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Why have Olympus abandoned xD cards for dSLR?

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#11

Apr 26, 2005 12:55 AM by JimC

dnas wrote:
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JimC wrote:
Quote:
FWIW, I've seen one test of a Fuji S3 Pro, where xD Picturecard outperformed CompactFlash (~ 3.8 mb/second for the xD Picturecard, and around 2.1 mb/second for the fastest CompactFlash tested).

But, that's because the interface was optimized for xD Picturecard, since the same CompactFlash cardstested in this Fuji were significantly faster in some other camera models.

If the CF card is 2.1Mb/s, then it is a 14x speed, and the xD is a 25x speed.

CF comes in speeds all the way up to 133x, or about 20Mb/s. Even the cheaper ones are 60x these days.
The CompactFlash cards that tested at 2.1mb/second were 133x cards (Sandisk Extreme III cards rated at ~ 20mb/second by the manufacturer).

It's the speed of the camera's interface to the cards that is the primary limiting factor.

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#12

May 26, 2005 11:42 AM by wingnut1

CF has been an enduring success. In the wake of smaller cards (SD, XD, MMC, MS etc...) CF managed to hold them all off for years as other formats came and went. Fast speeds,fairly wide compatability (with few problems)and relatively rugged construction (I never liked exposed contacts) probably helped. With the huge demand for the small digital cameras, I suppose it's inevitable that a small card will be favoured by manufacturers. SD seems to hold most promise at the moment, even the Nikon D50 is the first Nikon DSLR to break with the CF tradition.
Cards with a smaller physical size are probably undesirable, there has to be a point where smaller is too small for even the tiniest fingers.

If the current card wars ever has a winner, I'd hazard a guess that it will be the gold medal for SD and second place silver medal for CF.

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