Do I need a memory card for a digital camera right away?

I'm buying my woman a digital camera but I'm only able to afford the camera, not the memory card, right now. Do I need a memory card for it right away, or can she still use the camera without one for a couple weeks?

It depends on the camera. Most come with a few MB of memory built in but they wont hold many pictures. There could be 8, 16, 32 MB built in, and when pics are taken with the best quality setting you would probably get half the number in pics. for example 8MB will hold about 4 pics, 16 will hold about 8 pics.
Your girlfriend can take the pics and put them on CD though either at a photo lab or on a home PC, so she can delete them off her camera and take more.

Some cameras have internal memory but it won't be very big. It would be best to buy a memory card for it.

Most cameras come with a small memory card -- that should be good for a few months. But if you didn't get one you need one before you can take pictures.

she can use the memory on the camera most contain internal memory

With most cameras you can store only a small number of photos (in the teens, if your lucky). The memory card just allow much greater capacity, depending on a make and model. The booklet with the camera should clarify the matter.

Some cameras need a memory card right away, but many don't neet one because they come with an integrated memory of 16MB. It is not a lot, but it could be enought to take 50 pictures, depending of the size and quality of the pictures you want to tak (you chose that configuration in the camera menu). Many good and not so expensive cameras have internal memory. The box of the product should say it, or you can always ask at the store.

It depends on how much internal memory your camera has, the quality of the pictures that you will be taking, and how many photos you would like to keep stored on the camera. The more memory the more pictures you can take and keep in the camera. The higher the quality of the pictures means bigger the picture files and the less pictures that you can store on the camera. If you frequently remove pictures from your camera, then storing photos in the camera's memory is less of an issue.

not straight away but i would reccommend it. Because if your camera runs out of power all the files on your camera will be deleted. So it's best, but not nessessary.

You'll need a memory card. If you truly can't afford $15 for at least a 256MB (you can sometimes find 1GB for $20), lower the resolution of the camera down to 2-3MP. That way you can take more photos using interal memory or the 16MB card (Canon) and still be able to print 4x6 photos. If you go down to VGA (640x480) or 1MP, you will not be able to print them.

Check Best Buy or Circuit City flyers. They always have memory on sale.

It's really a good idea to buy a memory card when you buy the camera, because the memory card that comes free with many cameras, is usually only large enough to take a dozen or so photos. If no memory card is supplied with the camera, then she will have to wait...and if the camera has a small amount of internal memory, then she will be able to take just a few photos.

But...a couple of weeks is not too long to wait.
So, if you can't afford the card right away, give her the camera, tell her to read the manual from cover to cover (several times) play with the camera to get used to it...take a few photos (upload them to the PC or delete them and then take some more) and in no time at all the 2 weeks will be up...and she will know how to use the camera really well...and then you can give her the memory card and then she can go crazy taking as many photos as she likes.
I recommend at the very least, a 512MB-1GB card.

I just hope that she is patient...lol

Depending on the camera she may only be able to take a few photos before she fills the supplied memory at any reasonable resolution.

Chose your camera carefully. Make sure it takes SD cards which are normally MUCH cheaper than others.

And if you're wise, try to do a deal with the store selling the camera. It'll probably have lots of old 128Mb or 256Mb cards that they'll hardly be able to sell. See if they'll throw one in for free to clinch the deal. You'll still want to buy a 1Mb card in a few weeks for possibly around $20, maybe less, but one of the smaller cards would do for that length of time and is probably only worth $2 - $5 to the store owner.

ok well you have your camera .. but then theres a memory card to go into the camera.. .this saves the photo's .. you cannot take a photo with the camera and save it.. you could try taking photo's with it then running to the computer and downloading them one by one .b.ut who would dothat ?>.. try and put the memory card on laybuy. my first camera came with a little memory card wich held around 16 photo's and then i bought another one that holds many many more.. i'd say yes you wil need a memory card if yo uwant to keep and save the photos =D good luck