Well I got my A80 3 weeks ago but I'm thinking of buying a 128 or 256 memory card and a Tripod. The card is Compact Flash type. Can I buy the cheapest one or should I watch out for some special brand? What about the tripods? What should I look out for?they all seem the same to me...

Thanx in advance

Hey there Fransisco,

Nice purchase, I bought the Canon A40 about a year ago and it has served me well.

I unfortunatly don't have a tripod, but I did buy a 256MB CF card for it....I don't think I have ever filled it. I have come close sometimes, but have yet to completly fill it. Mind you the A40 is only a 2.1MP camera, and I think the A80 is 3.2MP, so you wouldn't be able to get as many pics on a 256MB card.

I would basically look for specials on the cards, here in Canada, I can pick up a 256MB card for about $80CDN, but like I said, as of yet, I haven't been able to fill the one I have in one sitting.

If I was in your shoes with the A80, if you could afford it, I would actually go for a 512MB card, or but a 256MB now, and buy another later on down the road. With mine depending on how big the files end up, I can get 260-300 pics on the card, but again, its only a 2.1MP, with the 3.2MP of yours, you are probably looking at about 200pics max depending on size.

Also depends on what you use the camera for....I mean if you are just taking pics of your own kits in process of building....I know I will take like 4 or 5 pics at a time, and dl them to the PC, I use the most if I end up going to a model show or air show or something.

One thing you should consider if you haven't already is a battery charger and some rechargable batteries.

I always have 2 sets with mine, usually one set in the camera and a fresh set in the camera bag just in case.

Nickle Metal Hydrate are the best, unless you can get the Lithium ones, but I am not sure if you can use the Lithium ones in the camera, mine tells me not to use the Lithium ones as they can get too hot when discharging, but they may have changed that with the A80 as its a newer model.

As far as the card itself goes, size depends a lot on the resolution. If you set it to the camera's highest settings, on a 256MB card, you should get about 120 pics IIRC. Rule of thumb, with a 4MP camera, max resolution, you will get one pic/two megabytes of memory.

As far as one brand over another, until you get into pro cards or microdrives, they are all about the same. The only real difference is the read/write speed. Some of them will be higher then others. Generally the price reflects this. The Sandisk cards for example have a 256MB and a 256MB Ultra. The Ultra is faster than the standard card. This is very helpful if you are doing a lot of burst photography or want to shoot rapid succession.