| All digital cameras have some form of built-in memory to store photos. In many cases, the memory medium that the camera uses is a card or disk that you can remove from the camera. Using removable media to store image data has a couple of advantages over fixed, built-in memory: - You can swap out a full memory card (sometimes referred to as a digital film card) or disk and insert another to increase the number of digital photos you can take without erasing some from memory. It's like putting a fresh roll of film in a conventional camera.
- You can use the removable memory media to transfer images to your computer for processing and printing. All you need is a suitable disk drive or card reader on your computer, and you can read the image files directly from the disk or memory card without attaching the camera to the computer.
The following points give you some insight on inserting, removing, and accessing files on cards: - To remove a memory card of any type from your digital camera (or computer), just press the eject button next to the card slot (for some kinds of cards) to pop the card loose from its connection. Then you can grab the end of the card and pull it out of its slot.
 | - To insert a memory card into a laptop computer, a card reader, or digital camera, insert the card connector-edge first into the slot. Slide the card all the way in, and then press it firmly but gently to seat the connectors along the edge of the card. If the card won't go all the way into the slot, you've probably got it in upside down. Flip it over and try again.
|
- After you insert the memory card into your computer, you should be able to access it as a virtual disk drive. You can use your normal file-management techniques to copy and move image files from the PC card to your computer's hard drive.
Your operating system will usually recognize your digital memory card in a card reader or when you connect your camera, and will display a dialog box. You can choose one of the actions available, including copying the files to your computer and erasing them from the memory card when finished. CompactFlash cards At about 1 1/2-inches square, a CompactFlash card isn't much larger than a postage stamp, and it's just a little thicker than a credit card. Still, there's room for two rows of holes for connector pins along one edge. All CompactFlash cards are physically the same size, but they can have various memory capacities ranging from 4MB to 4GB or more. Card-reader attachments are available for your computer. These attachments enable you to read and manipulate the contents of a CompactFlash card. The card reader is usually a small, external device that attaches to your computer via a FireWire, USB, or serial cable. Sometimes, a card reader for your computer comes with the camera. If not, you can purchase one from most computer supply stores. PC card adapters are also available. The adapters enable you to access your CompactFlash cards via a PC card slot in a laptop computer. Secure Digital/MMC cards Secure Digital cards and the identically sized but less flexible MultiMediaCard (MMC) are similar to CompactFlash. One key difference between MMC and SD cards is that the Secure Digital version allows encryption of the files to prevent tampering. They also offer higher performance and thus are preferred over MMC cards for digital cameras. Using a Secure Digital card for image storage is essentially the same as using a CompactFlash card except that the card itself is slightly smaller (roughly 7/8 x 1 1/4 inches), which means that the sockets in the camera and the card reader must be made to fit the Secure Digital card. Memory Stick The Sony Memory Stick is functionally similar to the CompactFlash and Secure Digital cards. Sony uses the Memory Stick in several of its high-end digital cameras and also in digital video cameras, music players, and so on, which means that you can move your Memory Sticks around between devices and use them for storing pictures, music, and other files. The Memory Stick is about the size of a stick of chewing gum and comes in capacities of 32–128MB. The newer Memory Stick Pro offers higher capacity but is not backward-compatible with earlier devices that used the original Memory Stick. There is also the half-sized Memory Stick Pro Duo. Several models of Sony laptop computers include a built-in Memory Stick slot so that you can use the laptop computer to access the contents of your Memory Sticks. You can also use a card reader similar to the card readers for CompactFlash and SmartMedia cards to access Memory Sticks from your desktop computer. The card reader is usually supplied with your camera and attaches to your computer via USB cable. | The Memory Stick includes an Erasure Prevention Switch that lets you protect the contents from accidental erasure. Make sure the switch is in the Off position when you want to record images onto the stick in your camera or erase files in the card reader. |
CompactFlash cards, Secure Digital cards, Memory Sticks, and the like are often called digital film because inserting a memory card into a digital camera is analogous to loading a conventional camera with a fresh roll of film. |