Will my new 512 GB memory card work with my camera?

Last week, SanDisk, which produces memory cards for cameras, camcorders, smartphones, and other mobile devices for storing images and video, announced that one of its latest microSD SDXC memory cards would ship with 200GB of capacity. At $400, it's a pricey card, but for people who shoots thousands of photos or capture hours and hours of video, it could make sense.

The new card received a lot of attention—at least on tech blogs—but it's actually not the biggest SD (or Secure Digital) memory card on the market. SanDisk also sells a full-size (or non-micro) version of its Extreme PRO SDXC memory card that comes with 512GB of memory and costs around $600. If you have a 16-megapixel digital camera, you'd be able to store more than 90,000 photos on that card (assuming they were JPEG files at the lowest compression setting).

However, that depends on the card working in your camera—and if you have an older model, it probably won't. There are several generations of memory cards in circulation, and before you buy one, you should make sure it's compatible with your camera. Here's what you need to know.

Find the best digital camera for your needs and budget: Check our camera buying guide and Ratings.

What types of SD cards are out there? Essentially, there are three types, which I've listed in order from newest to the oldest.  

• SDXC (at the moment, from 64GBs to 512GBs of storage); prices range from about $30 to $600
• SDHC (from 4GBs to 32GBs of storage); prices range from about $7 to $120
• SD (up to 2GBs of storage); prices are less than $10

Which memory cards are compatible with your digital camera? You'll have to check your model's manual or the camera manufacturer's website to be sure, but as a rule of thumb, the newest models are compatible with all three types of cards. And cameras generally are backwards-compatible (new models will accept older cards).

• Cameras compatible with SDXC cards can also use SDHC and SD cards
• Cameras compatible with SDHC cards can also use SD cards
• Cameras compatible with SD cards can only use SD cards

For more on memory cards, check out the SD Association's website. (This is a trade group dedicated to establishing SD standards.) There's also a lot of information on SanDisk's and Lexar's website, which both manufacture memory cards.

—Terry Sullivan