Digital memory

After seeing all of the awesome pictures that are posted, I decided to buy a digital camera (probably the pentax w30).  What kind of memory card will I need and how much does it cost?  They seem expensive.

Ben, for that camera, you can get a 2 GB mini-SD card for it as low as $19 on sale, not necessarily brand name disk though.

Ben, for that camera, you can get a 2 GB mini-SD card for it as low as $19 on sale, not necessarily brand name disk though.

Where is the best place to buy. 

Google is your friend. Also try ebay.

FF

Click 2gb mini sd cards for Ebay listings.

Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/s/102-9848175-2668954?ie=UTF8&tag=norcalkayakan-20&index=blended&link%5Fcode=qs&field-keywords=2gb%20mini%20sd%20card

2 GB will give you a lot of pictures, even if you set at the high quality settings. If you become interested in a 4 GB card, just be sure that the camera can handle it. Many can't.

Check the Friday Fry's ads in the Mercury.

I bought my SanDisk Ultra II 2.0 GB memory at Radio Shack for $20. Keep your eyes open for their sales (actually I kept checking the internet till I found it and then ran down to my local store to pick it up). The Big J scores again!

Janice aka "Big J"

Also consider my pentax W20 will take video so I am sure the W30 will also. And the better and faster the memory the longer video length you can get. A lot of the cheaper memory is slow so you are often reduced to only 30 second videos because the camera cannot write to the card as fast as it is shooting the movie frames. One last thing my W20 will take the 4gb card (the only way to get the pictures off the camera or memory actually is to use the camera as the card reader) most SD card readers currently being produced can not handle the 4GB cards. That said on the highest setting I can take just over one thousand pictures.

Jeff

Shooting 1000 pictures sounds tempting, but you have to be sure to use a resolution setting that will yield good quality pictures if you decide to print any. Better to shoot high and size down when emailing.

  I just bought a Scandisk 4gig for my new Optio W30, got it at best buy, listed at $49.  This particular SD card came with it's own USB "microreader"  Card works fine in the camera, and at the lowest resolution, it has 15,500 pictures   I think I'll never take that many shot ever!  On the 7m (highest quatlty), it has 3264 shots.  Even thats a huge number. 
  I checked on the video part, and it'll give me 1hr worth of video (with no pictures stored of course)

Still learning all the stuff this little camera can do.......

Troy

Ben, today's Fry's ad has the Lexar brand 2 GB micro-SD card for $23.

Fry's has the regular Patriot SD card for $20, with a $5 mail-in rebate. If you don't mind playing the rebate game, you might ask if they will sell you the micro-card for the same price. Since I'm not into shooting video yet, the Patriot card works fine for me.

Prices have taken a nose dive in the past 2 or 3 years. I used to pay $250 for a 1 MB card.

Howard

Thanks for the information Howard.  Does the Pentax W30 take the micro-SD?  I have ordered my camera, but it hasn't shipped yet.  What is the difference between Micro SD and regular SD?  Besides the physical size, of course. 

Thanks for the information Howard.  Does the Pentax W30 take the micro-SD?  I have ordered my camera, but it hasn't shipped yet.  What is the difference between Micro SD and regular SD?  Besides the physical size, of course. 

Just size, since the camera and other devices are being built smaller. If you're going to be doing video, then you might make your decision on the write speed of the cards, as suggested by Freediverca.

Micro SD?  The 4gig I got for my camera is the normal size SD (HCSD) and it came with it's own USB reader they dubbed as an "micro-reader" So I guess there are 2 physical sizes of these cards?  The W30 takes the normal sized SD!

Troy

You're right, Troy. I got my devices mixed up. The micro-SD is for my cell phone. The regular SD is for my camera and auto GPS. My bad.

Howard