Maybe should have started new thread but since topic is connected will post here. Question not re size to buy but type of SD Card. I bought my first card for my camera having been using the 512 mb my son gave me with the camera. Instruction book recommended certain name brands and said to get one "rated for 10/MB/sec". Went to Walmart and they had Sandisk cards but could find nothing about how many MB per second so bought a iGB card. Then looked them up on internet (ok, should have done that first but didn't know there were different kinds) and discovered that there is a Sandisk Ultra II which mentions that it is 10MB/sec and I gather that this can give shorter lag between photos as well as download time which I'm not really concerned about. Am I right in this assumption and should I be buying the Ultra cards? Amazon has 1 GB ones for only $9+ which seems almost too cheap. Is there something else I should be looking for? Rather basic camera, Nikon Coolpix L6.

Luvtotravel, unless you do a lot of "continuous mode" shooting, you will not benefit from having a faster card.

Is a faster card better? Yes.
Does a faster card benefit everyone? Prolly not.
Should you go in for it? Depends. If the price difference is minor (once again, this is subjective to ones' judgment).

I usually use the combination of size, price and speed as a metric for purchase. I have purchased some pricey, high speed 1GB cards as well as "low speed" cheap 4GB cards and a few 2GB cards having average speed and "affordable" price.

Xponent - I don't do a lot of "continuous mode" shooting but I find the time between shots to be a bit slow and there are occasions where you do want to be faster. Example, I missed the best shot of my grandson blowing out the birthday candles because camera wasn't ready from the previous shot.
I don't understand the price though. I just looked at Circuit City, a major US electronic type store and their Sandisk 1 GB Ultra II was $19.99 compared to the one at Amazon.com for half that price. Silly to worry about paying too little, I guess but it bothers me that there is such a discrepancy.

A large chunk of what you pay at places like CC or BB (Besy Buy) goes towards the "cost to display".

Places like Amazon, Newegg and buy.com (to name a few) operate out of a few warehouses scattered throughout the country. You are looking at retail versus distributor prices.

GO with any reputed online e-tailer and you will not regret it. A word of caution, its rumored that recently there are a lot of "fake" Sandisk cards in the market. These are some no-name OEM cards stamped as Sandisk to demand brand-name prices.

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Thanks Kwintesenc. Having read your earlier posts I think I will now get a couple of 2GB cards, and I already have a 1GB card that I got with the camera. It's a Nikon D40x SLR and I am a prolific phototaker at any time so I'm sure I will be taking heaps of photos when in Italy. Thanks for your help.

Gold Coast Girl,

With the amount of space photos from DSLRs take up and your being a prolific photographer, I recommend investing in a portable storage device. There are many brands available and if you do a forum search you'll find a thread or two about them. I know that some people use an adapter for their iPODs. I recently bought a Wolverine 60gb PSD. I know that Xponent has also purchased, I believe, 2. That way you can reuse your cards over and over again on your trip. Just stick the card into the PSD and the photos transfer over and then you can reuse the memory card! I'm fairly certain that if you do a forum search you'll even be able to see what other Aussies have purchased.

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Places like Amazon, Newegg and buy.com (to name a few) operate out of a few warehouses scattered throughout the country. You are looking at retail versus distributor prices.

I have purchased many times from all three of these companies and have never had a single problem at all. I actually try to avoid Best Buy at all costs as I just don't like the service there. Circuit City is often overpriced but I earn gift cards there from work so sometimes I'll buy something that costs a few dollars extra because in the end it still works out cheaper because of the gift cards.
Don't be alarmed by the lower prices. Be excited! As I said before, I wish CF cards were as cheap as SD!

I went ahead and purchased 2 of the cheaper Ultra 1 GB cards from Amazon. with that and the other gb I bought and the 512 I already have, I should be able to snap away quite happily on my trip.
They, as with so many other things, are not from Amazon per se but one of the stores they offer things from. They say they do vet them and this store had many positive reviews so it should be ok. Of course I had to pay shipping and handling which brought the price up somewhat.

One problem I found with the SD cards >1GB is that most of the card readers won't read them. I was able to take the photo's off the camera by using the USB fitting so that the computer saw it as another drive.
I must get a new card reader that can read these high capacity cards.

As a novice to all this and somewhat technologically challenged, I'm not sure just how a "card reader" works. I just stick my memory card in a slot in the hard drive and it uploads to a program that came with the computer.

I'm back from my trip of "Wales and Ireland" (see my Tour Tale) and did not realize just how many pictures a 1 GB card will take (we're talking point and shoot camera). I took 650 pictures with one 1 GB card and could have taken 200+ more so I had far more memory space than I needed for the trip. Since I had another 1 GB card with me afterwards I did wonder if I should have split the pictures between them just in case something went wrong with the one I was using. However I didn't and no problems. did post one set of pictures to "Members Gallery" and will get to more eventually.
Thanks for all the camera help everyone.

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As a novice to all this and somewhat technologically challenged, I'm not sure just how a "card reader" works. I just stick my memory card in a slot in the hard drive and it uploads to a program that came with the computer.

luvtotravel,

My computer doesn't have one of those nifty slots to stick the memory card directly into the tower. So instead, I and others in the same situation, use a memory card reader. It's a device that is attached to a USB cord. You plug it into your computer's USB slot. Then you stick your memory card into the reader and transfer your pictures over that way. You can get a specific reader (mine only reads CF cards) or you can get like a 7-1 reader where it will read a bunch of different types of cards.

How many pictures your memory card can hold is determined by not only the MP your camera takes pictures at but the picture quality as well. I use a DSLR that is 8mp and I shoot in the highest quality jpeg settings. I WISH I could fit that many photos on a 1gb card

Beware the larger 4gb etc. cards are compatible with your camera before spending $ on what might look like a bargain .. ~smiles~