A new camera with no memory card?

[godfatherI]

This may be a dumb question but we have purchased several digital cameras over the years and they always came with a memory card - usually a small one and you always wind up getting another one with a larger capacity.

A gift under our tree this year was a gorgeous Canon Rebel T3i with enough bells and whistles that will take me forever to learn! Even the large viewfiner at the back flips out! It came with the case, strap - no more 4xAA - this one has a small square rechargeable battery, but no memory card??? What the heck? We went to use it after we set the date etc and it said memory card required.

Quickly looked at the book and there was a page there that listed the contents of the package and no mention of a memory card. The card from my old Canon sure shot is a different type so we couldn't use it on the new camera.

For the price these things cost - do they no longer put in memory cards? I know they aren't expensive to buy but there should have been one with the camera - anyone know for sure? With tomorrow's Boxing Day crowds dont't think I could stomach the mobs to go to the store where it was purchased to find out. I'll also try to check on line but if anyone can let me know it would be appreciated. Hope everyone had a good Christmas Day! Thanks for your help

[AllthatFunk]

Costco has the memory card you will need for the best price. Cameras don't come with them anymore. My son got that one for his girlfriend. Great camera.

[Captain Awesome]

Most semi pro and pro cameras come with no cards - reason being is that most photographers toss the low-capacity cheap ones anyways and buy faster cards with more memory. If I was you, I'd invest some money into a good memory card, boxing day is a good opportunity for it. Get high capacity one, and faster speed too - especially if you'll be shooting larger pictures or RAW.

[Bsuds]

Bad Bad Salesperson who sells a camera and does not sell a memory card with it.

Get 2 cards so you always have a spare. Always shoot it RAW format if you want to be able to do more adjustments in a photo program. Takes a bit more time but worth it in the end. I rarely even use the flash cause I can adjust in photoshop. Flash is useless with anything over about 6' anyway.
Have fun with your new camera!

[godfatherI]

Happy Boxing Day and thank you for all your replies.

Took some time on line last night and then started reading through the user manual - and you are all absolutely right.
No image card comes with the camera. Tells you how long it's been since I purchased my little Canon Sure Shot.

This was a Xmas gift from our son as we've admired his new one (similar model).

Hopefully I can learn to use this new one before I retire!

We also had the same comment this morning when we confirmed no memory card came with it - a salesman should have known it needed a card and recommended one be purchased with the camera. I agree about a larger memory card - the standard ones with the older cameras held next to nothing. From what we found on line the memory cards for the new cameras are reasonable - no second mortgage needed to purchase!

Will check out Costco on Saturday - the crowds should be back to normal by then and I'll see what's available on line today - there are some good deals.

Thanks again for your responses. Much appreciated -

[Glacier]

Get 2 cards so you always have a spare.

I bought a second card a year ago and have yet to use the thing. I'm thinking it was a waste of money.

[Fancy]

One card is enough depending on the size.

[Captain Awesome]

Lexar Professional 64GB 400x Speed = $70 at Future Shop.

[rekabis]

Look for the class rating, as it’s a measure of the minimum read AND write speeds. Reject any card that doesn’t have one. Go for at least a class 6, minimum, preferably a class 10. Trust me, when you want to snap a few photos in quick succession, nothing frustrates more than a slow card.

[godfatherI]

Thank you Captain and Rekabis

Saw in the flyer they had three or four cards on sale at FS.
Will take the camera in with me on the weekend and pick one up as that's where our son got the camera.
That's a reasonable price for 64 gb of memory.
Will bring my book as well as they recommended SD, SDHC or SDXC and that's greek to me.
And will also ask while biting my tongue why in blazes they didn't sell him a card when he got the camera.

Cheers.

[Bsuds]

Order online and save a bundle. FS prices on memory cards is ridiculous.

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=51210&vpn ... omoid=1033

[Retrosnap]

Lexar Professional 64GB 400x Speed = $70 at Future Shop.

One thing to remember it's that bigger isn't necessarily better. Just my opinion, but speed is more important. 200X or 400X if you can afford it. With a big card you may be tempted to hold a lot of pictures on a single card. Even if you shoot RAW+JPG, a 64GB card can still hold thousands of pictures on a single chip. If you aren't in the habit of downloading those pictures off the card, just think of what you could lose if the card goes bad. It's rare, but it does happen. Again, just my opinion, but you're far better off choosing a couple of fast 8GB or 16GB cards. More than enough for most people, less risk of losing a boat load of pictures, and cheaper to replace

[godfatherI]

Lots of info - thank you.

I have the spec sheet printed from NCIX and will compare with F/S's cards when I go in. $19.95 for a class 10 is almost too good to be true, but saw lots of positive reviews on the card.

We normally download our pictures fairly quickly, but will often leave them on the memory card as well (just in case).
Card is cleaned up once we have a cd burned - then we're good to go. Memory cards can fail, hard drives can crash - been there, done that. Especially with important family photos - some are irreplaceable.

Now off to read through that thick instruction book to see what I'm getting into with this new camera.

[Captain Awesome]

NCIX are good peeps, and have good prices.

[GenuinelyInterested]

NCIX are good peeps, and have good prices.

I will second that. Best prices, and super fast delivery. I am so impressed and I do not impress very easily.