Is XD a flakey system?

Yes it's definately flaky. I have used CF, Memorystick, and SD and never had a problem. Ever since switching to xD with my F30 a month ago I have had nothing but problems.

I just read in the manual that you shouldn't delete anything off the card except using the camera to do it. Maybe that was my problem, letting iPhoto delete the pictures. If this is the case though, then it is a 'flakey' setup and Fuji needs to get rid of it.

I am a newbie to this forum because I just picked up an F30 for a pocket camera. I am a Nikon DSLR and SLR user and frankly just don't like their pocket camera offerings.

So far I like the F30 but do have a problem reading the cards with my Lexar 7 in 1 reader. It is not a user error. The OS recognizes the "drive" including the folders and files in them. It even tries to copy the files but eventually times out. I have managed to successfully copy a few files a couple of times but never an entire card and never with Photo Mechanic, my preferred program for transferring files.

I'm not here to complain about that. I just want to know what readers do work. I don't want to drain my camera's battery or have to plug it in every time I upload a card to my computer. I also want to use Photo Mechanic to load my files so I don't have a separate workflow for this specific camera.
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Ed C.

Hi Ed

I think the concensus is that that the Olympus Mausb-300 works well, maybe the best. I have had no problems at all with it, but I have only used it to transfer images from camera to computer. I have taken at face value dire warnings that the camera or card can get confused if you bugger about with strange files, or additions or deletions.

Got mine from Amazon (UK) for 7 quid. A rare bargain.

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Woadrage
Just when I thought I was winning...

I've been using the SanDisk Imagemate xD/SM reader on OS X without any problems.

However, I only have older xD cards up to 512 MB. I haven't tried the newer type M or H larger capacity cards which may be the issue for you.

Cubensis said:

My
opinion (that is what this thread is partly about right?) is that
if you are buying a camera because of the memory type it uses...
and excluding the purchase of another camera... then your main
concern isn't photography...

Click to expand...

I asked it another thread before, I'll ask it again...

So given what you've said, would you still buy an F30, S6500fd, S9000 or even an S11000 if these cams used SMART MEDIA cards?

Yup, SM cards, the ones that maxxed out at 128(?)MB. The type of card a camera uses shouldn't matter right?

Just curious...

-Charlie

I didn't say I think that xD are a good media type. IMHO xD is the worst card (except SM) that was ever developed. But what should I do? The F30 is IMHO far better than any of it's competitors, so I bought a new card reader ;-)

Regards,
Andi
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http://www.pbase.com/anbuccos
pbase supporter

SM is not available in sizes that make any sense with a modern camera, xD is ;-)

Regards,
Andi

--
http://www.pbase.com/anbuccos
pbase supporter

I'm a published photographer, with a lot of shows. I shoot sports professionally. I know what I'm doing.

The card reader situation for xD sucks. If there is only one that is recommended, that is a pathetic situation.

I found it funny that Phil had similar thoughts as I do on XD cards:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0607/06071302fujifilms6500fd.asp

"Phil: A really interesting camera on paper, I just wonder how many more they could sell if it had a Compact Flash or Secure Digital (SD) slot."

My thoughts exactly as well.

When XD first came out I used to like it a lot. It was great, specially compared with it's predecessor "Smart" Media. Several years later, and after owning other cameras that use SD, CF the novelty (and promise) of XD has simply run out. Gone.

I just don't subscribe to the "memory-card-doesn't-matter" school of thought. Would these folks buy an S6500fd, F20, F30, etc. if they used... 3.5" diskettes a' la Mavica? Woohoo floppy disks!

A camera's choice of memory cards doesn't matter... yeah, right!

-Charlie

Well it's back. I still getting the error when importing photos into iPhoto. I have only deleted photos using the camera and I only import using the camera and USB cable. I guess my next step will be to exchange the xD card for another and see if that helps.

Screenshot of error

OK, so I purchased a 1 GB xD type "M" card last week. My S9000 is gone for repair, so I decided to use my S5100 as a secondary camera on a project this last weekend. Information on the card packaging indicated that the 5100 might need a firmware upgrade to use the card. I checked the Fuji website, no firmware upgrade available. Inserted the card into the camera. No problems, nearly filled it with raw images. When I got home, I plugged the card into my old Sandisk 12 in 1 card reader knowing that it probably wouldn't work based on what I have been reading. The card reader recognized the card and downloaded the images. It was a little slow, but nevertheless I was able to download the images. Don't know what I did wrong, because everything worked without a problem.

Hi Jim,

Obviously you failed to heed the many warnings of the naysayers and did not believe that xD was a "flakey system" !! I have never had any xD problems either, so I guess that makes me another exception.
Clyde

Clyde Atkinson said:

Hi Jim,
Obviously you failed to heed the many warnings of the naysayers and
did not believe that xD was a "flakey system" !! I have never had
any xD problems either, so I guess that makes me another exception.
Clyde

Click to expand...

I don't think that you get the point. "Flakey" does not mean that it does not work, in this case it means that it is "unnecessarily unusual". One of my best friends absolutely loved my 5100. He had several CF and SD cards already though so he ended up getting a panasonic FZ5. A nice camera that he is quite happy with. Fuji really did make his choice easy for him. You have to add over a hundred bucks onto the price if you want several gigs of storage. Unless you are coming from a previous olympus or Fuji, you would not have a handful of XD cards laying around... or even one of them.

When my Mom went shopping for a new camera, she would only look at models that would hold her CF card. She had a 512 card, well more memory than she'll ever need, and she wasn't going to buy another card when there are so many brands and models available to the format.

ANY AVERAGE CONSUMER that already has a card and is out shopping for a new camera is likely to have a little voice in their head saying, "but that one uses the cards I already have... one less purchase." It won't be the only factor that they use to choose, but it will be one of them. Very few of the consumers out there shopping for cameras actually go to a site like this and check it out beforehand. They don't understand the subtle differences that the in-camera proccessing can make, the difference in a 4mpxl camera with a great lens versus a 5mpxl with a mediocre lens. The basic things that they all understand are megapixels and memory cards. But those people are the majority of the market, they are the ones who make up the high volume sales that allow all camera makers to stay afloat, and continue innovating.

If you really believe that XD is not hurting sales of Fuji cameras then you are SIMPLY LYING TO YOURSELF. Read Phil's quote above. He understands.

I just picked up a F30 yesterday and with it an Olympus 1GB xD with a GE reader. They seem to work fine.

I get the point, but I really don't "hear" you. When I upgraded my digicam I looked for the cam that was best suited for my needs/usage/results, what memory card it used was very low on my list of requirements and having to purchase some xD cards was not a deal breaker for me. So should I have compromised on a camera that did not suit my needs as well simply because it used the memory cards I already owned, or should I have bought the camera that best suited my needs and not been concerned with having to buy some xD cards? Am I the only exception to your or anybody else's "rules" of what people will buy? I don't think so. I wanted a camera that performed the best for my needs and did not feel like quibbling over a couple of memory cards. Get a grip, 1gb xDs can be had for very reasonable prices these days, if other people wish to buy a camera that does not perform as well to save a lousy couple of bucks on memory cards, then it is their loss, not mine. Got the point yet??
Clyde

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1020&message=19764481

From a recent thread on the Fuji SLR Forum here at dpreview, 1gb type H xD cards for $32.95 USD from Fry'sOutpost.com, in my opinion a pretty insignificant amount of money to base my camera purchase on.
Clyde

Saw this on eBay as an ad for an XD card reader:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150027098231&sspagename=ADME:L:RTQ:US:1

Of particular attention is this disclaimer just above the "Terms and Definitions" section and I quote:

"SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT XD CARDS: Some digital camera manufacturers use a proprietary formatting method for xD Picture Cards on some camera models that is not recognized by Windows or Mac OS. This may result with Windows prompting you to format the card because it does not recognize the formatting method. You should always format your memory card with your digital device and not with Windows or Mac. In this case, you will either need to use your camera's software to read the card or use compatible software from a third party. No software is included with this card reader."

Personally, I use the Fuji software that came with my F30 and only to move the files off the card to my hard drive (makes it easier for me to rename them as well). Then I use PS CS2 or PSPX or whatever I need to do what I like to do. The software even starts by iteself once the drive with card is inserted into the USB port. Simple and efficient "for me".

BR,
Mike

Clyde Atkinson said:

I get the point, but I really don't "hear" you. When I upgraded my
digicam I looked for the cam that was best suited for my
needs/usage/results, what memory card it used was very low on my
list of requirements and having to purchase some xD cards was not a
deal breaker for me. So should I have compromised on a camera that
did not suit my needs as well simply because it used the memory
cards I already owned, or should I have bought the camera that best
suited my needs and not been concerned with having to buy some xD
cards?

Click to expand...

No one is asking you to compromise on anything. This has nothing to do with you personally, but instead a poor marketing decision by Fuji that is costing them money.

Clyde Atkinson said:

Am I the only exception to your or anybody else's "rules" of
what people will buy? I don't think so. I wanted a camera that
performed the best for my needs and did not feel like quibbling
over a couple of memory cards.

Click to expand...

Of course you are not the only exception. As a matter of fact, I doubt if anyone who is registered on this site is an exception. BUT, if you think that we represent even 1% of the consumer camera market then you are a fool. I believe I pointed that out quite clearly in my last post. If only the people that research camera's before they buy them like you do bought Fujis, they would be out of business in a month.

Clyde Atkinson said:

Get a grip, 1gb xDs can be had for
very reasonable prices these days, if other people wish to buy a
camera that does not perform as well to save a lousy couple of
bucks on memory cards, then it is their loss, not mine. Got the
point yet??
Clyde

Click to expand...

I got the point a long time ago. I made some very good points in my last post that you did not refute. If you truly like Fuji so much, you should be chiming in on the chorus that is deriding the xd format... unless you just like being a member of a smaller club. Go back through the history of the Sony SLR and KM SLR forums and look how many people dumped thousands of dollars of lenses onto the used market and how many of those quoted "memory stick" as the reasons they were changing systems.

Clyde Atkinson said:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1020&message=19764481

From a recent thread on the Fuji SLR Forum here at dpreview, 1gb
type H xD cards for $32.95 USD from Fry'sOutpost.com, in my opinion
a pretty insignificant amount of money to base my camera purchase
on.
Clyde

Click to expand...

Again, you are not showing me anything here.

http://www.cesell.com/product.php?productid=64936

There's a 120x 2G CF for $45.03. First item on my google search. I have an 80x transcend 1G and I promise you that it is FAST. I doubt the 120 would dissapoint. So the xd is still overpriced.

But honestly, you are really downplaying the fact that John Q. Public can go out with his CF or SD and get a high quality camera from another manufacturer and save enough money on a card to go out and buy a prime rib dinner with a couple of imports to wash it down with what they would have spent on a card.

The economics are obvious to most.