Dave, I have been intending to do this for some time now, however, you know how we put things off. I appreciate the way you answer folks on this board. Your answers are really helpful to all of us. I was in the "TV News Business" for a several years, working with 16mm Cameras. The standard then was a good Bell&Howell or you were really uptown if you were shooting with the Bolex. Then color came along and we were really in "high cotton." However, I do not think I have ever seen anything quite as exciting as the Digital Camera. Although I am quite familiar with 16mm and still photography I am among the newcomers to the "digicam." But I find myself excited as so many of your readers are. I am awaiting delivery of the Olympus D400Z Camera and hope it was a good and wise choice. I had the Epson 750Z in mind, but they have been so long in release. I suppose my question to you is: Smart Media vs Compact Flash. I can't see Olympus staying with something that is not "sound" and I do not think it is about to disappear anytime soon. What is you take on this? Thanks, and keep up the good work. Doug Carter

-- Doug Carter (rdcarter@cowtown.net), February 23, 1999

Answers

Doug- Many thanks for the kind comments! I'm afraid I'm pretty far behind on Forum support, but am trying to catch up. - Confess the "Thanks Dave" topic caught my eye right away!

SmartMedia clearly has a much smaller market share than CompactFlash, but I really don't see it going away anytime soon: At least one of the new MP3 music players uses it, and I think others are in the works. Given the HUGE market that music players would represent, SM should have a solid future. CF advocates point to (significantly) higher speeds, and better compatability as the cards grow larger, but I've been pretty happy with my SM-based Oly D-600L for a year now, and expect to still be using it in another year. (A remarkable statement, reflecting either the Oly's robustness, my innate stinginess, or both! ;-)

-- Dave Etchells (web@imaging-resource.com), February 24, 1999.