Does anyone know anything about digital cameras?

If so, how many photos can i store on a 512mb SD card using a 5.0 mega pixel camera?

It depends on the quality setting and whether you're shooting in RAW or JPEG.

Assuming you'll be shooting in JPG mode at the best quality setting I'd hazard a guess at around 350.

Cheers, i couldnt find any information at all on the internet, 350 should be plenty.

Can you reccomend any decent brands of SD card, with a good proccessing rate?

To be honest, I'd say it'll be the card hanging about waiting for the camera so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Right, cheers.

SanDisk do the best memory cards there is IMHO.

been looking on ebay, will any SD card be compatible with a canon ixus 50?

If your cam accepts SD cards then yep it ought to be fine.

http://www.crucial.com/uk/library/guides/flash/page02.asp

I just got a 512sd card from MyMemory - only £17.99, I have an Ixus 40 and it works brilliantly.

My 512mb card holds 399 pictures in a 5.1 megapixel Nikon, or 7 mins 30 secs of video.

My Ixus 50 took 240ish photos last week on a 512meg card at the absolute best quality and size the camera will do.

If you're buying new cards, buy high speed ones. Otherwise you won't be able to video at the better resolutions and the rapid fire mode will be slow.

I'm using http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000ERWG2 in mine.

"If you're buying new cards, buy high speed ones. Otherwise you won't be able to video at the better resolutions and the rapid fire mode will be slow."

Assuming of course that your camera supports the faster cards. Having said that flash memory is so cheap at the moment...

I'm making the assumption from the OP's comments that he owns a Canon Ixus 50 the same as myself. So I know it supports (and requires) high speed cards for best results.

And like you say, they're only 25 quid.

what card would you suggest Ben? Been looking at Sandisk, any good?

SanDisk basically invented the SD format. I use them and they do rock. I think their newest cards have a transfer rate of 66x or something. Although I'll be buggered if I can remember waht 1x equates to, its safe to say that even if this card achieves 80% of the quoted rate, thats pretty good (most cards fall short of their quoted rates in the real world).

Its worth noting that there are two 'types' of SD crad - Single Layer Cell (SLC) and Multi Layer Cell (MLC). MLC is cheaper to produce but is generally slower and some devices can be tetchy about using them, such as my phone although this isn't supposed to happen. SLC is usually a tad more expensive as it costs more to produce but they are far superior and you won't get any compatability problems.

Not all manufacturers state whether their product is SLC or MLC but I'm certain all San Disk are SLC and they aren't that expensive.

Worth checking if your device supports Ultra SD as these are quicker than butter off a hot teflon knife although they do cost more. Worth noting that the card I decribed above is NOT an Ultra card to the best of my recollection, so quicker may be found.

I'm using this Bytestor one at the moment:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000ERWG2

I've had no problems with it. SanDisk are a top notch make though, but you'll pay a premium on the price.