Get the Biggest SmartMedia You Can Get
Written: Jul 30 '03 (Updated Mar 23 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy To Use, Large Capacity (In SmartMedia terms), Small
Cons: Maximum storage limit of the SmartMedia
The Bottom Line: If you have devices that use SmartMedia cards, than Sandisc's 128MB SmartMedia card is probably one of the best that you can get
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| jps246's Full Review: SanDisk SmartMedia card (128 MB) (SDSM-128-536) |
It’s the biggest that the SmartMedia format gets, from a reputable brand and is a solid memory card that provides good results.
The Deal That Fell in My Lap
I recently purchased a new digital camera (Olympus C-4000) and soon realized that with a 4 mega-pixel resolution, the 16 megabyte card that came with the camera and the 64 megabyte cards that I already had from my old digital camera (another Olympus) would not cut it for my picture storage needs. I went shopping around for a new card and after some hemming and hawing at stores like Best Buy and Circuit City, where the cheapest 128 megabyte card I could find was selling for about $50, I stumbled upon the Sandisk 128 megabyte card for sale at Staples for $59.99 with a $30 mail-in rebate (so it would be $29.99 after the rebate). I figured, what the heck, at $29.99, I wouldn’t second guess myself on whether or not it was worth getting a bigger card. However when I went to make the purchase, the staff there thought that the mail-in rebate was an instant rebate so I got the card for $29.99 on the spot (I’m not one to correct something like that) and I still was able to get the mail in rebate. A pretty sweet deal if you ask me, since I think I made .
What does it hold and how does it work?
Even with a 128-megabyte card, at 4 mega-pixels, my new SmartMedia card is only able to hold about 11 uncompressed images at full resolution. In the various other resolutions, I can hold anywhere from 60 up to several hundred photos, which does come in handy. However, if I am shooting in the uncompressed mode, I need to have several memory cards with me because so few pictures can be held on each card. In my old digital camera (which is 1.3 mega-pixel camera), I can fit several hundred standard quality images and even more at the lower resolution settings.
The speed of the recording to the memory card is quite good. In my new digital camera, the lag time is significantly less than it had been (probably due as much to the new camera as the to the memory card). Downloads from the card to a computer are quick and snappy.
SmartMedia cards can also be used in MP3 players and other devices with a SmartMedia slot. At an average of 7 megabytes per MP3, you’d be able to fit about 18 songs on a single 128-megabyte chip.
SmartMedia cards are also fairly rugged. I have been working with them for almost 4 years now in various incarnations (my first was an 8 MB chip from years ago when I used to work in Maine) through the 128 MB chip I just purchased. I have never had a single one break or stop functioning on me. The Sandisk 128 MB has been functioning quite well and has survived several hiking trips tumbling around in a backpack and sitting in a hot car.
The Bottom Line
It’s a memory card! How much of a review can you give it? I got a sweet deal on this card that isn’t likely to be repeated. However, the prices on the cards are coming down because the SmartMedia is one of the more limited flash memory devices on the market. They are limited to 128-megabytes in size and appear to be being phased out of use in new electronics. Olympus’ C-4000 is the last of their new digital cameras to use this standard. But if you have a device that needs SmartMedia, you won’t go wrong with this card, since we all know, bigger is better!
Photography Reviews:
Cameras:
Olympus C-4000 Digital Camera / Olympus D-460 Zoom Digital Camera / Minolta Maxxum 300si (35mm SLR) / Polaroid PDC 640 Digital Camera / Kodak EasyShare CX4300 Digital Camera / Canon Elph LT APS Camera / Olympus Stylus Infinity Zoom 35mm Camera / Casio Exilim Ex-Z4U Digital Camera / Fuji FinePix F700 Digital Camera / Pentax Optio 33WR Digital Camera / Kodak EasyShare 6490 Digital Camera / Canon ELPH Z3 / Olympus Trip AF 30
Books and Magazines:
Shutterbug Magazine / Popular Photography Magazine / PC Photo / Outdoor Photography / Photography Outdoors / American Photo
Printers, Scanners, Memory & Accessories
SanDisk 128MB SmartMedia Card / Memorex 128MB SmartMedia Card / HP Photosmart 1115 / Microtek Scanmaker 4800 / HP Scanjet 3570c / Samsonite Carrying Case / Tamrac Mini-Camera Bag / Olympus 128MB SmartMedia Card / SmartMedia Memory
Recommended:
Yes
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