Talk:XD-Picture Card

NPOV
Okay, my last version was way too negative, as I didn't do a good enough job of NPOVing a very, very overly negative rewrite someone did a while ago. On the other hand, User:Flasher came in with an edit that I consider a whitewash, often comparing xD to obsolete formats like pre-Pro Memory Sticks and SmartMedia.

I've structured I'm going to structure (see below) the article around the idea that xD is a "micro"-style memory card competing with the older formats, which is a somewhat controversial take, but I dunno how else to structure this.

Any edit is going to need to reflect the fact that this is a niche format, supported only by Olympus and Fuji, though. I'm not sure what further statistical comparisons to the micro formats serve, as these formats are almost exclusively the domain of smartphones, not digital cameras. A Man In Black 08:56, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Well, I'm going to put this at User:A Man In Black/xDtemp until I can finish restructuring the article. A Man In Black 09:06, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Re: "Okay, my last version was way too negative..." Is this a photographic term?

I have a problem with the last Disadvantage listed; that xD cards are easily lost or broken. I think this is unnecessary, as the article even notes that this is common amongst virtually all formats of memory cards (and, dare I say, small things in general). Isn't easy loss or damage an intrinsic trait of these devices? I don't know of a memory card format that is particularly robust, and I'm also not aware of higher levels of loss or damage attributed to xD than, say, SD. Boybert 04:54, 18 October 2007 (UTC)
 * I know I'm a bit late to the party, here, but: having recently bought a Fuji digital camera (an S5700, which can use both SD and xD cards), I decided to go with xD cards myself ... for no especial reason, really; it's my first foray into 'needing' such things. Anyway, the point here is that the xD cards I bought came with small plastic cases / holders, making it about as likely that I'll lose an xD card as that I'd lose a roll of film.  Which is to say, pretty unlikely.  As for breaking them?  Well, it IS only 1.78mm thick.  But then, once it's in your camera (or whatever), 'any' memory card should be pretty resistant to breakage that doesn't destroy the much more expensive device itself - and microSD cards are even thinner, at 1.0mm ... --GMPax (talk) 00:56, 28 May 2008 (UTC)
 * OK, there's late and later... In my personal experience as well as hearsay, easily broken does not refer to the package, but to the datastructure. Olympus advices against using anything other than their own cameras or readers for dealing with those cards. That was impractical most of the time, for their readers were nowhere to be found or overpriced, and the cameras from back then would drain a battery quicker than USB would drain the xD card. That way, my family and me destroyed 4 xD cards. I think I start to grasp the reason for this after reading about jffs2, MTD and FTL. The cheaper readers would come without firmware to provide FTL for the xD card I guess, and with operating systems lacking a sound implementation of FTL, the NAND would get deleted and written without wear-levelling. This would hit the filetable hardest, resulting in a broken FAT and lost images.--Boudewijn (talk) 22:52, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

Scale
Is there any point in comparing the size of a xD card to an American one cent coin? Could you at least link to somewhere that shows a picture of a US one cent coin next to something else (a ruler, perhaps) to give non-Americans an idea of just how big that is?

The main text of the article gives us the actual dimensions of the card in standard units so even for those people who do have easy access to American coinage, the coin in the photo is redundant. A photo of the card itself showing different angles would be more useful.
 * Well, I'll try to make a picture of one with a ruler anyway. -- WB 03:55, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

Competition
How do xD cards compete with the other formats? Only Fuji and Olympus cameras use xD cards and Fuji and Olympus cameras only use xD cards. Nobody gets to choose to use or not use xD cards (unless you expect anyone to believe people will make their camera buying choice based solely on what memory card format it uses). There can't be any competition between card formats, only manufacturers of the cards. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 59.167.73.25 (talk • contribs) 13:16, August 29, 2005 (UTC)
 * Well, it may not be an ideal test, but my Fuji Finepix S9500 has xD and CompactFlash slots so someone with equivalent memory cards (i.e two of the same size) and the right technical skills could use such a camera to run some tests. Assuming that the Compact flash functionality isn't crippled (and I can't imagine it would be - Fuji would only be shooting themselves in the foot to do that) 82.13.83.244 00:09, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Device Speed
"xD cards are much slower than the main competitor SecureDigital (SD)." Can we have some numbers to prove this? I can't find read/write speeds on these bad boys anywhere. ---Ransom (--71.4.51.150 18:59, 21 March 2006 (UTC))

The following information was taken from a reseller's page, regarding a 512MB Fujifilm xD, at: (09 May 2006): •	Weight: 2 grammes •	Size: 20 (L) x 25 (w) x 1,7 (t) mm •	Power supply: 3.3V •	Write speed: 3.0 Mo/s •	Read speed: 5.0Mo/s •	Pin number: 18 •	Nand Flash memory •	Warranty: 2 years

According to the wikipedia article, a Mo (as in Mo/s) is a megaoctect, analagous in almost all cases to a megabyte a byte and an octet being 8 bits in modern computing). The article does mention some uses of octect as three bits (because of the 8 values possible) - the use of this meaning would be a marketing sleight-of-hand if it is what is 'meant' in this case. It would be nice to presume the standard meaning is what is meant, though.

More to the comparison point, though - common SD cards are 66x rated, which is about 10 Megabytes/s. Cards of about twice that speed are also available. I'm not sure offhand if that's the read or write speed, but the 10 Megabytes/s exceeds xD by a factor of two regardless. --Keramos

Given that xD cards are designed for, and almost totally restricted to digital compact cameras where lightening speeds are not an issue, to compare an xD card with an SD card in this respect is rather pointless. It is simply another fruitless comparison of numbers. There is no need, or point, in putting a high speed memory card designed for action photography using a high-end digital SLR in some point and shoot digital compact. Booshank 19:52, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

Interface
Some discussion of the type of interface provided or a pinout might be useful, perhaps just an external link to that type of information. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.217.54.166 (talk • contribs) 01:57, October 21, 2005 (UTC)


 * Because of the proprietary nature of the card, that information just isn't available. 86.176.152.185 (talk) 17:12, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

Identification
How do I figure out what type of xD picture card I have? Standard xD, Type M or Type H? If this can be easily deciphered from serial number or something, a note about that would be useful —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 87.227.76.225 (talk • contribs) 00:49, November 14, 2006 (UTC)
 * Type H and M cards have a capital H or M card right on the plastic package, next to the chip's capacity. Standard xD cards have only the capacity marked on the package. &mdash; EagleOne\Talk 01:38, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

Wii compatible?
Does someone of you know this? Are the xD-cards compatible to the Nintendo Wii? --172.173.130.40 16:53, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
 * The specs only mention an SD card, so no it is not physically compatible. GB 02:52, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

Prosumer
Prosumer isn't a word and the article on "prosumer" is utter gibberish. Someone should remove this crappo from the article. --Curve Ballistic 12:17, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Prosumer might not have made it into the OED yet, but it's definitely a word that gets used. I think you should read section 2 of the prosumer article: in the context of digital cameras, a "prosumer" camera is basically a model aimed at consumers who desire more advanced technology approaching what a professional might use.  The term helps to clarify what types of cameras do and don't typically use xD cards, in my mind.  M OXFYRE  ( contrib ) 15:26, 14 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Agreed; prosumer is a totally accepted term, especially when dealing with still and video cameras, and their related accessories. Boybert 04:50, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Capacity
Why is the maximum capacity listed as 8GB? As of Feb 2008, the maximum capacity is 2GB for any variant of xD. A quick Googling seems to indicate that back in 2002 when the xD format was first announced, there were PLANS to roll out capacities as high as 8GB but those have never materialized (for that matter, even 4 GB versions have never been offered).

Strongly recommend that the maximum capacity be revised down to 2GB (from 8GB) to reflect the real market availability.

99.237.82.240 (talk) 13:12, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

Main Picture
Can we change the main picture to something higher than 16mb? That is like an obsolete size now. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.155.161.199 (talk) 01:35, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Cost of XD license
It would be handy if someone could add in what the cost of an XD license is. This information is not available on the XD license web site. --Greg Garner

its 420. there it is —Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.26.32.1 (talk) 13:55, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

microSD to xD-Picture card adapter
Nice idea, but are they available commercially ? The only supplier is Jacobs, and they are out of stock. Also these new cards have a dongle on the bottom to allow allow the camera to differenciate between XD and MicroSD, to allow the camera to know which driver to use,  but with this card,  it no longer fits in a normal card reader. ..

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/olympus/stylus_1030sw-review/

Brin —Preceding unsigned comment added by Shagnastie (talk • contribs) 08:41, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
 * http://www.amazon.co.uk/Micro-SD-XD-adapter-SERENA/dp/B003210WXE
 * http://www.amazon.co.uk/Olympus-MASD-1-adapter-microSDHC-xD-Picture/dp/B00170S7MK/ref=pd_sim_ce_3
 * beware it only fits a few Olympus cameras#
 * On another topic, beware XD-to-Smartmedia adapters probably don't adapt older 5-volt Smartmedia slots to 3.3-volt cards !
 * --195.137.93.171 (talk) 00:07, 25 August 2011 (UTC)

12:43, 23 June 2013 (UTC)12:43, 23 June 2013 (UTC)

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Reconstructed logo added
May be error of this reconstructed logo. HoQuocDu (talk) 06:12, 20 April 2023 (UTC)