I've just bought an Olympus D400Z. One of the justifications for spending more than I'd originally intended was the included FlashPath - for reading SmartMedia cards into the computer via a Floppy slot.

After a few experiments I'm pretty disappointed. The performance on my Win98 laptop was only a little better than 2x the serial port. Windows NT drivers weren't included (but I found them on the SmartDisk site) and then the performance was slower still - only the same as the serial.

On top of that, the batteries are non-rechargeable watch batteries that are only supposed to last for about 3 hours. And it isn't very convenient in the laptop since I generally keep it stuffed with a battery and CD drive - installing the floppy means a reboot.

So I don't see using the FlashPath very much. I wonder if the other connection methods are equally slow? (On the positive side, the price of the camera dropped by $90 so that made up for it!)

Mike

-- Mike Pritchard (mikep@5circles.com), April 02, 1999

Answers

If you have a laptop, the method you really should be using is PCMCIA adaptor. Fastest method there is.

-- benoit (foo@bar.com), April 02, 1999.

Serial ports are capable of running at 115,200 bits per second, which is realistically about 12 kbytes/sec. Most floppy drives only run their interface at 250,000 bits per second, which is a little over double what the serial port can do. Even if you have a 1-megabit or 2-megabit capable controller, most drives, especially low power drives found in laptops, don't support the higher speeds.

-- Simon Karpen (karpes@rpi.edu), April 03, 1999.

You may already know this, but I didn't when I started using my FlashPath. Do not open the photos when they are still on the smart media card. Open two Explore windows and transfer the photos dirrectly from the FlashPath to your chosen folder. They will transfer VERY quickly. Then open them and edit, etc. They will open much more quickly this way. On the topic of the battery for the FlashPath: I have had mine for about 1000 photo transfers. I have yet to use up the battery.

Congratulations on the purchase of your new camera. I am sure you will have a great time with it.

Cricket

-- cricket (cricketb@nospam.earthlink.net), April 03, 1999.

I'll second Cricket's method for picture transfer to a folder and add this: Pop the FlashPath out as soon as the transfer is complete and this will save the battery. I don't use the computer to delete the images- I put the card back in the camera and do it there (where the batteries are rechargeable).

Bob Huffman

-- Bob Huffman (huffmun@msn.com), April 03, 1999.

That's right! Try connecting your camera with the supplied cable to a Win and the a Mac. Floppy adapters can do both! No cables required! Do a "Copy/Paste" and you're home free.

-- DD (oops@yahoo.com), April 05, 1999.