Help with digital camera
 

I have taken the plunge and bought the Canon S45 (4 megapixel). The Canon site says it needs Type I or II compact flash if you want to add memory. I'm heading to Russia and don't want to worry about downloading anything while there so I thought I would get a 512MB card.

Can I use any of the following and which is the better one for this camera:

Lexar 512 MB 12X CompactFlash Card (CF512-12-251) $98.95

Kingston 512 MB Type I CompactFlash Card (CF/512) $123.99

SimpleTech STI-PRO/512 ProX High-Speed 512MB CompactFlash Card $114.99

Also, I think the camera comes with a battery recharger and I'm going to buy a spare just in case. I've never brought electronic equipment to Europe before, what kind of adaptor do I need in order to use the battery recharger?

Thanks for your help with these basic questions :-)

It is worth the extra money to get a high speed card.

I took a Sandisk 512 Ultra(their fast card) and could see the difference in how quickly files were saved...even in a fine mode.

One thing to think about. You might want to get 2 256 cards or other break downs. Having everything committed to one card would make me very nervous. I can't advise about the other part of your question.

Krisit, I just got the same camera and found the Compact Flash card-256mb really cheap at Sams Club. We are going on vacation in October and opted for 2-256mb cards rather than 1-512mb card just in case one crashed.

Check to make sure that your battery charger is dual voltage, 110/220. You will however need a plug adapter. In Russia they use a two pin plug.

For my camera, a Minolta 404, I use a 128Meg card but also use a digital wallet. It is a portable hard drive, I can download from card to it, 5 gig storage capacity.

If you plan on taking many pictures you might want to consider a digital wallet or at least 2 512m cards.

Some of my pictures to Russia are at:
http://www.imagestation.com/member/?name=wu687

Dick, if you get a high speed card, does that impact the speed of your shots or the speed of the download or both? It adds another $65 or so to the cost.

Gretchen/Swalter, I was actually just thinking about maybe getting 2 256s, thanks for the suggestion. But I'm bringing a back up regular camera since the digital camera is a new toy and I don't yet know how to work it. What brand does Sam's Club carry?

Garfield, egads, yet another gadget I need to think about? I'm longing for my simple old APS Elph right about now :O(

Kristi,
A high speed card impacts how quickly the photo stores on your card....and therefore how quickly you can take the next shot.

I think it depends also on the picture quality that you select for your camera. The better the quality, the bigger the file and longer to store on the card.

I took picturs in a fine mode that made the files 2.0 to 2.5 megs in size. the faster card was a plus. For just casual pics it probably isn't worth the extra cost.

I paid about 25 extra.

Compact Flash cards are EXTREMELY reliable. I've taken literally tens of thousands of photos using CF over the past several years without one single failure.

If anything, the miniscule odds of a failure are probably increased by using smaller-capacity cards, since this means more insertions/ejections,which would increase the risk of contamination by dirt/water or the slight possibility of bending the connector pins.

Kristi-It's there house brand but I bought one first and used it and it was fine so I just bought another one. They're in the electronics area.

My suggestion of several cards was not for "crashes" so much but just out and out loss of the card. I have not heard of many "crashes"--nor have I lost any of my several small cards. Have had my digital long enough that I'm not even sure they made any much larger than 128 when I was purchasing. Extra memory is the way to go rather than the storage "wallets" in my opinion. You're gonna love digital.

A 5 gig wallet will hold as much as 40 128meg cards, todays wallets now hold 30 gig of memory. If you want to take unlimited quality photos get a wallet. The new ones now have viewing screen for editing.