Xd Picture memory cards

Click compatibility guide to see a list of all Olympus Cameras and which cards to use.

Olympus xD-Picture Card (Type M and Type M+)

Compact and durable, the Olympus xD-Picture Card is the ultimate reusable, removable digital media. Besides providing increased storage capacities at higher resolutions, it also offers compatibility with most manufacturers’ xD-compatible devices and is the only xD-Picture Card to support the Panorama function found with today’s Olympus digital cameras.

The Type M and Type M+ xD-Picture Card keeps your photo, movie and other files safe and sound so you can enjoy them any way you want (viewing, sharing, slideshows, etc.) and any time. The compact size lets you carry it anywhere and because it’s compatible with many reader/writers, you can download data to a computer or another device in a jiffy.

The Type M+ xD-Picture card is compatible with all cameras and is 1.5 times faster than the Type M card. The increase in speed may be useful in sequential shooting of digital stills and in the recording of high-density video with Olympus cameras.

When it comes to your pictures, quality and reliability can’t be compromised. That’s why the xD-Picture Card is the finest compact, durable removable media your camera will ever know. View which cameras are compatible with xD Type M card.

The xD-Picture Card (xD stands for "extreme digital.") is a flash memory card format developed and introduced to the market in July 2002 by Olympus and Fujifilm, and manufactured by the Toshiba Corporation. xD cards are in Olympus and Fujifilm digital cameras, and are available in a range of sizes, from 16 MB to 1 GB currently. A higher-performance xD card known as Type M came out in 2005, and uses Multi Level Cell (MLC) architecture. The 1GB Type M card is called the M1GB (M-XD1GM). Type M cards will eventually be available in sizes up to 8 GB, though the cards are not compatible with all older model cameras.

An xD card is 20mm x 25mm x 1.78mm and weighs about 2.8 g, making it significantly smaller than the nearly matchbook-sized CF card and about half the size of the SD/MMC card. As far as size goes, it is much closer to miniSD or RS-MMC. The manufacturer listed write speeds for xD-Picture Cards are: for the 16 MB and 32 MB card, 1.3 MB/s and for the 64MB and higher cards, 3 MB/s. Both offer a minimum read speed of 5 MB/s. The xD Type M cards have a faster standard rate of 4.0MB/s for reading and 2.5MB/s for writing.

Theoretical transfer speeds
Pictures may be transferred from a digital camera's xD card to a personal computer by plugging the camera into the PC (via a USB cable), or by removing the card from the camera and inserting it into a card reader. In both cases, the computer sees the card as a mass storage device containing image files, although software or firmware can alter this representation. Card readers may be integrated into the PC or attached via cable. Adapters are available to allow an xD picture card to be plugged into other readers (and in some cases cameras), including PC card, parallel port, CompactFlash and SmartMedia.

xD-Picture card feature comparison
xD cards are available from a wide variety of manufacturers, they are not the most expensive format, and they also offers many advantages.As of June 2005, the maximum size of released xD cards compares favourably to the various other flash card standards. xD cards are available in sizes up to one gigabyte. Other smaller formats Flash Cards which match xD's size more closely have lower or the same capacity.

The detail specification for xD cards (needed to implement their use) is controlled by Olympus and Fujifilm. This not so much a disadvantage, but a trait of the current batch of memory cards. Some newer Olympus digital cameras need a Olympus-branded xD card to use the panoramic mode feature. This is purely an attempt to increase the sales of Olympus branded xD cards as there is no difference in the way the data is written to the card. Some older cameras cannot use the new Type M cards without a firmware update (or at all). In general, many old digital cameras cannot take advantage of advances in memory cards or speeds, and is not something unique to the xD format.

Other adapters and readers
There are a variety of other readers aside from xD-Picture Card to CompactFlash and xD to PCMCIA adapters. There are oversized/external xD-Picture card to SmartMedia adapter, that allows to xD cards to use a SM port (but does not fit entirely inside a SM slot). There is a limit on how big of a memory capacity xD card can be used in this type of adapter (sometimes 128 MB or 256 MB), and the device is subject to the restrictions of the SmartMedia reader as well. Since the adapter is oversized, xD cards cannot be used directly as a SmartMedia card (unlike the xD to CF adapter which is the same size as a CF type I card) unless open space is left for the extra section on the adapter.

Other major adapters are a xD-Picture card reader that plugs into a USB port and various type of PC Card (PCMCIA) adapters. For example there is a combination SmartMedia and xD-Picture card to PCMCIA adapter. There is an important caveat to using xD-Picture cards and third-party USB card reader/writers, though: Never format, copy files to or erase pictures from a card via a card reader/writer connected to a computer., only do so via the camera connected directly to a computer. xD-Picture cards are specially formatted with certain proprietary tags and flags. Formatting or otherwise altering the contents of the card via a card reader/writer connected to a computer will render the card unusable in a camera or erase the special Olympus signature to enable panoramic mode.