If an SDXC memory card is inserted into a computer or device that does not support the SDXC standard, you may be prompted by a message asking you to format the card. It is important you do not format the SDXC memory card in a non-compatible device because it will erase the data on the SDXC memory card and format the card for a different file system, making it incompatible with SDXC devices. Should you require to format an SDXC card, you can normally format it by using your SDXC device or by using the SD Formatter 3.0. Click here:  http://www.sdcard.org/consumers/formatter_3/eula
 

Photography is a creative, satisfying pastime. You can enhance your DSLR camera experience with a few added camera accessories that are neither difficult to use - nor expensive to buy.

A little support. You’re on holiday, sizing up that perfect sunset. It’s a photo opportunity par excellence. Even with your full-size tripod back at home, you’re not out of luck. The 'Gorillapod' Mini-Tripod is flexible enough to attach to just about anything while it supports your camera nicely. There’s room in every photographer's suitcase for one.

Get the blues. It’s a gorgeous day, with soft puffy clouds against an azure sky. But your photo may not show deliver in all its magnificence without a little help. A polarizing lens filter will enhance contrast, bringing out all the drama of nature. It will also eliminate reflections in windows and bodies of water.

You can’t beat the system. Speaking of filters, Cokin offers a unique system of filters and holders that will adapt to all your lenses. They’ll “warm up” a scene, add vivid colour selectively to a sky and much more.

Don’t forget your memory. Today’s cameras deliver better resolution than ever, but it takes more memory to store it. Luckily, the cost of high performance SD and Compact Flash cards is dropping. Be sure to include a couple of cards in your kit and you’ll always be prepared.

Drive safe. With your computer’s hard drive filling up with all those new photos, consider an external hard drive to store them. Today’s portable hard drives are affordable, and also make a good home for video and mp3 music files.

Recommended reading. Using the USB cable that came with your camera to input photos exhausts camera battery, and is S-L-O-W. If your PC or Mac doesn’t offer an integrated card slot, get an inexpensive USB card reader. It’ll load your photos fast, freeing up your card for more shooting.

Get a grip. A DSLR camera battery grip lets you add a second battery, effectively doubling capacity. Affordable models from Hahnel also make it easier to hold your camera for vertical shooting such as portraits.

Save your back. You’ve just completed a two-hour hike to the mountaintop, and realize you forgot that wide-angle lens that would capture the entire breath-taking panorama. Consider a camera bag to hold all your camera bodies, lenses, flash and other components, and spread the weight evenly and comfortably. There’s a great selection of backpack and sling pack models to choose from.

Take charge. Flashguns can burn through batteries, and rechargeable batteries are easier on the environment. Always have a spare second set of batteries charged and ready for spontaneous shooting.

Put on a show. Displaying your images is easy with an inexpensive digital photo frame. Share your memories in easy-to-program slide shows, set to music. Great photography is all about creativity and technique – but the right camera accessories certainly add to the fun. Get out there and capture the moment!

Speed is an important factor for SDHC memory cards when being used to record HD Video. High speed cards are more suited to handle the vast amounts of data being processed and recorded. Slower speed, lower specified cards can struggle and stop recording if the data being saved is supplied too quickly from the HD camcorder.



What Speed SDHC card do I need?
To help consumers purchase the correct memory card for their camcorder, manufacturers have created the class system. There are currently 5 classes of card: Class 2, Class 4, Class 6, Class 10 and Class 16.

The "Class" of the card refers to the minimum sustained data transfer rate (recording rate) of the card. A Class 2 would have a minimum sustained data transfer rate of 2MB/sec, Class 4 of 4MB/sec, Class 6 of 6MB/sec, Class 10 of 10MB/sec and a Class 16 of 16MB/sec.

Class 2 is used in basic stills cameras and is not suited to HD Camcorders. For 720p HD Video you require at least a Class 4 memory card, for Full HD 1080p Video, your camcorder will need at least a Class 6 card. Class 10 and Class 16 cards will work in all SDHC devices although many cannot accept the full benefit of it's advanced high speed data transfer rates.

Find out which HD Camcorder Memory Card is suitable for your HD Camcorder - click here -

x1 "speed" is equal to 150kb/sec data transfer, so a x10 speed memory card would be 1.5Mb/sec

SanDisk Memory Cards use the MB/sec rating on their cards and packaging, however some other manufacturers such as Lexar and Transcend have adopted the speed rating system and use x133 to rate a card that is 20Mb/sec.

By today's measure, sub 60X represents a standard speed, 60X to 133X is mid-high speed and over 133X is high speed. The chart below shows the relationship between the two figures.

Rating	Write Speed (MB/sec)
6×	0.9
10×	1.4
13×	2.0
26×	4.0
32×	4.5
40×	6.0
66×	9.0
100×	15.0
133×	19.0
150×	22.0
200×	29.0
266×	39.0
300×	44.0
400×	59.0
600×	88.0

(Figures are based on 1024kb per MB - figures are rounded up/down)

Why are different or higher speeds cards needed?
High speed memory cards become more and more useful in higher resolution cameras and camcorders, as file sizes increase data transfer becomes slower, so by using higher speed cards data transfer speeds increases. If lower speed cards are used in high megapixel cameras the file sizes are too large, meaning when you press the shutter there is a time lag between pressing the shutter and being able to take another photo. Similarly, when transferring data from the memory card to a PC or Mac, a higher speed memory card will transfer the files much quicker.

Who needs high speed memory cards?
Pro photographers and enthusiasts using professional grade cameras such as digital SLR's should use high speed memory cards of at least 133X / 20Mb/sec speed. If you own a camera with a megapixel rate above 6 million pixels, you will certainly benefit from a card with a higher speed rating. If for example, you are using a compact camera under 6 million pixels, you'll get great performance from standard cards with 60X / 9Mb/sec or more.

If you need helping choosing the correct memory card for your camera or camcorder, please take a look at our accessory search, here we have listed thousands of devices with recommended memory cards and other accessories. If you need more help please call the office.

There are a range of Grey Grad Filters available from many leading brands including Cokin, Lee and Hoya. The strength of the filters effects how much light is blocked from entering the lens, this is depicted by the code the manufacturer uses:

1 stop of light = code: ND2 / ND2X / 0.3 ND
2 stop of light = code: ND4 / ND4X / 0.6 ND
3 stop of light = code: ND8 / ND8X / 0.9 ND

Some of the Cokin Grey Grad Filters are available with a soft, subtle graduated line or a short harsh line, again ideal for different types of shot.

Neutral Density Grey Grads are also given numbers which tell you exactly how many stops of light they're going to reduce the brightness by (as described above), while with grey grads it's much more hit or miss. So if you can afford it, neutral density grads are the ones to go for, although a grey grad makes a good alternative. 

The Cokin ND Grad kit includes the NDx2, NDx4 & NDx8 graduated filters.

Based on reviews left for different retailers they work out a percentage of positive reviews. What Digital Camera then give Silver awards to retailers with 85% postive reviews and Gold awards to retailers with 90% positive reviews.

For the third year in a row PicStop have won a gold award for “Best Online Retailer of the Year” with 97% positive, the highest percentage achieved this year. Not only that but we are the outright winner polling more votes and a higher percentage that any of the other retailers, even though you might see other retailer display the “winners” logo PicStop was the outright winner again.

Here is the video of the Awards Ceremony (PicStop’s Award is at 4mins30s)

"We’d like to thank everybody that took the time to vote for us and hope to continue the good service that we are known for in 2010."

Well, just in case you don’t know what the difference is here goes:

“SanDisk” is a multinational corporation which designs and markets flash memory card products. SanDisk is US based and became a publicly traded company on NASDAQUS in 1985. SanDisk is simply a massive company with manufacturing facilities in ten locations throughout the world.

“ScanDisk” is a Microsoft utility that checks and repairs file systems and bad clusters on your PC, normally run as part of your routine hard disk maintenance.

What connects the two? ..well they sound the same and maybe you could use a Sandisk product on your PC which may also be running ScanDisk at the same time.

If you say ScanDisk, why, what makes you say it ?

Previously you could use either Fuji or Olympus cards in either a Fuji or Olympus camera. The only drawback to using a Fuji card in an Olympus camera was that the panorama function featured on many Olympus models could not be used.

It seems strange that Fuji have now discontinued their xD cards after releasing the new type M+ cards only last year. xD suffers in the fact the current maximum capacity is 2GB. This may be partly responsible for Fuji xD cards being discontinued as many new Fuji cameras support the faster SDHC (Secure Digital Higher Capacity) cards.

If you we were to lose your phone this valuable data would be lost which would mean hours of asking for family and friends telephone numbers, bluetoothing your entire music collection to your new phone.

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a way to get all of this data backed up on your computer or external hard drive where it is safe? Dynamode have answered many a moblie users prayers with their new SD/MMC Mini Micro SIM card reader.

As the name states this little gadget reads Sim cards, MiniSD cards, Micro SD cards a whole host of MMC cards allowing you to back up photos, contacts and pretty much any media that you have stored on your phone. The unit is very easy to use and comes with a software disc to install the contact management software.

My only gripe with this card reader is that there isn’t an instruction leaflet supplied with it, however as the reader is so easy to use I doubt I would look at the instructions anyway!

As a mobile phone user you’d have to ask yourself whether x2 speed is really going to make any difference and if it is actually worth scouting around the web for the “made in Japan” Micro Sd card

SDHC memory cards are the same size as an oridnary SD Card - about the size of a postage stamp. 

Secure Digital Cards have been around for nearly 10 years, SDHC Cards are a newer version developed for use with digital cameras and other such devices that not only a require a higher capacity card, but also one that comes with a performance to match. SDHC memory cards are designed for devices that are compatible with the SD 2.00 specification. Products designed exclusively to support previous SD specifications 1.0 and 1.1 will not be able to utilise SDHC cards. To check if your device is compatible with SDHC look in your device manual or on the packaging for the SDHC symbol below:

Remember, if your device accepts SDHC cards, it is backwards compatible with standard Secure Digital (SD) cards.

The growing demand for high-capacity flash memory springs partially from the increasing use of high-definition video and high-resolution digital photography. SDHC memory cards meet the challenge of these demanding products not only by providing ample storage but also by introducing a new feature - Classification of Data Transfer Speed (DTS).

Consumers can get the best performance value out of their digital products by using flash memory cards that support the device’s highest standards for data transfer speed. The SD specification 2.00 calls for cards to be classified according to the minimal sustained DTS as follows:

* Class 2: minimum sustained DTS of 2MB/sec (13x Speed)
* Class 4: minimum sustained DTS of 4MB/sec (26x Speed)
* Class 6: minimum sustained DTS of 6MB/sec (40x Speed)
* Class 10: minimum sustained DTS of 10MB/sec (68x Speed)
* Class 16: minimum sustained DTS of 16MB/sec (109x Speed)

The issue with regular SD memory cards and other cards for that matter, is that if the card has a write speed of say 6MB/Sec or 40x Speed, then it’s maximum speed is that. So the device (eg. camera) will start writing the image or data to the card at 0MB/sec and then work up to the top operating speed of 6MB/sec and then slow down again to 0MB/sec as it finishes wrting the data, thus meaning the average write speed may be around 3MB/Sec.

Therefore the SDHC format, which has a guaranteed minmum write speed of say 6MB/Sec (40x Speed) will start at this speed and may in fact have a higher top speed - like the SanDisk Extreme III Secure Digital Card - SDHC 4gb Memory Card, this is a Class 6 card -therefore having a minimum sustained write speed of 6MB/Sec - 40x Speed, but has a top speed of 20MB/Sec - 133x Speed.

In simple terms this means SDHC cards start writing data a specified speed and sustain that speed, whereas regular SD Cards start writing data at 0MB/Sec and build up to a top speed; SDHC memory cards start writing the data at a higher minimum speed.

SDHC memory cards are classified to guarantee a specific sustained DTS. This potentially saves consumers money, as flash cards are priced not only according to capacity, but also to speed. For example, if a product’s maximum DTS is 2MB/sec, spending the extra money for Class 4 or Class 6 SDHC cards would be a waste of money. Conversely, devices that can utilise the 4MB/sec or 6MB/sec DTR (Dat Transfer Rate) will perform significantly better with Class 4 or Class 6 SDHC cards, respectively. 

Secure Digital was forced to create a new specification for SDHC cards when the previous specification topped out at a capacity of 2GB. This occurred previously when SD cards hit the 512MB wall. The new 2.00 specification should last a bit longer, as it allows SDHC cards to reach a maximum capacity of 32GB. Secure Digital is so-named because of its ability to protect copyright content through Digital Rights Management or DRM. Because of this, it is a favoured flash memory format in the audiovisual industry.

Before purchasing and SD or SDHC memory card, ensure your device is compatible. Picstop have a use Product Finder, where you can check memory card compatibility. There are several card formats available on the market, and devices are proprietary. If a device manual does not list SDHC cards, or state it is “SD specification 2.0 compatible,” the device cannot utilise these cards.