Stupid camera or stupid memory card??

ok so i have a Nikon Coolpix L16 camera and when i dont have the memory card in.. and hit menu and hit image mode and put it on TV screen (640) it gives me 103 pics.. but when i put in the memory card that is a Lexar 1GB.. it only gives me 31 pics.. but then when i take the memory card out it gives me 103 again.. i thought the memory card was suppose to give you more pics.. HELP.. im wanting to take lots of pics soon and i cant :'(

what can i do??

maybe i should add when i got the card i would get over 300 pics.. now i only get 31..

Most likely the latter (stupid memory card). No compact camera out now can fill a 1GB card in just 31 pictures.

Do you have any pictures or videos on the memory card? To be safe, explore the contents of the card on a computer. If it appears clean then the card is most likely corrupt. Try formatting the card through the camera. Just remember that doing so will completely erase whatever is on the card so make sure there is nothing you want or want to recover from it before formatting it.

To format the memory card, insert it into the camera and enter the setup menu by hitting the "Menu" button. Scroll down to the 10th item on the list (it should say "Format card," make sure it does NOT read "Format memory") and confirm the procedure.

Try checking again to see how many pictures you can take with the memory card when the process is complete.

The procedure is outlined in the user manual.

The camera is a good one. 1GB is a nice size card, so you can shoot at your cameras highest resolution and still capture a lot of images before you will need to copy them to your computer, format the card and start fresh.

You are right, you should be able to get around 300 image files with that card.

After you copy all the image files from your camera (internal memory and card) format both and then set your camera to use the external memory.

And yes ... the camera and memory card have no intelligence, so are indeed stupid. It is up to the photographer to tell them what to do ... you are the smart one.