memory card from the Setup Menu in the D700 LCD menus. You can access this by pressing the MENU button on the back of the D700 body, selecting the Setup Menu and pressing Format Memory Card, OK. This will format your memory card immediately.

Tips

• The Trash and MODE buttons have a red 'Format' symbol beneath them on the D700 camera body to indicate their secondary use.
• Before using a memory card for the first time in your D700, Nikon recommends formatting it. However, professional photographers format their memory cards frequently instead of simply 'erasing' images, as doing so may increase the chances of file corruption or errors in the image.

Warnings

• Make sure you have safely saved and backed-up all images you wish to keep on your memory card before formatting it.
• Observe all the usual safety precautions when formatting, inserting and extracting your memory card from the D700.

Related wikiHows

• How to Clean Your Digital Camera Sensor
• How to Replace a Worn out Digital Camera Battery
• How to Transfer Images from a Digital Camera to a Computer

Sources and Citations

• Nikon Corporation, Nikon D700 digital camera User's Manual, pages 43-44, 332, English version.
• Kenrockwell.com - D700 User Guide.

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Format a Memory Card with a Nikon D700. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

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Choosing The Right Digital Memory Card

Many of the latest devices including laptops, mobile phones, peripherals, and other home equipment have a slot or a placeholder for a certain type of digital memory card meant to add storage capabilities or expand the limitations of their internal memory. Some devices and card readers may be able to read multiple formats leaving the choice up to you on which type of digital memory card to get.

While the different types have similar storage capacities, each type has a different size and shape with varied performance ratings. Some types are more compatible with others as well. Here are the three most common types of digital memory that are widely supported in today's gadgets and electronics.

Secure Digital (SD) Cards

SD cards are the most common types of memory cards that are usually used by digital cameras and modern home multimedia players and home theatres. They are just as small as a postage stamp and have an asymmetrical design to avoid accidental insertion upside-down. Some SD cards have a write protect switch on the side that functions similarly to floppy disks. The standard models have a transfer speed of around 6 times the speed of a CD-ROM. The newer SD card models can go as high as 300 times which is approximately 45 MB per second.

Several variations of the SD card are available for use by smaller devices like cellular phones, GPS devices, and other handhelds. An adapter the size of a standard SD card can be used so the smaller versions can be read by card readers and other devices that do not support mini and micro SD cards.

MultiMediaCard (MMC)

MultiMediaCards have a similar size and shape to the SD cards, but are a bit thinner. They are also one of the older formats available and are still being supported by many devices today. They are not the recommended choice for storing large amounts of data as their transfer rates are slower compared to SD cards.

Most readers that support MMC formats support SD cards anyway so only consider getting this format if you have devices like digital cameras that solely support MMC format cards. However, if the card has the MMCplus label and the device or reader supports MMCplus formats, you can get that instead because their transfer rates are considerably faster. Like the SD cards, the MMC format has some smaller variations to cater to smaller devices.

Memory Stick (MS)

The Memory Stick format is a digital memory card format launched by Sony which is why it is the common format for most Sony branded products. Sony Memory Sticks had a long form factor, but their size was reduced with the Memory Stick PRO and succeeding models. Their newest format attains very high storage capacities, but do not have as much support by non-Sony devices. This is the memory card to get if you have lots of different Sony products that you use often.

All digital memory cards use the same technologies that flash memory use. Choosing which one to get should depend on what devices you own. The SD card is the safest choice, but make sure that all your devices support it.

How much Space is Enough for your Digital Memory Card?

The cost per gigabyte is rapidly decreasing allowing larger capacity storage devices to be released while lower capacity storage mediums see price cuts. This includes all of the popular digital memory card formats including SD, MMC, MS, xD-Picture, and many other formats being used today. Some memory cards have so high capacities that people often have a difficult time deciding how much space is enough for their needs. Getting more than enough is always good, but you can still save a lot if you get just the right amount of memory. The exact amount to get depends on what you'll use the card for.

Digital Cameras

All of the modern digital cameras support at least one digital memory card format. Pictures that are taken by the camera that are used for standard computer viewing are often small averaging around 200 kb. A 512 MB card should be capable of storing thousands of medium resolution images which is just enough for standard point-and-shoot photographers to appreciate.

However, many of the latest digital cameras are capable of taking high resolution video in addition to larger images that can go above a megabyte per picture. 1 GB or 2 GB should be good enough for the card to last awhile before the card needs to be emptied. Professional DSLR cameras that use the RAW format should have 2 GB of space as their high-res photos are very large in size.

Portable Media Players

Portable media players can playback audio and video files and may support image viewing as well. A 5-minute medium quality mp3 file weighs around 5 MB and video files can grow to be very large depending on the length of the video, the resolution and picture quality. Portable media players with smaller screens do not need much space unless more media needs to be stored. Media players that are made for audio playback require much greater amounts if thousands of audio files are to be stored. Keep in mind that digital memory cards that are above 8 GB are newer formats and will not work if the media player doesn't support it.

Mobile Phones

Mobile phones are evolving to support the same basic media formats that portable media players offer. The type of memory cards that mobile phones usually use are the smaller versions which means lower capacity compared to the ones that regular media players use. If proper compression techniques are used, a lot of different data can be squeezed in a 1 GB card. For better quality try to aim for cards capable of storing 4 GB or more. The amount of space needed depends on the primary usage as mobile phones may have built-in camera or audio playing functions.

Other Devices

Other devices like GPS devices and home theatre systems may have slots that can read digital memory cards as well. Usually they are there for temporary playback from the card rather than actual storage so lower capacities should be good unless bigger files require playback.

Remember that digital memory cards may be transferred to other devices so long as the device supports it so your needs may be greater if you plan on using your next digital memory card for a variety of different devices.