We’ve pulled together some specs for your perusal and consideration, with the Transcend Ultimate Class 10 16GB rated overall best buy in our Top 10…

Click here to read Wikipedia’s illuminative article covering SD cards, their higher capacity SDHC, Class speeds and future developments.

If you’re planning to shoot lots of video, or prefer to use a single card e.g. while on holiday, here are the 32GB beasts:

We’ve previously tended to buy the top performing, name brands such as Sandisk or Lexar, but the prices of the Transcend cards are difficult to ignore. Perhaps worth buying one of each to compare?

SDXC

As mentioned in the above Wikipedia article, these are now available. Potentially providing faster speeds and already with higher storage capacity, these are currently premium priced and supported on only the newest cameras. Here are a selection of our recommendations:

What’s good:

• Hugely versatile zoom from 24mm very wide angle up to massive telephoto range of 840mm
• Very effective Image Stabilisation means you can take handheld photos at long telephoto zoom, with few worries about camera shake causing blurring.
• A boon to the HD video capability is the Ultrasonic motor driving the zoom, that allows you to zoom in and out, without sound cutting out and with nearly silent operation.
• Photo quality is great.

What’s disappointing:

• A printed manual isn’t included and if you’re one of those people who like to study it, short of printing it from the disk or limiting yourself to viewing on the computer screen, you can obtain a printed copy from OTC.
• Lack of Raw facility

Click here and here to view a couple of Youtube hosted reviews.

Our review rating – 91% – Highly Recommended

Memory cards - This camera is another taking advantage of the new SDXC cards, which are potentially both super fast and providing huge storage capacity.  Click here to view our list of recommended cards, from fast SDHCs, up to huge capacity SDXCs.

The SX30 is a top quality megazoom camera with excellent specifications

What’s good:

• Hugely versatile zoom from 28mm wide angle up to massive telephoto range of 840mm
• Very effective Image Stabilisation means you can take handheld photos at long telephoto zoom, with few worries about camera shake causing blurring.
• A boon to the HD video capability is the Ultrasonic motor driving the zoom, that allows you to zoom in and out, without sound cutting out and with nearly silent operation.
• Photo quality is great.

What’s disappointing:

• A printed manual isn’t included and if you’re one of those people who like to study it, short of printing it from the disk or limiting yourself to viewing on the computer screen, you can obtain a printed copy from OTC.
• Lack of Raw facility

Click here and here to view a couple of Youtube hosted reviews.

Our review rating – 84% - Recommended

Memory cards - This camera is among the first to take advantage of the new SDXC cards, which are potentially both super fast and providing huge storage capacity.  Click here to view our list of recommended cards, from fast SDHCs, up to huge capacity SDXCs.

The G12 is a true bridge, with near compact size, yet pretty good specification and reasonable features, including excellent flash range. This an upgrade to the G11, with the addition of 720p HD video being the most significant addition.

What’s good:

• Excellent image quality

What’s disappointing:

• Limited telephoto zoom

Our review rating – 60%

Memory cards - This camera is among the first to take advantage of the new SDXC cards, which are potentially both super fast and providing huge storage capacity.  Click here to view our list of recommended cards, from fast SDHCs, up to huge capacity SDXCs.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ45 is a very well specified megazoom bridge camera.

What’s good about the FZ45:

• Very versatile zoom from 25mm wide angle up to good telephoto range of 600mm
• Excellent flash range

What’s disappointing:

• Continuous shooting performance below par

Our review rating – 90% – Highly Recommended

Click here to view Panasonic’s news release or here for a YouTube hosted video walkthrough.

Memory cards - This camera is among the first to take advantage of the new SDXC cards, which are potentially both super fast and providing huge storage capacity.  Click here to view our list of recommended cards, from fast SDHCs, up to huge capacity SDXCs.

A megazoom, well featured, digital bridge camera, the Olympus SP-800 UZ (ultrazoom) possesses good specifications and at a reasonable price.

What’s good about the SP800:

• Versatile zoom takes telephoto range up to a massive 840mm equivalent
• Fantastic flash range

What’s disappointing:

• Limited battery life (and not AA batteries)
• Focus issues at long focal lengths or in dim light

Our review rating – 62%

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ100 is a very well specified megazoom bridge camera.

What’s good about the FZ100:

• Astonishingly fast burst mode
• Very versatile zoom from 25mm wide angle up to good telephoto range of 600mm
• Excellent flash range

What’s disappointing:

• Some image noise above ISO 400

Our review rating – 92% – Highly Recommended

Click here to view Panasonic’s news release, here for full specs or here for a YouTube hosted video walkthrough.

Memory cards - This camera is among the first to take advantage of the new SDXC cards, which are potentially both super fast and providing huge storage capacity.  Click here to view our list of recommended cards, from fast SDHCs, up to huge capacity SDXCs.

The Fuji HS10 is a superbly specified digital bridge camera, including a mega zoom range.

What’s good:

• Very W  i  d  e  angle at lower range of zoom
• Excellent flash range
• Versatile zoom takes telephoto range up to a massive 720mm equivalent
• Very fast burst mode

What’s disappointing:

• Image quality is less than perfect, across all ISO range
• On the heavy side

Our review rating – 95% – Highly Recommended

A megazoom, well featured, digital bridge camera, the Pentax Optio X90 possesses good specifications and at a very good price.

What’s good:

• Good wide angle at lower range of zoom
• Versatile zoom takes telephoto range up to a massive 676mm equivalent
• Fantastic flash range

What’s disappointing:

• Above average amounts of noise at all ISO settings
• Optical zoom can’t be used during video shooting

Our review rating – 71% – Recommended

The Fujifilm FinePix S1600 is superb value for a pretty well specified superzoom camera.

What’s good about the Fuji 1600:

• Excellent flash range
• Lightweight

What’s disappointing:

• Macro focus distance
• 15x zoom slightly limited in a 2010 release

Our review rating – 67% 

View YouTube hosted walkthrough: