I have read that compactFlash will prevail. I am interested int he Olympus D450 which uses SmartMedia.

-- Randy J. Collins (rjctekpro@msn.com), December 13, 1999

Answers

There has been a long debate on this. you might do a search of the forum to find out more CF has lead the memory cards in size, but SM is catching up. Then of course there is Memory Stick which other companies are buying into. Olympus I think is one of them.

-- David Erskine (davide@netquest.com), December 13, 1999.

I have an Olympus C2000Z (SmartMedia) and a Philips Nino 300 (Compact Flash). I prefer SmartMedia - there are no (fragile?) little connector pins to worry about and you can use them with FlashPath adapters.

It's a pity that Sony saw fit to muddy the waters with their MemoryStick (or whatever it's called). Anyone remember the El- Cassette? (The latter will only have been seen by people my age (40+); it was Sony's attempt to produce a better cassette than the Compact Cassette. It *was* better, but, as with Beta, that didn't help sales much and it *very* rapidly disappeared from the marketplace.)

By the way, the SmartMedia in my 'C2000Z sometimes gets *very* hot. I don't know whether that's the camera heating the card up or vice versa. Anyone *else* seen this problem?

-- Mark Davis (glod@hotmail.com), December 13, 1999.

This depends on what type of camera you will be using the card with. For example, I have an Olympus c2500. For some reason, smartmedia seems to work faster. If you have any other type of camera, you wont even have this kind of choice, making your question moot. Hope that helps.

-- Marc Macelroy (doc111@excite.com), December 26, 1999.

compact flash is cheaper per meg. and available in larger size.

personally I like compact flash better... esp after seeing a palm III clone with a 340MB CFII Harddrive in it. Its TOO cool. (note - different brands of compact flash haave different performances)

-- some one (someone@microsoft.com), December 30, 1999.

My opinion - Compact Flash is my choice in seeking a Digi Camera. in Compact Flash VS Smartmedia, I find that smartmedia is compact, but that the design is poor. It is thin enough to snap in two and the contacts are on the outside and are prone to scratches and corrosion. I have worked in a digital lab (retail) in which our card reader required a bit of force to insert smartmedia cards into spring- loaded readers. CompactFlash was much easier to insert for download, it's contacts are along the edge and out of the way of oily fingers, and rough surfaces.

-- christine k (kchristine@excite.com), November 26, 2002.