Know the differences among SD, SDHC and SDXC

The process of acquiring a camera always starts with a long period of selection in which we compare different models, brands, prices and endless lists of techniques and other characteristics. However, when finally we decided to buy a particular model, we are assaulted by another big question that what kind of memory card we should have that will fit the camera in the best way. There are different kinds of cards available in the market, and we will explain the differences among SD, SDHC and SDXC, and then you can investigate what is the best suited to each device to avoiding headaches.

The first thing to know is what are those initials, impossible to pronounce, and above all, remember: SD means Secure Digital, SDHC stands for Secure Digital High Capacity and finally, definitely the most complicated is SDXC, meaning Secure Digital eXtended Capacity. Among these three types there is no difference in quality or safety level, but rather at the level of their ability and speed as well as its price. The SD cover a range from 2GB, however the SDHC have a minimum capacity of 4GB. The cards SDXC usually have much more capacity (up to 126GB), however their price rises considerably.

Once solved the problem of acronyms and their storage capacities, now we turn to its size. We will also talk about miniSD or microSD. These cards, as their name suggests, are smaller than the SD standard. Normally often used to increase the internal storage capacity of smartphones. Since we focus in this article on the cameras, greeting normal size will be best suited to these gadgets, especially in the DSLR or SLR cameras. The only thing that varies between them is their size and not their performance, in fact if we buy a microSD adapter may use with DSLR camera without any problems.

The thing is a bit more complicated when you look at the kinds of SD card (we speak only of the SD and not the SDHC or SDXC at the moment). The class is shown on the card as number that can vary, like 2, 4, 6 or 10. These “classes” correspond to the speed of the card to read and save images from our camera, so those numbers mean the number of megabytes per second that the card can save and you can again be ready for another shot. You can also say that these classes indicates the speed at which the files will store them in a computer. So if we want to shoot in burst mode, you need the camera to respond quickly. In this case, you must  opt a card that runs between 6MB/sec to 10MB/sec.

For its part, the speed of SDHC and SDXC cards is governed by a more modern standard is known under the acronym of UHS. This technology UHS makes figures reach speeds up to 104 MB / second. However, there are also different classes tailored to all needs. If we mark card UHS-I this means that the speed of the card will be of minimum 10MB/sec.

We should also bear in mind thwe should always check what type of device we have got, and check whether our camera supports SDHC and SDXC formats or not, because if they are not, we can not use these two cards in it. You can also check if your camera is UHS compatible or not. This is useful to know that most of the devices support SD cards while SDHC only work with SDHC and SDXC devices, and finally, the SDXC cards work only with SDXC devices. So look at the supported formats of the camera is the first step before choosing the type of cards.