# XD vs SD



## bmason (Apr 2, 2007)

I am looking to buy a new digi cam and Im not sure what format of memory card to go with.  I want this olympus, but it uses XD.  To be honost i have never heard of XD till now.  However i have heard of SD.  
My question is what is the difference between the two if any and which is more compatible with other things?


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## The_Other_One (Apr 2, 2007)

I don't know too much about xD cards, but it is a lesser used format.  And I know dad had a HELL of a time finding a memory card that would work with his xD card.  And to make matters worse, his Fuji didn't act as a USB mass storage drive, so it was a pain to dump pictures.


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## Praetor (Apr 2, 2007)

As a general guide, mainstream cards use SD while serious cameras use CF. XD is a propritary format for Olympus/Fuji cameras oly. You may also see them on some phones too (although most of those are replaced by microSD now)


If its just a camera you plan on keeping for a few years before moving on to the next, go nuts, one format's as good as the next (for mainstream cameras). If it's something more of a longer commitment, try looking for a cmaera that uses SD or CF


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## DCIScouts (Apr 2, 2007)

In general, cards are getting so cheap these days that it really doesn't matter (in my mind) what format it uses.  If you like the camera, then just go ahead and get the thing.  For the record, media card formats are as follows:

xD is proprietary as mentioned before for Fuji and Olympus only
Memory Stick (MS) is proprietary to Sony
SD is the most widely used and is used by pretty much any other camera company

There are multiple older formats such as MMC, Compact Flash and so on that are not used in new cameras any more.

However, one other major difference can be the speed at which the card records the image.  The SDs are a bit faster, and you can purchase faster cards for a bit more.  The xD cards are only available in the standard speed.  If the aspect of how fast the camera will be ready for the next shot is an issue for you, look into an SD card, otherwise any of the available cameras should be fine.


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## The_Other_One (Apr 2, 2007)

DCIScouts said:


> There are multiple older formats such as MMC, Compact Flash and so on that are not used in new cameras any more.


As Praetor said, many higher end cameras still use CF cards.



> The xD cards are only available in the standard speed.


I don't know what speeds xD, or even most SD cards run at off the top of my head, but there are "high-speed" xD cards(IE the xD H-Series cards, I beleive)


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## DCIScouts (Apr 2, 2007)

The_Other_One said:


> As Praetor said, many higher end cameras still use CF cards.


Thank you for pointing that out again, I forgot... 



> I don't know what speeds xD, or even most SD cards run at off the top of my head, but there are "high-speed" xD cards(IE the xD H-Series cards, I beleive)



I haven't seen any of these H-Series xD cards, do you know how expensive they are compared to the SD high speed cards?


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## Praetor (Apr 2, 2007)

> Memory Stick (MS) is proprietary to Sony
> SD is the most widely used and is used by pretty much any other camera company


Should be noted that MS is effectively dead -- even Sony's high end Alpha 100 camera (which, btw is really sweet and deceptively small -- an annoyance to me who likes a big chunky camea), uses CF as a default and uses a adaptor to support MS.

I don't know what speeds xD, or even most SD cards run at off the top of my 





> head, but there are "high-speed" xD cards(IE the xD H-Series cards, I beleive)





> I haven't seen any of these H-Series xD cards, do you know how expensive they are compared to the SD high speed cards?



There's three types of cards, "normal" (oldest) , "M" and "H" (newest). In general XD is fast compared to really-old formats like MMC or SM but are painfully slow compared to SD/CF. Then again, for most people, the speed of memory isnt a major sticking issue ... they arent likely to be firing off  multiple 10MP shots in the span of a few sec...

There's a good general overview *here*


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## Aero (Apr 2, 2007)

xD cards came in quick and quiet...they are used in some cameras but the designers were counting on a fad saying "but they are so small"...well that didnt happen and so now SD cards are taking over again very rapidly...there isnt any problem with the xD's they just arent used as much as SD


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## bball4life (Apr 2, 2007)

I have a fuji finepix s5200 it uses a xD card.  They can be a bit harder to find than SD cards, but i picked up a 2gb card on newegg for around $30 so they are a few dollars more than sd but nothing that will break the bank.  Just get the camera you like and don't decide against a camera just for its format.


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