Sandisk is typically the card I look for although I haven't quite figured out the difference between Sandisk and Sandisk Ultra. I think that is what they call it.
I have found that the battery runs out on all my cameras before the card does. I remember that I took my first Canon Digital Elph S110 on my first trip to NYC. This was a driving trip too and the main part of it was a conference at Princeton. Incidentally Princeton has beautiful buildings......everything is like a castle. Anyway, I was taking picture after picture there and in NYC. Luckily I had two batteries so I would end up going through both of them and had to recharge them every night. In NYC I was literally going through the streets snapping pictures of the buildings while moving and was unsure what I would get. I was with a group so they would not stop each time I wanted to take a picture (another thing I hate about travelling with a group). Many of those pictures came out GREAT!!! NYC has such great architecture it is hard to go wrong with various shots.
Well for one thing, the "Ultra" cards allow the camera to record an image faster than on standard memory cards. The G9 is a very fast camera in its own right, and so I really don't see the need to use an ultra card, unless I was in a situation where very fast and rapid photo shooting was desired, such as a long day trip on a boat to take pictures of humpback whales. And since I don't plan on doing THAT anytime soon, I'm perfectly happy with my standard memory card.
Canon's Digic image processor is very fast, not only in accelerating the read/write speed of the camera to the card, but also in improving the picture's clarity, color accuracy and color balance. Camera functions such as lens focusing and zooming are also faster and more accurate. The battery life of the camera is also improved with the Digic processor.
I've been wondering what new features will be available on the G10, due to be released early this Fall. I've heard (through the grapevine) the camera will have image locking capabilites, meaning the camera will lock onto the subject, thereby producing a clear and well focused image no matter how much camera shake is present when the shutter button is depressed. I was very pleased with the new features found on the G9. In addition to the new features, it is obvious Canon was cashing in on its very popular and handsome G5 model, by reproducing the camera's good looks on the G7, which is virtually identical in looks to the G9 except for the screen size. I almost bought a G5 several years ago, but settled on the Sony F717 instead. Take a look at how similar in appearance the two cameras are to each other...
Canon Powershot G5:
Canon Powershot G9:
