SD cards question

[Somersaults]

I need an SD card for a digital camera. Can I buy any card which says its SD? I know this sounds like a stupid question! The first page of search results on Amazon are all SanDisk but there are cheaper ones later on. Can I use a cheaper one and will it work as well?

*it's

It depends on the application, but cheaper ones will work fine for most people.

If you're using a high end dSLR and burst mode a lot, then a faster SD card (class 6/class 10) will allow you to take more shots in rapid succession, or at least reduce the time before you can next start shooting.

Nope, just a bog standard point and shoot tiny little camera. Thank you :)

There are various SD card standards. If you buy a plain SD card, it will work in anything. SDHC (high capacity) will not work in older cameras and there is also a newer standard called SDXC (extended capacity), which may not be compatible.

99% of the time it will be fine. You don't need a SanDisk one.

You might also consider getting a microSD card with an SD adaptor - it'll fit what you use now, but wil also be usable in the future with a mobile phone or a newer camera when you replace this one. An SD (full size) card will work via a USB adaptor or in an SD reader for storing data from a laptop/PC but won't necessarily have any other uses (I don't think anything I own needs an SD card, but lots of things use microSD).

(Not a dig, just practical point that it can be as cheap to get a microSD with adaptor on Ebay/Amazon as a full size SD, and could be more versatile too.)

Something like this 8GB microSD for example. Here's a 4GB MicroSD with adaptor (in case camera cannot handle SDHC)