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Digital Cameras and Smartmedia?
CuCullin asks: "In the never ending search for a quality digital camera that uses Smartmedia, all I can come up with is the Fuji Finepix 6900. The basics I'm looking for is Smartmedia, 3+ megapixels, and the ability to change lenses (I'm going for wide angle). Has anyone else been on a similar search?"
Olympus digital cameras all use smartmedia. So try there.
Why do you want to use Smartmedia cards?
In my experience, it is the most fragile of the four common media card formats, and nor is it the cheapest.
I have worked with various types of media card in PDAs & similar small devices, and I have often seen broken Smartmedia cards. The problem appears to be that because they are so thin, they have no structural rigidity, so slight bending can break the electrical traces, and render the card useless.
Also unlike CF, they don't have any internal logic. This means they don't do wear levelling, so your memory card will have a shorter life. Also they don't talk IDE or USB.
I would personally recommend CF, because it is the cheapest, most robust, available in the largest capacities, and you can get Hard drives in that size, or put them in PDAs.
However, I Don't think you should be choosing the card format first, you should choose the camera first, and buy whatever media format it takes.
Of course, if you already have a large investment in Smartmedia cards, my arguments above may not apply, But remember that digital cameras are expensive, and media prices are falling all the time. It would be foolish to buy the wrong camera, just so you can keep using your Smartmedia cards that could be replaced for $20.
I hope this is useful.
I have a Fuji that uses SmartMedia but it's only 1.3 megapixels and I am in the process of looking for a 3.3 megapixel (or so) replacement.
I'm not planning on using SmartMedia though - from my reading around I have come to the conclusion that CompactFlash is probably the 'best' solution.
SmartMedia is a pretty raw interface to the memory (i.e. it ain't smart at all), and the camera has to support a particular size specifically, much like those older PCs would only take a 16M SIMM and not a 64M one. OTOH CompactFlash has more smarts on the device and requires correspondingly fewer of those little details to be built in. That's why all the really big ones (512M cards, 1G & 4G microdrives) are on CompactFlash.
And of course you would only get something with a memory stick in it if you were addicted to Sony. I ain't.
You might also see so-called 'MultiMedia' Cards appear to be similar to SmartMedia. Possibly they are crappier, since the website suggests that you won't get 'em larger than 64MB (and I can't find any on sale larger than that), and they have been around since 1997.
go to steves-digicams.com
He does reviews of almost every new model digital camera of any value.
His site will have a full review of the camera, including sample images and video.
He even breaks down things so someone(like me) with no photography experience can understand things.
You did not say what your price range is. This is an important bit of data.
The Fuji Finepix 6900 does not allow you to changes the lens. It allows yo to add lenses on such as telephoto and wide angle lenses. This is true for many if not all digital cameras in the $500 - $1000 price range. Very high end cameras that cost thousands *do* allow you to actually change the lens like with a non-digital SLR.
I recently did research and purchased an Olympus 3040.
What I was looking for was the camera with the highest quality images for under $500 with the following features:
- ability to add lenses
- ISO of at least 400 for low light conditions
- 1.8 f-stop for low light conditions
- long battery life
- the option for full manual control
- USB interface
- 3 or more megapixels
The Olympus 3040 and the Nikon 995 took the highest quality pictures among all cameras with these features for under $500. I went to the camera store and tried out both. I preferred the single body design of the Olympus over the two part body design of the Nikon. I ordered the Olympus online for $450.
Go to the digital camera area of cnet.com to read the reviews and see the results of the image quality lab tests. You will find the that the Fuji Finepix 6900 had relatively low image quality.
Oh yeah, the Olympus comes with two non-rechargable lithium ion batteries good for up to 1000 shots, and it also accepts four AA batteries. You should buy rechargable 1800 MAh Nickel Metal Hydride batteries. Those are the highest capacity.
Also check Philip Greenspun's (of ArsDigita fame) photo.net which is a possibly the best (and original) one-stop photography resource on the net.
The tutorials are fantastic, and the community is incredibly knowledgeable and helpful, you honestly won't find more pros and experts in one place.
Latest digital reviews include the Minolta Dimage 5, the Canon EOS D60 (I so want one of these! Or an EOS-1D if I won the lottery), and the Nikon D100, so it proves that they're very up-to-date.
Check it out!