DSLR memory cards are not an accessory when it comes to taking photographs, but rather they are a necessity. You cannot take photographs with a DSLR camera unless you have a compatible memory card, and memory cards are never actually included when you make the initial purchase of the camera. Because you can buy a wide variety of different memory cards, it is important to know which ones are best going to benefit you. The two basic types of memory cards that you can choose from are Compact Flash memory cards and SD memory cards. The type of camera that you buy is going to influence the memory that you need.

Compact Flash DSLR memory cards are small square-sized memory cards that are approximately half of the size of a regular credit card but around five times as thick. For many years, Compact Flash memory cards were the only type of memory card that you could use for a DSLR camera. This was quite beneficial when it came to consumers because the tough competition within the market greatly lowered the price of the memory cards, increasing their storage capacities significantly. At the time, 1 GB DSLR cards were impressive, but today these cards are also available in 64 GB versions.

Manufacturers are now moving toward DLSR cameras that are lighter and smaller, and as such, they are trying to reduce the weights of their cameras in any way possible. Compact Flash cards may not weigh a lot, but SD memory cards are significantly smaller and lighter. SD DSLR memory cards are approximately the size of postage stamps and they are nearly as thin as postage stamps as well. The biggest advantage is that many compact cameras and many other portable devices are capable of using SD cards as their source of memory, meaning that a user can use the same SD card for digital cameras, MP3 players and other devices as well.

DSLR memory cards have storage capacities that are measured in terms of megabytes. Cameras with more megapixels require more megabytes of storage space in order to store the photographs that you take. The common capacities for memory cards range from 256 MB to several gigabytes. Today's memory cards easily span to 32 GB and 64 GB depending on the needs of the photographer. Photographers can choose from numerous different memory cards to suit their needs.