Smartmedia quality?

Tim57252 · Jul 4, 2002

Quick question: Is all smartmedia created equal, I know there are lots of different brands that work equally as well in my Fuji cameras.

It's just that 7dayshop.com are offering triple packs of 64 Mb for only £49!

What do you think?

Tim

batty66824 · Jul 4, 2002

Tim said:
Quick question: Is all smartmedia created equal, I know there are
lots of different brands that work equally as well in my Fuji
cameras.

It's just that 7dayshop.com are offering triple packs of 64 Mb for
only £49!

What do you think?

Yes.

If it has "Korea" stamped on it, then it is made by Samsung. If "Japan" it was made by Toshiba.

It doesn't matter what 'brand'.

--
batty.

ianR · Jul 4, 2002

Hi Tim

Yes, he's right there are only 2 makers and all Smartmedia are more or less indistuctible. It might be interesting to see what guarantee they come with though.

One thing to watch for perhaps, you want the ones that say 'ID' on them. I know there are other Smartmedia that you can record mp3 on or which can be used in telephones etc. I don't know if all Smartmedia are compatible with cameras. Batty will probably come back and put me right on that.
regards
Ian

batty said:
Tim said:

Quick question: Is all smartmedia created equal, I know there are
lots of different brands that work equally as well in my Fuji
cameras.

It's just that 7dayshop.com are offering triple packs of 64 Mb for
only £49!

What do you think?

Click to expand...

Yes.

If it has "Korea" stamped on it, then it is made by Samsung. If
"Japan" it was made by Toshiba.

It doesn't matter what 'brand'.

--
batty.

MikeBee · Jul 4, 2002

tim

I got cards from them and they have been perfect, can't recall if the were Japan or Korea tho !

Mike

Tim said:
Quick question: Is all smartmedia created equal, I know there are
lots of different brands that work equally as well in my Fuji
cameras.

It's just that 7dayshop.com are offering triple packs of 64 Mb for
only £49!

What do you think?

Tim

batty66824 · Jul 4, 2002

Around £16 seems to be the going rate for 64mb cards. I cannot understand why the 128mb is so much more expensive per mb.

The cards for mp3 players, although technically are a type of 'smartmedia' card, are about 20% smaller physically than those used in digital cameras.

'Smartmedia' is a trademark of Toshiba, these cards should really be called SSFDCs - Solid State Floppy Disk Cards, but Toshiba's name for them caught on).

--
batty.

P.S. Samsung assure me that a 256mb card will be available sometime this year - my guess is early Autumn (Fall, to some of you).

ianR said:
batty said:

Tim said:

Quick question: Is all smartmedia created equal, I know there are
lots of different brands that work equally as well in my Fuji
cameras.

It's just that 7dayshop.com are offering triple packs of 64 Mb for
only £49!

What do you think?

Click to expand...

Yes.

If it has "Korea" stamped on it, then it is made by Samsung. If
"Japan" it was made by Toshiba.

It doesn't matter what 'brand'.

--
batty.

Click to expand...

RDKirk · Jul 4, 2002

Tim said:
Quick question: Is all smartmedia created equal, I know there are
lots of different brands that work equally as well in my Fuji
cameras.

As Batty said, there are only two manufacturers. In additoin to that, the process is relatively simple because the cards are not complex and the process is mature. Plus, both manufacturers are world-class companies that have tight quality control. What all this means is that there isn't the factor of "cherry picking" higher inspection standards by high-priced brands, nor does either company produce "second line" cards for low-priced brands.

--
RDKirk
'It's always socially unacceptable to be right too soon.' -Fuji FP6900Z Owner

Duncan Burt · Jul 4, 2002

Tim

I have had litterly loads (20+) 64meg cards from ydayshop for various people, I still have 4 of them and have never has a problem. If my memory serves me right they are SAmsung and a certainly of the ID type.

I never buy from anyone else now.

By the way I have no connection with 7dayshop, just a happy customer who likes their prices. Delivery can be a little slow, but unless you are really desperate for the cards you will get them in about a week.

Tim said:
Quick question: Is all smartmedia created equal, I know there are
lots of different brands that work equally as well in my Fuji
cameras.

It's just that 7dayshop.com are offering triple packs of 64 Mb for
only £49!

What do you think?

Tim

--
Duncan
Birmingham, England
http://www.pbase.com/duncanburt

batty66824 · Jul 4, 2002

That's why they're called 7dayshop — the expected delivery time, rather than that they are open 24/7

I've heard no complaints about them either.

--
batty.

Duncan Burt said:
I have had litterly loads (20+) 64meg cards from ydayshop for
various people, I still have 4 of them and have never has a
problem. If my memory serves me right they are SAmsung and a
certainly of the ID type.

I never buy from anyone else now.

By the way I have no connection with 7dayshop, just a happy
customer who likes their prices. Delivery can be a little slow, but
unless you are really desperate for the cards you will get them in
about a week.

Tim said:

Quick question: Is all smartmedia created equal, I know there are
lots of different brands that work equally as well in my Fuji
cameras.

It's just that 7dayshop.com are offering triple packs of 64 Mb for
only £49!

What do you think?

Tim

Click to expand...

--
Duncan
Birmingham, England
http://www.pbase.com/duncanburt

jjlevan · Jul 4, 2002

Is contact wear a problem in SM cards?
Does anyone know if CF or SM cards handle contact wear
more gracefully? Should I be concerned with repeated
insertion and removal in my camera and reader?

Thanks,
Jay

batty66824 · Jul 4, 2002

jjlevan said:
Is contact wear a problem in SM cards?
Does anyone know if CF or SM cards handle contact wear
more gracefully? Should I be concerned with repeated
insertion and removal in my camera and reader?

No, not with sm cards. Their gold-plated contact patches are designed to withstand at least 10,000 cycles. If you are not particularly rough with them, they could last a (human) life-time.

CF is a different story. Their little contact pins are easily damaged with repeated insertion/withdrawal cycles, so I would expect the CF to have a much lower working life than the sm.

--
batty.

Tim57252 · Jul 5, 2002

Thanks for all the replies guys!

I am now absolutely convinced all smartmedia is the same and the best place to buy them is the cheapest place. 7 day shop at £16 for 64Mb or 3X64Mb for £49 seems about the best deal to me.

Regards

Tim

Tim said:
Quick question: Is all smartmedia created equal, I know there are
lots of different brands that work equally as well in my Fuji
cameras.

It's just that 7dayshop.com are offering triple packs of 64 Mb for
only £49!

What do you think?

Tim

Richard D. Boltuck · Jul 5, 2002

This is interesting. What is the source of the information? Do "10K cycles" mean 10K individual recordings/playbacks/uploads, as of individual pix? Apart from the gold contact surface, are there other "wear" elements in a SM card, such as the memory itself?

This is my first use of SM (with the S602), and I noted on p. 83 of the manual that "SmartMedia have a limited life and it may become impossible to record or erase data on a SmartMedia that has been used for a long time." Now I realize that EVERYTHING has a limited life, and according to cosmologists, even black holes will evaporate in finite time. But I still found it curious that the manual has no parallel caveat with respect to Microdrives in the following subsection on p. 83. What do you think this "limited life" caution is reflecting?

Many thanks for the insights and experience. Best regards, Richard.

batty said:
jjlevan said:

Is contact wear a problem in SM cards?
Does anyone know if CF or SM cards handle contact wear
more gracefully? Should I be concerned with repeated
insertion and removal in my camera and reader?

Click to expand...

No, not with sm cards. Their gold-plated contact patches are
designed to withstand at least 10,000 cycles. If you are not
particularly rough with them, they could last a (human) life-time.

CF is a different story. Their little contact pins are easily
damaged with repeated insertion/withdrawal cycles, so I would
expect the CF to have a much lower working life than the sm.

--
batty.

Michael J. Hußmann · Jul 5, 2002

Richard D. Boltuck said:
Apart from the gold contact surface, are there
other "wear" elements in a SM card, such as the memory itself?

This is my first use of SM (with the S602), and I noted on p. 83 of
the manual that "SmartMedia have a limited life and it may become
impossible to record or erase data on a SmartMedia that has been
used for a long time." Now I realize that EVERYTHING has a limited
life, and according to cosmologists, even black holes will
evaporate in finite time. But I still found it curious that the
manual has no parallel caveat with respect to Microdrives in the
following subsection on p. 83. What do you think this "limited
life" caution is reflecting?

Flash memory won't last forever, whether it's in CompactFlash, SmartMedia, or PCMCIA form doesn't matter. For typical use in a digital camera, you shouldn't need to worry about this.

Microdrives are disk drives, and like any devices with mechanical parts, they have a limited life as well.

Michael

--
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.michael-hussmann.de

Dave Walker50736 · Jul 5, 2002

Your comment about CF is a little worrying, aren't the pins on the camera (or other device), not the CF card?

batty said:
CF is a different story. Their little contact pins are easily
damaged with repeated insertion/withdrawal cycles, so I would
expect the CF to have a much lower working life than the sm.

Michael J. Hußmann · Jul 5, 2002

batty said:
CF is a different story. Their little contact pins are easily
damaged with repeated insertion/withdrawal cycles, so I would
expect the CF to have a much lower working life than the sm.

On the other hand, with CompactFlash cards the pins are protected within the card. The pins of SmartMedia cards are more vulnerable to humidity, corrosion, and dirt (although they are also easier to clean using an eraser).

Michael

--
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.michael-hussmann.de

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