Did Fuji abandone smartmedia in favor of compact flash?

bob ross · Nov 25, 2002

Hello -

I am very interested in purchasing the 601z, I went down to Inkleys to look at it tonight and the told me how terrible smartmedia is compared to compact flash and the fuji has abandoned it and is moving to compact flash in their future cameras. Has anyone had any problems with smartmedia, does it get wiped out with xray machines (airports) etc...

Thanks again

Bob

John Glover · Nov 25, 2002

brosspntr said:
Hello -

I am very interested in purchasing the 601z, I went down to Inkleys
to look at it tonight and the told me how terrible smartmedia is
compared to compact flash and the fuji has abandoned it and is

Hi Bob,

The sales guy is full of cr*p. Fuji is not abandoning Smartmedia because it is so terrible....in fact, Smartmedia cards are pretty handy overall. SM cards have no moving parts, they are nice and fast and easy to store. the downisde is they are easy to lose and the media is exposed. CF cards on the other hand are more robust and have higher storage capacity. The downside is CF cards have their controller in the card, which makes them more easily transferred to other cameras, but also makes them slower to read and write.

SM cards are also generally cheaper than CF cards.....so the sales guys make more off them!

bob ross said:
moving to compact flash in their future cameras. Has anyone had any
problems with smartmedia, does it get wiped out with xray machines
(airports) etc...

Fuji is not abadoning SM....the 602 supports both types. However, in the futre, all new Fuji cameras will most likely used the xD cards, whichis a sturdy, yet samller version of the SM card. Fuji developed this jointly with Toshiba and Olympus. So if the sales people told you Fuji was going to CF over SM, he's way off base and has no clue about what the newer Fuji cameras are using.

X-ray machines will not harm SM cards. My 6900 has gone through an x-ray machine everyday, at least four times a day, since September 12th of last (I work in Federal Building). My SM cards are perfectly functional as is my camera. Neither have shown any effects all. What you are thinking of is the machines the postal service will use to irradiate mail to kill anthrax spores. That is high energy radiation and will not only kill anthrax spores, but all compact flash cards, smartmedia cards, media in personal computers, palm pilots, etc., film and lots of other electronic and photographic items.
--
John

Fuji 6900Z, Fuji2600Z,
Pentax PZ-1p, Pentax ZX-M, Pentax MX, Oly Stylus
http://www.pbase.com/jglover

MrScary · Nov 26, 2002

Well Explained John...Couldn't do better meself....DennisR

brosspntr said:
Hello -

I am very interested in purchasing the 601z, I went down to Inkleys
to look at it tonight and the told me how terrible smartmedia is
compared to compact flash and the fuji has abandoned it and is
moving to compact flash in their future cameras. Has anyone had any
problems with smartmedia, does it get wiped out with xray machines
(airports) etc...

Thanks again

Bob

--
S602z--Minolta 7000 35mm, Koni Rapid Amiga 200 6x7,

spartanrob · Nov 26, 2002

I just purchased my S602 and have my 128 MB CF (sandisk) card from the coolpix I replaced. Am I better off using my CF card or buying a new 128 SM card?

I also have a 1GM microdrive in my iPaq that I can use, will that suck up battery power faster?

John Glover said:
brosspntr said:

Hello -

I am very interested in purchasing the 601z, I went down to Inkleys
to look at it tonight and the told me how terrible smartmedia is
compared to compact flash and the fuji has abandoned it and is

Click to expand...

Hi Bob,

The sales guy is full of cr*p. Fuji is not abandoning Smartmedia
because it is so terrible....in fact, Smartmedia cards are pretty
handy overall. SM cards have no moving parts, they are nice and
fast and easy to store. the downisde is they are easy to lose and
the media is exposed. CF cards on the other hand are more robust
and have higher storage capacity. The downside is CF cards have
their controller in the card, which makes them more easily
transferred to other cameras, but also makes them slower to read
and write.

SM cards are also generally cheaper than CF cards.....so the sales
guys make more off them!

John Glover said:

moving to compact flash in their future cameras. Has anyone had any
problems with smartmedia, does it get wiped out with xray machines
(airports) etc...

Click to expand...

Fuji is not abadoning SM....the 602 supports both types. However,
in the futre, all new Fuji cameras will most likely used the xD
cards, whichis a sturdy, yet samller version of the SM card. Fuji
developed this jointly with Toshiba and Olympus. So if the sales
people told you Fuji was going to CF over SM, he's way off base and
has no clue about what the newer Fuji cameras are using.

X-ray machines will not harm SM cards. My 6900 has gone through an
x-ray machine everyday, at least four times a day, since September
12th of last (I work in Federal Building). My SM cards are
perfectly functional as is my camera. Neither have shown any
effects all. What you are thinking of is the machines the postal
service will use to irradiate mail to kill anthrax spores. That is
high energy radiation and will not only kill anthrax spores, but
all compact flash cards, smartmedia cards, media in personal
computers, palm pilots, etc., film and lots of other electronic and
photographic items.
--
John

Fuji 6900Z, Fuji2600Z,
Pentax PZ-1p, Pentax ZX-M, Pentax MX, Oly Stylus
http://www.pbase.com/jglover

John Glover · Nov 26, 2002

rob pesick said:
I just purchased my S602 and have my 128 MB CF (sandisk) card from
the coolpix I replaced. Am I better off using my CF card or buying
a new 128 SM card?

I also have a 1GM microdrive in my iPaq that I can use, will that
suck up battery power faster?

Hi rob,

It depends on your application. The microdrive will use additional battery power whereas the SM cards do not. If you are shooting primarily pictures, I'd stick with SM cards. They're pretty cheap these days, generally around $45 online for a 128mb card. I've got a 6900 and have several SM cards and they work just fine. At the 3Mp resolution, you get about 103 images per 128Mb card.

If you want to do video, the microdrive is the way to go.

My advice would be if you are doing just still images, get a couple more SM cards. You could also get a smaller sized CF or microdrive as well, but these will use more battery power. If you feel the need to shoot some video, then pop in your microdrive. Personally, I like the SM cards and with the adevent of the new xD cards, I'm hoping SM cards get even cheaper!

--
John

Fuji 6900Z, Fuji2600Z,
Pentax PZ-1p, Pentax ZX-M, Pentax MX, Oly Stylus
http://www.pbase.com/jglover

John Glover · Nov 26, 2002

Thanls Dennis!

Dennis R said:
brosspntr said:

Hello -

I am very interested in purchasing the 601z, I went down to Inkleys
to look at it tonight and the told me how terrible smartmedia is
compared to compact flash and the fuji has abandoned it and is
moving to compact flash in their future cameras. Has anyone had any
problems with smartmedia, does it get wiped out with xray machines
(airports) etc...

Thanks again

Bob

Click to expand...

--
S602z--Minolta 7000 35mm, Koni Rapid Amiga 200 6x7,

--
John

Fuji 6900Z, Fuji2600Z,
Pentax PZ-1p, Pentax ZX-M, Pentax MX, Oly Stylus
http://www.pbase.com/jglover

jdcothern · Nov 26, 2002

brosspntr said:
Hello -

I am very interested in purchasing the 601z, I went down to Inkleys
to look at it tonight and the told me how terrible smartmedia is
compared to compact flash and the fuji has abandoned it and is
moving to compact flash in their future cameras. Has anyone had any
problems with smartmedia, does it get wiped out with xray machines
(airports) etc...

Thanks again

Bob

fuji is going to xd picture card. I read a post where they are coming out with xd adaptor for 602

Pan Shizhu · Nov 26, 2002

There's one important reason that I don't like to use small card when shooting still images ---- serial numbering.

When you are using a new card, the number always start from DSCF0001, while using a large card you car always keep the last image and delete others, thus this is the only way to keep serial number for Fuji camera.

Most people here is using this method, isn't it?

I like SM card very much when shooting with 2mp or 3mp pictures, but when it cames to Fuji 6mp pictures, 128M storage is definitely not enough. It is a dilemma, isn't it?

John Glover said:
Hi rob,

It depends on your application. The microdrive will use additional
battery power whereas the SM cards do not. If you are shooting
primarily pictures, I'd stick with SM cards. They're pretty cheap
these days, generally around $45 online for a 128mb card. I've got
a 6900 and have several SM cards and they work just fine. At the
3Mp resolution, you get about 103 images per 128Mb card.

If you want to do video, the microdrive is the way to go.

My advice would be if you are doing just still images, get a couple
more SM cards. You could also get a smaller sized CF or microdrive
as well, but these will use more battery power. If you feel the
need to shoot some video, then pop in your microdrive. Personally,
I like the SM cards and with the adevent of the new xD cards, I'm
hoping SM cards get even cheaper!

--
John

Fuji 6900Z, Fuji2600Z,
Pentax PZ-1p, Pentax ZX-M, Pentax MX, Oly Stylus
http://www.pbase.com/jglover

Jake7 · Nov 26, 2002

Shizhu Pan said:
There's one important reason that I don't like to use small card
when shooting still images ---- serial numbering.

When you are using a new card, the number always start from
DSCF0001, while using a large card you car always keep the last
image and delete others, thus this is the only way to keep serial
number for Fuji camera.

Most people here is using this method, isn't it?

Uh ....... no (well, not me anyway). I just load my cards into different sub-directories.

Mind you, I do think that restart numbering each card from 0001 is not one of Fuji's smartest ideas

Pan Shizhu said:
I like SM card very much when shooting with 2mp or 3mp pictures,
but when it cames to Fuji 6mp pictures, 128M storage is definitely
not enough. It is a dilemma, isn't it?

Hardly. How many 6mp images can you get on a 128mb SM card?

53 for Fine; 113 for Normal.

And how long does it then take to swap it for another 128mb card? 20-30 seconds.

If I feel I'm really going to take a lot of pictures and don't want to swap cards (can't really think of many occasions when I can't spare the 30 secs to change cards) I can always use the microdrive that's in the camera as well as the SM card.

Pan Shizhu said:
John Glover said:

Hi rob,

It depends on your application. The microdrive will use additional
battery power whereas the SM cards do not. If you are shooting
primarily pictures, I'd stick with SM cards. They're pretty cheap
these days, generally around $45 online for a 128mb card. I've got
a 6900 and have several SM cards and they work just fine. At the
3Mp resolution, you get about 103 images per 128Mb card.

If you want to do video, the microdrive is the way to go.

My advice would be if you are doing just still images, get a couple
more SM cards. You could also get a smaller sized CF or microdrive
as well, but these will use more battery power. If you feel the
need to shoot some video, then pop in your microdrive. Personally,
I like the SM cards and with the adevent of the new xD cards, I'm
hoping SM cards get even cheaper!

--
John

Fuji 6900Z, Fuji2600Z,
Pentax PZ-1p, Pentax ZX-M, Pentax MX, Oly Stylus
http://www.pbase.com/jglover

Click to expand...

Pan Shizhu · Nov 26, 2002

Yes it takes only 20-30 seconds, I shoud not be too lazy to change the card. The problem is if I change the card I lost the serial number, if Fuji can keep the serial number in camera, I'd rather buy a bunch of SM card than a single Microdrive!

There're two other solutions but niether is support by S602:

A): if only I can copy photos from one slot to another, I can move the last picture to the CF card, then change the SM card, then move the picture from CF back to the new SM card.

B): enable the 'renumber' feature: just let me to rename the first picture taken on the new SM card.

Frankly speaking, I'd lost hundreds of pictures for the trip to Scottland because of the "reset to 0001" feature. From that day I would always using serial numbering.

Jake7 said:
Hardly. How many 6mp images can you get on a 128mb SM card?

53 for Fine; 113 for Normal.

And how long does it then take to swap it for another 128mb card?
20-30 seconds.

If I feel I'm really going to take a lot of pictures and don't want
to swap cards (can't really think of many occasions when I can't
spare the 30 secs to change cards) I can always use the microdrive
that's in the camera as well as the SM card.

Jake7 · Nov 26, 2002

Shizhu Pan said:
Yes it takes only 20-30 seconds, I shoud not be too lazy to change
the card. The problem is if I change the card I lost the serial
number, if Fuji can keep the serial number in camera, I'd rather
buy a bunch of SM card than a single Microdrive!

There're two other solutions but niether is support by S602:

A): if only I can copy photos from one slot to another, I can move
the last picture to the CF card, then change the SM card, then move
the picture from CF back to the new SM card.

B): enable the 'renumber' feature: just let me to rename the first
picture taken on the new SM card.

Frankly speaking, I'd lost hundreds of pictures for the trip to
Scottland because of the "reset to 0001" feature. From that day I
would always using serial numbering.

Annoying, isn't it

Does this happen on the S1 or S2, do you know?

It seems to me that this is just something that wasn't thought through too clearly. I imagine (but what do I know about these things?) to have sorted it out if Fuji had a firmware update capability.

As I say, I simply get around the problem by copying the cards into subdirectories. But it would be nice if I didn't have to ........

Something I must try is shooting a 640X480 image, copying it to my PC, re-naming it, erasing the card, and copying the re-named image back to the card. Presumably the number of the rest of the images on the card will start from there?

Pan Shizhu said:
Jake7 said:

Hardly. How many 6mp images can you get on a 128mb SM card?

53 for Fine; 113 for Normal.

And how long does it then take to swap it for another 128mb card?
20-30 seconds.

If I feel I'm really going to take a lot of pictures and don't want
to swap cards (can't really think of many occasions when I can't
spare the 30 secs to change cards) I can always use the microdrive
that's in the camera as well as the SM card.

Click to expand...

CooMa · Nov 26, 2002

Jake7 said:
Shizhu Pan said:

Yes it takes only 20-30 seconds, I shoud not be too lazy to change
the card. The problem is if I change the card I lost the serial
number, if Fuji can keep the serial number in camera, I'd rather
buy a bunch of SM card than a single Microdrive!

There're two other solutions but niether is support by S602:

A): if only I can copy photos from one slot to another, I can move
the last picture to the CF card, then change the SM card, then move
the picture from CF back to the new SM card.

B): enable the 'renumber' feature: just let me to rename the first
picture taken on the new SM card.

Frankly speaking, I'd lost hundreds of pictures for the trip to
Scottland because of the "reset to 0001" feature. From that day I
would always using serial numbering.

Click to expand...

Annoying, isn't it

Does this happen on the S1 or S2, do you know?

It seems to me that this is just something that wasn't thought
through too clearly. I imagine (but what do I know about these
things?) to have sorted it out if Fuji had a firmware update
capability.

As I say, I simply get around the problem by copying the cards into
subdirectories. But it would be nice if I didn't have to ........

Something I must try is shooting a 640X480 image, copying it to my
PC, re-naming it, erasing the card, and copying the re-named image
back to the card. Presumably the number of the rest of the images
on the card will start from there?

hey Jake7

Correct: leave a photo (or file) with the highest pic (DSCF* ) taken on the media, and the counting will continue on that value.

Cheers
--
S602Z user (nickname FuZi)

'Learning is easy, mastering is difficult'

IamA602er · Nov 26, 2002

I called Fuji today and they said they were coming out with an adapter very soon and it would fit the 602.
Max. cap. is 128 and they said they think they will get 8 g's out of it. WOW

jdcothern said:
brosspntr said:

Hello -

I am very interested in purchasing the 601z, I went down to Inkleys
to look at it tonight and the told me how terrible smartmedia is
compared to compact flash and the fuji has abandoned it and is
moving to compact flash in their future cameras. Has anyone had any
problems with smartmedia, does it get wiped out with xray machines
(airports) etc...

Thanks again

Bob

Click to expand...

fuji is going to xd picture card. I read a post where they are
coming out with xd adaptor for 602

Jake7 · Nov 26, 2002

CooMa said:
Jake7 said:

Shizhu Pan said:

Yes it takes only 20-30 seconds, I shoud not be too lazy to change
the card. The problem is if I change the card I lost the serial
number, if Fuji can keep the serial number in camera, I'd rather
buy a bunch of SM card than a single Microdrive!

There're two other solutions but niether is support by S602:

A): if only I can copy photos from one slot to another, I can move
the last picture to the CF card, then change the SM card, then move
the picture from CF back to the new SM card.

B): enable the 'renumber' feature: just let me to rename the first
picture taken on the new SM card.

Frankly speaking, I'd lost hundreds of pictures for the trip to
Scottland because of the "reset to 0001" feature. From that day I
would always using serial numbering.

Click to expand...

Annoying, isn't it

Does this happen on the S1 or S2, do you know?

It seems to me that this is just something that wasn't thought
through too clearly. I imagine (but what do I know about these
things?) to have sorted it out if Fuji had a firmware update
capability.

As I say, I simply get around the problem by copying the cards into
subdirectories. But it would be nice if I didn't have to ........

Something I must try is shooting a 640X480 image, copying it to my
PC, re-naming it, erasing the card, and copying the re-named image
back to the card. Presumably the number of the rest of the images
on the card will start from there?

Click to expand...

hey Jake7

Correct: leave a photo (or file) with the highest pic (DSCF* )
taken on the media, and the counting will continue on that value.

Leaving the largest numbered file on the card while deleting the rest seems to me to be a problem. I was thinking of copying a small (VGA) file onto the PC from the card ..... then erasing the card ('Erase all') ... then renaming the file on the PC .... and then copying it back to the card ... via a card reader.

What do you think?

CooMa said:
Cheers
--
S602Z user (nickname FuZi)

'Learning is easy, mastering is difficult'

John Glover · Nov 26, 2002

Shizhu Pan said:
There's one important reason that I don't like to use small card
when shooting still images ---- serial numbering.

When you are using a new card, the number always start from
DSCF0001, while using a large card you car always keep the last
image and delete others, thus this is the only way to keep serial
number for Fuji camera.

Most people here is using this method, isn't it?

I like SM card very much when shooting with 2mp or 3mp pictures,
but when it cames to Fuji 6mp pictures, 128M storage is definitely
not enough. It is a dilemma, isn't it?

I'd forgotten about the numbering issue. I've got a 6900 so that is not a problem for me as the camera keeps track of the number regardless of what size card you put in it. Also, I generally do not shoot 6Mp images as i'm satisfied with the detail I get with my 3Mp shots, but 6 Mp does limit your storage on a 128Mb card.

--
John

Fuji 6900Z, Fuji2600Z,
Pentax PZ-1p, Pentax ZX-M, Pentax MX, Oly Stylus
http://www.pbase.com/jglover

John Glover · Nov 26, 2002

Soon2bA602er said:
I called Fuji today and they said they were coming out with an
adapter very soon and it would fit the 602.
Max. cap. is 128 and they said they think they will get 8 g's out
of it. WOW

While an 8 Gb card sounds exciting, imagine what you could loose if the card malfunctions. And also, what would one cost?? I'd have hard time time putting a $1000 media card in a $500 camera.

--
John

Fuji 6900Z, Fuji2600Z,
Pentax PZ-1p, Pentax ZX-M, Pentax MX, Oly Stylus
http://www.pbase.com/jglover

JWU42 · Nov 26, 2002

Jake7 said:
Jake7 said:

I like SM card very much when shooting with 2mp or 3mp pictures,
but when it cames to Fuji 6mp pictures, 128M storage is definitely
not enough. It is a dilemma, isn't it?

Click to expand...

Hardly. How many 6mp images can you get on a 128mb SM card?

53 for Fine; 113 for Normal.

Jake,

I think he might of been speaking of 6mp tiff's. At 17MB each, the 128 MB SM isn't much use...

FWIW

grandpa · Nov 26, 2002

John Glover said:
rob pesick said:

I just purchased my S602 and have my 128 MB CF (sandisk) card from
the coolpix I replaced. Am I better off using my CF card or buying
a new 128 SM card?

I also have a 1GM microdrive in my iPaq that I can use, will that
suck up battery power faster?

Click to expand...

Hi rob,

It depends on your application. The microdrive will use additional
battery power whereas the SM cards do not. If you are shooting
primarily pictures, I'd stick with SM cards. They're pretty cheap
these days, generally around $45 online for a 128mb card. I've got
a 6900 and have several SM cards and they work just fine. At the
3Mp resolution, you get about 103 images per 128Mb card.

If you want to do video, the microdrive is the way to go.

My advice would be if you are doing just still images, get a couple
more SM cards. You could also get a smaller sized CF or microdrive
as well, but these will use more battery power. If you feel the
need to shoot some video, then pop in your microdrive. Personally,
I like the SM cards and with the adevent of the new xD cards, I'm
hoping SM cards get even cheaper!

--
John

As aways a good answer from John, I think you can regard the xD card as just another form of smart media, it still has the exposed contacts which BTW have never given me any trouble anyway in 8 years of using SM, the xD card is about 2 or 3 times thicker than a SM card and this is the main reason for the changeover by Fuji to the xD the extra thickness will allow larger sizes.

Smartmedia cards still have lots of life in them, and as John states they are quite cheap now, they use less current than the other media, they are one of the fastest media, a 256m version is soon to be released too. Why risk all your pics on one expensive CF card when a couple of fast proven to work 100% SM cards cost around the same...only takes a couple of seconds to change them over.

Grandpa

Dave Lewis · Nov 26, 2002

brosspntr said:
Hello -

I am very interested in purchasing the 601z, I went down to Inkleys
to look at it tonight and the told me how terrible smartmedia is
compared to compact flash and the fuji has abandoned it and is
moving to compact flash in their future cameras. Has anyone had any
problems with smartmedia, does it get wiped out with xray machines
(airports) etc...

Thanks again

Bob

No compact flash for Fuji, probably ever. Of course, their new memory card is the XD picture card. Whether it is better is yet to be proven. I surely have never had any trouble with SmartMedia. It is very dependable, and downloads directly from the camera without software. Can't say that for Compact Flash. You have to have a reader for it.
--
Dave Lewis

John Glover · Nov 26, 2002

grandpa said:
As aways a good answer from John, I think you can regard the xD
card as just another form of smart media, it still has the exposed
contacts which BTW have never given me any trouble anyway in 8
years of using SM, the xD card is about 2 or 3 times thicker than a
SM card and this is the main reason for the changeover by Fuji to
the xD the extra thickness will allow larger sizes.
Smartmedia cards still have lots of life in them, and as John
states they are quite cheap now, they use less current than the
other media, they are one of the fastest media, a 256m version is
soon to be released too. Why risk all your pics on one expensive CF
card when a couple of fast proven to work 100% SM cards cost around
the same...only takes a couple of seconds to change them over.

First off, thanks for the kind words. I'm with you on SM, never any problems and if handled with reasonable care, they are pretty indestructible. I've packed my 6900 back and forth through x-ray machines and magnetometers for over a year now with no ill effects, and I generally do nothing special with my cards. Just keep them in their plastics cases and be careful about the contacts. No problems at all in two plus years of use. Besides, with the number of MP3 players out there still using SM, the cards will be around for quite some time.....heck you can even still buy 5" floppy disks today!

The only downside to Fuji's implementation of SM is the lack of firmware upgradeability in their cameras. Since the controller for the card is embedded in the camera electronics, we're stuck with the 128Mb upper limit on cards. But, for the price of a microdrive, you can buy about 8 128Mb SM cards.

--
John

Fuji 6900Z, Fuji2600Z,
Pentax PZ-1p, Pentax ZX-M, Pentax MX, Oly Stylus
http://www.pbase.com/jglover

Did Fuji abandone smartmedia in favor of compact flash?

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