Unless a firmware update changed things, the D50's internal formatting routine could only handle up to 2 GB SD cards. You could use the rarer 4GB SD cards if it is formatted outside the camera. When it was released in 2005, 2GB was quite a lot.

Since you're buying an SD card to mail stuff to Australia, I don't quite see why it matters whether it works on a D50: you're expecting the other side to mail the card(s) back?

The local convenience store has 64 GB cards for around $28, $3 more than 32 GB.

Oh, I was going to try one on my D50, but it doesn't matter. As long as she can get the data onto her laptop in Aus, all's well. If she can use them on her D90, then that's a bonus.



In a spare moment, I opened several other forums about the D90's use of SD cards. Finally, I got the Nikon site and the specific question picked. It showed their official page with, No longer supported kind of message in the middle of a large important-looking blank space. :ugh:

The forum folk seem to say the reason the 16Gig card is shown as not suitable in Nikon D90 bumph, is simply because Nikon have never tried that type. Numerous folk say they run 16s, so decided to go for that. 32, is getting unmanageably large for day to day use where still photos is the main usage.

Just phoned London Camera Exchange in Colchester. Without a second's hesitation, he said the 16 will work just fine. Sometimes, I like people to hesitate before answering. :hmm:

The next thing is, to format or not to format. Does one have to format specifically for computer use and then reformat in the camera?









. :( I know I edited.

No, but sometimes yes. It mainly boils down to the default format the computer chooses, and whether that's supported by the camera. A card formatted in a camera will always work in a computer. Some computer formats aren't supported in all cameras. For example, SDXC cards are preformatted with exFAT, which hasn't been licensed by all manufacturers on all models. The cards will work in SDHC-capable devices if reformatted to a compatible format, but you lose the high speed modes.

So I'd tend to format in the camera, unless I know the body can support larger cards when formatted outside the camera.