Video cameras that make full use of a removable SDHC memory card are among the fastest growing markets in consumer electronics. Until just recently video cameras could just use SDHC storage cards for still images. With slightly older models, hard drives, DVD player, and video tape drives were typically the devices used to store video.

“SD” refers to Secure Digital. “HC” stands for High Capacity. Apart from Sony, all the manufacturers use a SD or SDHC storage device with their flash memory video cameras (Sony features its own exclusive design). Sandisk, a big manufacturer of flash storage cards, has even started marketing certain SD and SDHC memory cards as “video” cards.

All memory cards aren’t created equal. Regardless of whether it’s called a video card or an SDHC memory card, there are distinctions among SDHC flash memory cards you ought to be familiar with before buying one.

SDHC Memory Card Interoperability

A video camera which says it functions with SDHC memory cards always works using an SD card as well; however, it doesn’t apply the other way around. If the camcorder states it functions with SD cards, then that’s all it functions with; it cannot be utilized using a SDHC memory card. That is the exceptional case. The majority of modern video cameras perform with either.

Some of the cheap camcorders will possibly not work with all SDHC memory card sizes. Just because your camcorder is SDHC compatible does not mean it works using sizes at the higher ranges. You will have to look at the documentation to make sure it functions with 16GB SDHC class 10 or lower or 32GB SDHC class 10 and under

SDHC Memory Card Capacities

SD memory cards max out at 2GB of memory capacity. An SDHC storage device can range from 4GB to 32GB in capacity. More capacities mean you’ll be able to store more video and images. If you’ve got a high definition camcorder you will need to get an SDHC memory card. If you’ve got a standard definition video camera you could most likely make do using an SD flash memory card.

SDHC Memory Card Classes

Slow SD or SDHC flash cards probably are not able to keep up with the massive amount of data a high definition digital camcorder can feed into it. If the SDHC memory card is just too slow your camcorder might not be able to record a thing.

To better understand, an SD or SDHC flash memory card is assigned one of 4 classes to indicate its lowest speed: class 2, class 4, class 6, and class 10. The higher the class number, the faster the flash card is. The class represents the minimum number ofmegabytes per second (MBps) of the card; the rate at which it can accept and store video data. Class 4 is rated at 4 MBps, class 6 is rated at 6 MBps, etc. You should expect to pay a correspondingly higher price for a high class SDHC flash memory card.

Quite often the true speed of an SDHC flash card is higher than that of its class rating. Similarly, video camera manufacturers, along with makers of other SDHC based equipment, can design devices that need higher data transfer rates than the minimum rate indicated by the class. As a result of this it is best to consider class as a general classification for price comparison purposes, however, you should certainly check with the actual requirements of your device before buying a specific SDHC flash memory card. Don’t rely entirely on class.

Some brands list the speed of the camcorder plainly outside the box while others might stuff it in to the small print of your documentation. Wherever it is, you should consult this important specification before buying a SDHC memory card.

In case you have a standard definition camcorder, either a SD or SDHC flash card of class 2 ought to do the job. The highest quality video you can record plays nicely with this class of SDHC flash memory card.

Your best option for a high definition video camera will probably be a class 6 SDHC flash card. A class 10 SDHC memory card should do the job, depending on how tolerant to specification limits your camcorder and SDHC memory card are made. Make certain your video camera can go that speed before you pay the extra money it will cost you for a class 10 flash card.