Even though I only have one digital camera, I have tons of memory cards for various reasons (freebies, gifts, higher capacity, higher class varieties and so on).

This Sandisk SD 512MB memory card was the first memory card I ever had (not surprising by the small capacity!), and I've found it to be a reliable and trustworthy choice. The memory card is designed for use in digital cameras, and simple slots into the memory card slot in the side to give you extra memory to store your photos. I believe it can also be used by card readers and even some printers, but I've always transferred the pictures to my computer using a Kodak Easyshare or Panasonic TZ7 camera. It's an SD card rather than an SDHC card, which as far as I know means it will work in all devices which support SD cards, but won't provide the speeds that newer SDHC cards offer.

How many photos can it store?

Obviously this depends on the size and resolution of the photos you're taking. With my old Kodak Easy Share, it did manage a few hundred pictures. The official guidelines state it can store between 150ish photos to 860 odd, depending. However, as I now have a much more demanding camera, I've found 512MB to be a bit on the small side and have since purchased two more memory cards from Amazon at 4GB and 8GB, which can hold a couple of thousand of high resolution images, and also video. You can store video on this SD card, but you won't get very long (particularly if it's HD), and it's also very slow, so I would recommend choosing a bigger capacity card with a higher class - at least 4 or 6 - for better results.

You may think that it's a bit pointless buying a memory card with a smaller capacity; however it's always useful to have spare cards (especially on holiday, if they get full, lost or damaged). I tend to keep video storage separate from photos where possible too. This would also be a good card for kids as it's quite cheap.

How fast is it?

This memory card doesn't actually display a 'class' rating on it, so I would assume it's around 2 from the speeds I get. Unless you're working with a large number of pictures or wanting to shoot video, this shouldn't be too much of a problem for the average user.

How much does it cost?

This memory card is available new from Amazon for a fairly reasonable £6.85, which does reflect its age and technological limits. Considering I've just bought an 8GB class 4 card for around £9, it doesn't offer the best value for money any more and so I would hesitate to recommend it at that price. If you can pick it up cheaply second hand though, it's always good to have back up cards.

How reliable is it?

I've had this memory card since I bought it with my first digital camera, probably about six or seven years ago. Although I haven't particularly looked after it, it's still going strong and I've never had any problems with it despite it having a 'budget' reputation. I've taken this abroad to quite a few different countries and not had any issues - it goes through the hand luggage scanner without any problems.

Overall, I would recommend this card if you need an alternative or supplement to your main memory cards, providing you can find it quite cheaply.