With 64MB Of Picture Memory, The Fujifilm xD-Picture Card Is The First One Worth Recommending!
Written: Jan 09 '09
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to use, Durable, Inexpensive enough, Good (minimum capacity)
Cons: Minimal warranty, Easily lost when out of camera.
The Bottom Line: Perhaps the perfect balance between capacity and demand to upload from a picture card, the Fujifilm 64MB picture card is my current favorite!
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| wlswarts's Full Review: FUJIFILM (SDXD64FUJIFILM) (64 MB) |
There is something fun and possibly a little ironic about my starting my reviews (links at bottom) on my Fujifilm picture cards right before I disappeared for a weekend with my fiance with the intent being to have fun, go someplace new, and take a lot of pictures. We would have limited time together (hence the falloff in my reviewing the last few days) and while I had my MacBook Pro (reviewed at: http://www.epinions.com/content_405620821636 ) with me, I didn't want to keep my head buried in it, uploading photographs from all of the pictures I was taking. So, it made sense to me to use this opportunity to upgrade my picture card on my camera to increase the capacity. Not one who wants to walk around with a slew of visual memories on the camera (seriously, what happens if the camera gets lost or stolen?! Days of work and fun just *poof!*), I decided that rather than go with a mammoth amount of memory, I was just going to double my current capacity. Thus, the 64MB Fujifilm xD-Picture card came through for me.
The Fujifilm xD-Picture cards are what my Fuji Finepix camera (reviewed at: http://www.epinions.com/content_359969623684 ), uses and the 64 MB capacity had exactly the desired effect: I did not have to upload my pictures until night (I actually found I was able to go two days when I was judicious about the pictures I was taking), but there were enough pictures on the card that made me feel anxious about keeping them there, encouraging me to upload them from the card.
Basics
The Fujifilm xD-Picture Card with the 64MB capacity is a tiny chip designed to store digital images on compatible cameras. This picture card is a small, flat storage device that fits into virtually any Fuji digital camera and any other camera that uses an eighteen pin connection to a camera. If you are unsure of whether or not that applies to your camera, either consult the camera's manual or carefully remove your current memory card and count the pins. "Pins" in this case are the flat leads (usually a gold-color) that conduct the information, they are separated by faint nonmetallic bars. If your memory card has eighteen little bars (they look almost like piano keys!) then it is considered an eighteen pin lead and this product would be instantly compatible with your camera.
The Fujifilm xD-Picture card is approximately one inch wide, three-quarters inches deep and only 1/16" thick! This is small and easily lost. I suppose, though, if one is packing for a huge trip, picture cards make for a great size - better than on standard film - and their discrete nature allows many to be used when away from places that would have computer access. This is very small and because most people never remove them from their cameras, that ought not to be much of an issue (and, as far as the travel concept goes, the space one saves with picture cards over film is likely to be eaten up by space needed for batteries to keep one's camera powered.
Capacity
As one might guess, the 64MB Fujifilm xD-Picture Card holds sixty-four megabytes worth of visual information. This is a decent amount of capacity for people who are spending a day out shooting the sites at places they are likely to only go once in their lives or just kicking back and getting great candids at a party or event. I have found the one hundred ninety-two pictures this will store great; it kept me shooting fearlessly all day without worrying how many pictures I had left. When one considers how many pictures they honestly usually take while on vacations or at weddings or such, one hundred ninety-two might seem like a lot. With my camera (and most people's) there are various quality levels for the pictures taken. My FinePix offers four quality levels based upon the resolution of the shot taken.
At the minimum resolution (.3M) the 64MB card will hold 484 photographs, but they will be the most grainy that the camera takes. Conversely, a 64MB chip will only hold 96 of the highest resolution images possible. My experiences have been that I do not like the result of the lowest resolution images and I burn through batteries and memory far too quick with the highest capacity ones. I keep my camera set to the 1M quality, which provides images that are a decent size with an impressive enough resolution and this picture card holds 192 pictures at the medium quality quality. With my increased desire to take photographs, I found I was quite happy I upgraded to the 64MB card as I stopped worrying about capacity and just shot pictures! Despite my concerns before my last trip, I did not come anywhere close to filling up the card with all 192 JPG files that are 6.40 inches (162.2 mm, 1280 pixels) X 4.80 inches (121.9mm, 960 pixels) with a 200 X 200 DPI resolution (though, honestly, that might just be the imaging program I open the pictures in) and True Color (24 Bits).
For those who can live with 192 great pictures between reloads or 484 crappy ones, this is a great memory card for you. I suspect that this is the perfect amount for most people, especially those of us who are paranoid about losing pictures on a picture card.
Durability
The Fujifilm xD-Picture card is essentially a tiny piece of plastic with little metal strips on it. The metal strips (or leads, as they are properly called) plug into a slot in one's camera (consult your camera manual for how to do that). As well, there are chip readers that may be plugged into computers to read the chips directly. It is important to note that software support for extracting information from this card is entirely dependent upon the user's camera or computer! This picture card comes with no software support, nor does it require any to use. It simply plugs into a compatible camera and is as easy to use as batteries.
However, this is a small device and is easily lost. As a result, users must be very careful while handling it. I have NEVER had this Picture card lose a file and until I actually lost my original one, I cannot imagine I would have been taking it out of the camera for anything. However, proper care indicates that one should ground themselves (eliminate static electricity from the body) by touching something metal before touching the card. The only other way I can imagine to damage this is step on it (it is mostly plastic, so it will break) or poorly packing it in a carry-on!
This is a durable card that most people will never need to take out of their camera.
Warranty
Fujifilm tends to have a five-year warranty on a lot of their picture cards, but the 64MB card has only a one-year warranty. In all honesty, in the week since I purchased this picture card, I have not had any reason to believe it will kick out on me. Others from this brand have been reliable, even when I suspect it could be easily lost.
This product has only a one-year warranty and I cannot speak to how responsive the company is to replacing them when needed, as I have not needed to exercise that.
Overview
The Fujifilm 64MB xD-Picture card is great as far as capacity and usability go. While others might prefer more visual memory, outside having a card for extraordinary unique events (like a wedding) I'd vote for the 64MB card; there's a decent amount of memory, but not so much that your entire life is on the card.
For other Picture Cards reviewed by me, please check out my reviews of:
Fujifilm XD Picture Card (32 MB) - http://www.epinions.com/content_456625917572
Fujifilm XD Picture Card (16 MB) - http://www.epinions.com/content_456594132612
Recommended:
Yes
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wlswarts
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Member: W.L. Swarts
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