Compact flash devices offer you small, removable storage solutions for your digital camera and other electronics. Your compact flash card doesn’t require batteries to retain its data, and they come in two types: CF Type I (3.3mm thick) and CF Type II (5mm thick).

Your compact flash memory card offers you greater protection of data because it doesn’t contain any moving parts, and CF cards only consume 5% of the power used by your small disk drives. Compact flash devices only weigh half an ounce, and you can use them with your portable and desktop computers, your digital camera, your PDAs, monitoring devices, slot machines, and industrial computers.

Compact flash memory is vital to you as a photographer because of its use in digital SLR cameras. You can eject compact flash memory cards from your camera and read them with a compact flash card reader or PC Type II adapter. From your compact flash card reader, you can download photos in seconds to save or print.

To make the most of your compact flash card purchase:

1. Determine you storage needs.
2. Look for the best cost.
3. Purchase your compact flash cards from a reputable dealer.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Purchase compact flash cards online

Buy compact flash cards online for the cheapest prices.

I recommend: MemorySuppliers.com is a great place for you to start. You can also buy direct from the manufacturer SanDisk. MemorySuppliers.com appears to be considerably cheaper than buying direct from SanDisk.

Take your compact flash cards to the extreme

For serious, professional photographers, consider the SanDisk Extreme(R) III CompactFlash(R).

I recommend: Prices range from $34.99 to $399.99 direct from SanDisk, but they offer you "Enhanced Super-Parallel Processing" for the fastest write speed available.

Add in a reader

Make sure that you purchase a compact flash card reader when you initially buy your compact flash memory cards. See if you can combine shipping.

I recommend: Lexar offers you not only CF readers, but pro tips, tutorials, and blogs as well. SanDisk ImageMate® Readers are backward compatible with all of your existing USB ports.

Take advantage of storage solutions

For the photographer on the go, you'll need something to hold all of your cards.

I recommend: Consider cases by Hakuba or the Power 2000 COMP-1 Aluminum Case. The Hakuba case offers you a hard plastic shell, with a shock resistant interior, while the Power 2000 COMP-1 case is a solid aluminum case.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  If extreme temperature is going to be an issue, purchase an industrial version of the CF card. Their standard operating temperature range is -40 C to +85 C.
• •  Hang on to that card. With typical usage, you can use your CF cards for 100 years with little to no depletion of data by utilizing defect management and error correction technology. If your camera won't turn on, though, a corrupt image may be hindering the camera operation. To determine the problem, remove the card and turn on your camera. If the camera won't turn on, the issue is with the camera. If it does turn on, reformat your card in your reader to erase the corrupt files.