Camcorders that make full use of a removable SDHC memory card are among the fastest expanding marketplaces in electronic products. Before recently camcorders could only use SDHC memory cards for still photographs. With older models, hard drives, DVD player, and video tape drives were typically the gadgets employed to store video recordings.

“SD” means Secure Digital. “HC” means High Capacity. Aside from Sony, all the other brands utilize a SD or SDHC storage device for their flash memory camcorders (Sony features its own exclusive design). Sandisk, a big maker of flash storage cards, has even started marketing certain SD and SDHC flash memory cards as “video” cards.

All flash cards really aren’t created equal. Regardless of whether it’s branded a video card or an SDHC memory card, there are distinctions among SDHC memory cards you ought to know about before purchasing one.

SDHC Memory Card Interoperability

A camcorder that says it works with SDHC flash memory cards always works with an SD card as well; however, it does not apply the other way around. If the video camera declares it works with SD cards, then that is all it functions with; it can’t be used with a SDHC memory card. That, however, is the exceptional case. The majority of modern camcorders perform with both.

Some of the inexpensive camcorders won’t work with all SDHC memory card capacities. Because your current video camera is SDHC compatible doesn’t suggest it works with sizes in the top capacities. You will need to look at your manual to check it works with 16GB SDHC class 10 or under or 32GB SDHC class 10 or lower

SDHC Memory Card Capacities

SD flash memory cards top out at 2GB of memory capacity. An SDHC memory card can vary from 4GB to 32GB in size. More capacity means you can hold more videos and images. If you’ve got a high definition camcorder you’ll want to get an SDHC memory card. If you’ve got a standard definition video camera you could probably get by using an SD flash memory card.

SDHC Memory Card Classes

Slow SD or SDHC memory cards are probably not able to keep up with the huge volume of data a high definition digital camcorder can feed into the flash memory card. If the SDHC flash memory card is too slow your camcorder might not be equipped to record anything at all.

To understand, an SD or SDHC flash memory card is designated one of 4 classes to show its lowest speed: classes 2, 4, 5, and 10. The higher the class, the faster the flash memory is. The class number represents the absolute minimum number ofmegabytes per second (MBps) of the flash card; the rate it can accept and store video recording data. Class 4 is rated at 4 MBps, class 6 is rated at 6 MBps, and so on. You can expect to be charged a correspondingly higher price for a high class numbered SDHC memory card.

Quite often the exact speed of a SDHC memory card is greater than that of its class rating. Likewise, video camera manufacturers, along with makers of other SDHC based gadgets, can design devices that need faster rates of speed than the minimum rate indicated by the class designation. As a result of this it is advisable to consider class general category for comparison purposes, however, you should check with the actual requirements of your device before purchasing a specific SDHC memory card. Don’t count entirely on class.

Some brands advertise the speed of the video camera plainly outside the box while others might stuff it in to the fine print of your documentation. Wherever it is, it is best to consult this essential specification before choosing a SDHC flash memory card.

If you have a standard definition video camera, either a SD or SDHC flash memory card of class 2 speed ought to do the task. The best quality video you can record plays very well using this class of SDHC memory card.

Your best bet for a high definition camcorder is going to be a class 6 SDHC flash memory card. A class 10 SDHC flash memory card should perform, depending on how tolerant to specification limitations your video camera and SDHC memory card are made. Make sure your video camera can go that speed before paying the extra money it costs for a class 10 flash memory card.