SDHC cards are the ideal companions for owner of digital cameras or reflexes with 10 Mpixel sensors.  Indeed, with pictures taking up to 5 MB in JPEG and sometimes 20 MB in JPEG+RAW, it’s difficult to be happy with the 2 GB maximum offered by SD cards.

Bigger capacities and new speed standards

The SDHC allows going up to 16 GB! Also, the standard is only in its beginning phase and we should soon be able to find cards with capacities of 32 GB.  Compared to the classic SD, the SDHC also adds a new classification for speed.  No more « X’s », and say hello to « Classes » of which there are three: 2, 4 and 6.  They serve in certifying minimum speeds of 2, 4 and 6 MB/s, respectively.

In practice, these classes are well respected by manufacturers.  However, as usual a few products largely stand out from the others to the point that today it seems necessary to enlarge the class system much higher, at least to Class 14.

In fact, while cards generally surpass their specification speeds by several MB/s, there are some whose writing speeds literally take off.  For example, the Class 6 PNY Optima SDHC 4 GB offers a maximum of 10.33 MB/s while the overachiever at this moment is the ATP ProMax 4 GB, also a Class 6, with no less than 15.57 MB/s when writing large files.

Be careful as SD is not SDHC compatible and the reverse is also true!

Be careful when you buy a memory card reader as not all can read the SDHC format.  Make sure this format is clearly supported because if not the card will enter into the device but it will not be recognized.  Inversely, digital cameras or car stereos that use SD format aren’t necessarily compatible with SDHC cards.   Look carefully at the technical sheets of each product!