What's the fastest memory card that can be used with a Canon S95 (P&S) digital camera?

Question

The S95 can apparently accommodate any of the following: SD/SDHC Memory Card, SDXC Memory Card, MultiMediaCard, MMCplus Card, HC MMCplus Card.

Which one is going to be the fastest? I really want to minimize the time to take photos.

Of those choices, I've only used/heard of Secure Digital, so if I had to just pick one at random it would be one of those. "Class 10" SD sounds like the way to go.

Bonus questions: what's the safest bet as far as...

• working in a standard/off-the-shelf card reader?
• longevity?

Answer

Plain SD cards top out at 2GB; SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) gets you between 4GB and 16GB; SDXC (Secure Digital eXtended Capacity) gets you from 32GB to 2TB. In practical terms, you're going to be using SDHC cards most of the time -- under 4GB is kind of limiting, forcing you to carry a spare or two, and anything more than 16GB is too expensive to be practical unless you're dealing with a very-high-resolution camera and recording raw data.

The speed of the card is a separate deal. It's not directly related to the capacity.

As for MMC (MultiMedia Card), it's an obsolete format. The SD family shares the same physical layout and electrical contacts, so most SD card devices can also use MMC if you have old cards lying around.

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