XD vs CompactFlash

[stevage]

Hi all,
I have a Fuji FinePix F10 with 512mb XD card, and am leaning towards getting the Olympus E-510 which takes either CompactFlash or XD.

Question: is CF better than XD?

I have previously bought a 1Gb XD card, but it died after a few months - starting producing corrupt photos, and the Finepix refused to write to it. Is this a common occurrence?

It would be really nice to have perhaps a 2Gb or even 4Gb XD card that I could use for shooting in RAW mode, but also for taking movies on the F10 - it's got a great movie mode with unlimited length. But if the cards are fragile in some way, that could be a bit risky.

Any thoughts?

Steve

[David Metsky]

CF is cheaper and comes in higher capacity versions. It's more standard then xD, and can be used in more cameras but the trend seems to be towards SD right now.

It's not common for any memory cards to go bad. The most common failure is not on the card itself, but the pins in the card slot to be knocked out of alignment.

[Rhys]

CF is a standard that has been around for longer than XD. Olympus and Fuji who are the only people to support XD were behind the farcical Smart Media card that rose to the dizzy heights of 128mb before being replaced by XD. How long will it be before they replace XD with something else?

SD is not necessarily SD. SD comes as HDSD as well and cameras/readers that read SD can't read HDSD. It's not easy to tell which is which.

CF is available in sizes (currently) up to 16GB. XD reaches maybe a gigabyte and has an upper end size limit defined by physical card size of 8GB.

Don't get me started on Sony Magic Stick. There are more standards of Magic Stick than there are people in China and it's as hard as finding a needle in a haystack to find the right one for your Sony camera.

[seo]

Largest available xD cards are 2 GB. They are more expensive than CF, and in my experience slower as well.

[stevage]

Hmm, well to be honest, I'm not really that concerned about the future of the XD card - if it's not supported 12 months from now, I'm not really any worse off if I have a functioning card.

I guess I'll need to look at the actual prices. A 4GB card would certainly be nice, particularly for shooting RAW on longish trips - though battery life would be a problem anyway.

Btw I don't think bent pins is my issue: my 512mb card still works fine, and with XD there aren't really any "pins" to get bent as such.

Steve

[Rhys]

Hmm, well to be honest, I'm not really that concerned about the future of the XD card - if it's not supported 12 months from now, I'm not really any worse off if I have a functioning card.

I guess I'll need to look at the actual prices. A 4GB card would certainly be nice, particularly for shooting RAW on longish trips - though battery life would be a problem anyway.

Btw I don't think bent pins is my issue: my 512mb card still works fine, and with XD there aren't really any "pins" to get bent as such.

Steve

The problem with SD and XD is not that there are no pins. In fact, there are - they're flat sprung leaves inside the camera body. Each time a card is inserted, these leaves scrape away some of the metal on the card. Eventually (since both are very thin) the card contacts will rub through. This doesn't take long as the metal is very thin. Should a leaf get caught in some surface irregularity on the card, it'll bend horribly and necessitate a repair trip for the camera.

[erichlund]

CF pins (in the camera) can bend also, but unless you are trying to force a card in wrong, it's not too likely. Also, they are quite a bit sturdier than the other types of memory.

Anyone remember the torture test one of the magazines did on CF. I don't remember all the particulars, but I think they boiled them, baked them, ground them in dirt and stomped on them with, IIRC, boots. Cleaned them off and stuck them back in and they still worked.

Until it's no longer possible, CF is one of my criteria for buying a new camera. Not necessarily mandatory, but a definite consideration.

[Rhys]

CF pins (in the camera) can bend also, but unless you are trying to force a card in wrong, it's not too likely. Also, they are quite a bit sturdier than the other types of memory.

Anyone remember the torture test one of the magazines did on CF. I don't remember all the particulars, but I think they boiled them, baked them, ground them in dirt and stomped on them with, IIRC, boots. Cleaned them off and stuck them back in and they still worked.

Until it's no longer possible, CF is one of my criteria for buying a new camera. Not necessarily mandatory, but a definite consideration.

A pair of tweezers can straighten a bent pin.

[Honest Gaza]

Firstly...and I digress a little here......

If I were buying a camera, I would never base the decision on what memory card it uses. Yes, it is nice to re-use cards you already own...but they are pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things.

My last 3 cameras all used different memory types....who cares.

Now, getting back to the original question, I think the chances of damaging an SD or XD card are pretty slim when inserting into camera and/or card reader....although eventually, wear and tear may become an issue for both the card, and the slot (whether it be the camera, or the card reader slot).

CF cards are a different issue. They rely on pins inserting into tiny little holes of the card....this is a little more "susceptible" to misalignment.

I've never had it happen with a camera, but have certainly seen the results with communications circuit boards using "similar" slots.....so although risk is minimal with a camera, I could certainly expect that CF cards would be more susceptible than SD/XD cards.

Having said that, the Canon 400D uses CF cards and that didn't stop me from buying one :)