Almost totally new to digital photography; in fact I'm expecting my camera any day now. I've learned a little about memory chips (if that's what we call them!) but not nearly enough. I found one chart that indicated that:
a. the chip that comes with the camera is way too small,
and, b. 512 should be large enough for me in terms of storage capacity, at least for now, but,
c. I've read that in addition to size, I should be aware of speed???
Any suggestions on what to get to expand the memory capacity of my new S5?
Thanks,
Rob

We call them memory cards. There are different kinds, CF, SD are the main ones. They are specific to your camera so make sure you get the right kind.

The size depends on how you shoot, how often you want to dump the pics to a computer, and how big each file is ( ie how many MP your camera is).

Speed does matter some, but usually only for the fastest cameras, or for downloading on to computers. but for the most part its nto a big deal.


im sure other people will chime in with more

I have had a couple of cheap CF cards die in mid use. I would pay a little extra and get a named brand.

I'd vote for the cheapest Sandisk or Lexar card - 1 or 2 gigs. They're cheap enough and will give you lots of room. Speed is great, but the only thing you may see is quicker downloads to the computer. I think only the latest, fastest pro cameras will see an increase in speed when it comes to shooting.

Memory card.
Got it.
Do they :D make those things for my brain as well, or just the camera?
Sure feels like I could use one sometimes.
Thanks for the help. I'm sure my questions will be frequent and somewhat more detailed once I have the camera in hand and start to use it.
Merry Christmas, folks! And thanks again!
Rob

What camera are you getting?

i wasn't sure either until i posted and saw the post title...

canon s5

Yes, S5 Canon. I do a lot of kayaking and hope this will be a good answer to my desire for something simple, compact, and able to get me closer to some of the wildlife I typically see than my paddle will take me.

Yes, S5 Canon. I do a lot of kayaking and hope this will be a good answer to my desire for something simple, compact, and able to get me closer to some of the wildlife I typically see than my paddle will take me.

You should get close to 500 photos per gig of memory card (JPG) depending on the settings of you camera, RAW format it goes way down to as low as 50 uncompressed.

Just get name brand cards like: Scandisk, Lexmark, Canon, etc......

Good luck

I do a lot of kayaking and hope this will be a good answer to my desire for something simple, compact, and able to get me closer to some of the wildlife I typically see than my paddle will take me.

Cool - so I'm not alone? :) I don't know if you can make out what my avatar is, but it's the deck of my kayak on Lake Superior. Personally, I use an Olympus 720SW which is waterproof when I'm out and save the other gear for back on shore. The 720SW was replaced by the 790SW but it's still pretty similar.

Yes, recognized the kayak immediately! Great fun, eh?
Camera arrived today. Also picked up a 1G Sandisk.
Thanks for the help.
Rob
BTW, purchased through BuyDig. Great service so far. Less than 2 1/2 days order to delivery, and I ordered at mid-night on Sat.

Great! If you have a minute, please post about your experience with BuyDig in our Camera Dealer Forum (http://forums.photographyreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=10). Thanks!

Review Posted. Likely no surprises. Very pleased with the transaction!!

You will LOVE the S5. It will do just about everything except serve your coffee. Remember that it is NOT a waterproof camera though. Remember that too. I use 2 gig Sandisk Ultra II cards in mine. I use it as an adjunct to my XT SLR which is much larger and heavier.

One thing that has helped me on all 3 of my Canons is download the manual from the Canon web site. The books that come with the cameras are tiny wit very small print and not convenient at all. Reading it as a PDF makes it much easier and quicker plus, at least to me, it has been easier to find and understand the things I am looking for.

Welcome to the forum and we'll be watching for your wildlife pics.

I have the S3, which is very similar to the later S5. They use the SD cards, and the prices have dropped dramatically in the last year, I think because it is used in so many devices now. Just the other night I was at Circuit City looking for cards, and saw that they had a package of two Sandisk 2 GB card for $44. But... they also had the very same card individually for $15. As far as speed goes, one advantage of a faster card is less time between (non-flash) shots. But if a second, or so, between shots is acceptable, you may just be spending too much.