XD or SD card?

[fred...@noemail.com]

I got an Olympus D-540 Zoom digital camera at a local auction, for $2.
I know it's old, but for the price it's always a good backup camera.
Even though there is no manual with it, I'm sure I can figure it out.
But one thing I dont fully understand. It says on the label "Picture
card XD Compatible". Does that mean I need a XD card, or can I use a
common SD card? My good camera is a Canon that uses SD cards, so I have
those. I dont have any XD cards. Of course I'll buy one or two if I
must, but if I can use SD, that's better since I have them.

Thanks

[Wolfgang Weisselberg]

fred...@noemail.com <fred...@noemail.com> wrote:
> I got an Olympus D-540 Zoom digital camera at a local auction, for $2.
> I know it's old, but for the price it's always a good backup camera.

3 MPix ... Oookay ...

> Even though there is no manual with it, I'm sure I can figure it out.
> But one thing I dont fully understand. It says on the label "Picture
> card XD Compatible".

What's hard to understand there?

> Does that mean I need a XD card,

Yes.

> or can I use a common SD card?

Does it say on the lable "SD card compatible"? No? Well,
then you cannot. So add an expensive card to the price.


You *could* have used google. You know, that newfangled search
engine thingy?

-Wolfgang

[Pete A]

It looks like you will have to buy an xD card:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XD-Picture_Card>

I was unable to find a listing for the D-540 on two Olympus websites
then a quick web search didn't reveal a reliable source for a user
manual download.

Hope you get it working because it seems capable of producing nice photos.

[Chemiker]

The Olympus website lists this camera under archived products, and
mentions only the 16 mb XD card, which was included with the camera as
OEM equipment. You can download the manual free of charge at:

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_archived_product_details.asp?id=954&fl=8

Also, it (the manual) specifies only xD cards, capacity from 16 MB to
512 MB.

Also, DON'T try using regular carbon zinc AA batteries.

HTH

Alex

[Charles E. Hardwidge]

"Pete A" <pete3....@nospam.ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:2012051012314058996-pete3attkins@nospamntlworldcom...

Review here covering storage capacity, recommended batteries, and battery
life.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-reviews/olympus/d-540-zoom/olympus-d-540-zoom-review.html

--
Charles E. Hardwidge

[fred...@noemail.com]

Thanks for the info. I'm downloading the manual right now. I'll have
to see what ebay has for XD cards. I dont want to stick a lot of money
in this thing, but it's always nice to have a spare or backup camera.
Olympus has always been a quality camera, unless that has changed in
recent years. I dont know the age of this camera, but it looks like
new.

I tried to use carbon zinc AA batteries in my Canon once, only because
that was all I had at the time and didn't want to drive to the store.
They were brand new out of the package and not expired. Yet I was lucky
to get a few pictures before the camera turned itself off. I used the
other two new batteries in the package and the same thing happened.
Apparently carbon zinc batteries dont have enough power. I dont buy
them anymore for anything. Alkaline batteries only cost a few cents
more and they work in anything. (I used to buy the carbon zinc ones for
flashlights, but now I'd rather have batteries that can be used
anywhere). I also gave up on rechargable batteries years ago. They are
not what they are cracked up to be..... they have a short life between
charges and seem to just die after a few uses. For the price, they are
not worth the trouble or cost.

PS. If I cant find a deal on XD cards on ebay, is there an online source
for all camera cards, that has good prices?

[Savageduck]

Amazon has all sorts of vendors offering reasonable prices on all sorts
of memory.
I found an 8GB XD at Target, of all places, and I have seen them at
Staples & Office Depot.
I had to find XD cards for my Fuji E900. That said it is a non-standard
card and was a reason to buy my G11.


--
Regards,

Savageduck

[Chemiker]

There is one place where you want carbon-zinc batteries. IF you are an
outdoor type, know this: When Alkalines and others fail, they fail
suddenly and dramatically compared to C/Z batteries. If you're out in
the boonies at night, C/Z batteries will go bad slowly, but even in
half output on a flashlight, you can still see and move about. When
the others go bad, they go bad (ooops!!) right now. Blackout!

xD chips are not that hard to find, I think. (I admit I don't use
them) You might find them at Best Buy, Frye's, RadioShack or other
electronics store. I would do a DogPile search (DogPile.com), which
will automaticallty check google, ask, bing, etc. etc. , if you want
to buy online. I would also suggest B&H, Adorama, and JR photo, but
not for close out prices. Target might have them. WalMart. Costco?

HTH

Alex........ enjoy that little Olympus. They were a great company,
albeit they are in dire straits right now. At 2 razzbuckniks, you got
a deal. A thought: does it have an internal wafer/button cell? IF so,
you might want to change that out to protect the camera. See the
manual.

[philo]

Between the price of the XD card you will need to buy
plus the expense of always having to change batteries
it's not worth it for such a low end camera

You have now been advised

--
https://www.createspace.com/3707686

[Robert Coe]

On Thu, 10 May 2012 14:42:26 -0500, Chemiker <prussia...@verizon.net>
wrote:
: There is one place where you want carbon-zinc batteries. IF you are an

: outdoor type, know this: When Alkalines and others fail, they fail
: suddenly and dramatically compared to C/Z batteries. If you're out in
: the boonies at night, C/Z batteries will go bad slowly, but even in
: half output on a flashlight, you can still see and move about. When
: the others go bad, they go bad (ooops!!) right now. Blackout!

That hasn't been my experience. I use alkalines in several flashlights
(rechargeables don't seem to fit, for some reason), and they always fail
slowly, with the light getting dimmer until I replace the batteries. They seem
to fail more suddenly in a wireless mouse, but even there my recollection is
that the mouse would usually behave erratically for a while before total
failure.

Bob

[Savageduck]

Since you have opened the discussion to flashlights, for work I have
gone through several Streamlights and Maglights both with alkalines and
rechargeable NiCads. However for the last 16 years at work, and
currently I use SureFire flashlights of which I own 3, two with
rechargeable NiCad packs, but my indispensable work horse is an L5
Lumamax which produces 200 lumens with a high efficiency single LED and
2 SF123A 3volt Lithium batteries.
They now have a Lithium Phosphate rechargeable option. These have a
lower cycle life to their disposable Lithium brethren.

That model (L5) has been discontinued, but those currently available
are among the best available.
< http://www.surefire.com/illumination/flashlights.html?clear=1 >

--
Regards,

Savageduck

[Question Quigley]

For batteries, try high capacity NiMH rechargeables. such as POWEREX,
and use a good charger, such as Maha. Much better than NiCds.

[Question Quigley]

Nah, getting the picture is a lot more important than the quality of the
camera. That is what photography is all about.

[philo]

The point was simply that going to some place like Goodwill
a better camera could be had for less (total) $$$$

[Question Quigley]

$2.00 for the camera is less than a cup od Starbucks overrated coffee.

I have seen XD cards on ebay for $1.59.

Not much of an expense. He can leave it in his car or in his office desk
draw. If it falls into the lake, big deal.

[OG]

There were various versions of xD cards, and larger capacity ones may
not be compatible with your camera. We used Fuji cameras for a while,
and couldn't use the H version cards in the earlier cameras.

> I tried to use carbon zinc AA batteries in my Canon once, only because
> that was all I had at the time and didn't want to drive to the store.
> They were brand new out of the package and not expired. Yet I was lucky
> to get a few pictures before the camera turned itself off. I used the
> other two new batteries in the package and the same thing happened.
> Apparently carbon zinc batteries dont have enough power. I dont buy
> them anymore for anything. Alkaline batteries only cost a few cents
> more and they work in anything. (I used to buy the carbon zinc ones for
> flashlights, but now I'd rather have batteries that can be used
> anywhere). I also gave up on rechargable batteries years ago. They are
> not what they are cracked up to be..... they have a short life between
> charges and seem to just die after a few uses. For the price, they are
> not worth the trouble or cost.

I've never had a problem with rechargeables, but I've made sure I've
bought decent NiMh ones.

More than happy with using Eneloops, which are the low self-discharge type.