SP-350 XD card formats

[tc_rain]

I went to buy an XD card today for the SP-350 and discovered they had two different formats. I think the clerk said an M format and an H format but he could not tell me the difference. He said one format is newer then the other and he did not know which card would work best. He did guarantee me the M format would work though. Is one card better than the other? Best Buy had the 512mb by SanDisk for $20.00. Is a 512 big enough or should I go with the 1gig? According to the chart at Best Buy, the 1 gig holds 80 shots at 8mp so I assume the 512 wil hold about 40.

 

[ThatsSomeBadHatHarry]

The H is faster, and RAW pics are pretty big, so i'd go with the 1gig.

 

[capeofstorms_pierre]

hi def go with the H format is high speed, ur camera will cycle quicker between shots. i use bothe the 1G and 512 depends wheren im diving and if i can downloadin the evening.
First deside what resolution you want to shoot , in RAW you will need a photo editing program. Are u just want to point and shoot to show ur buddies or are u wanting to go further.
Pesonally I use the max camera setting and then reduce them if i want to email them. Have a fellow dive member who prefers RAW, but im not that into my photography

hope this helps ,

 

[sunkarm]

Another question is, how many times can u reformat your XD card to b used over and over again?

 

[LindaBluedolphin]

Yep go with the 1GB H type, better to have more space then less space.

 

[diversteve]

At the second highest resolution jpeg resolution, my SP-350 will store 500+ images on a 1GB card. Raw is something like 92 images. And Raw takes an awful long time to write. Like seconds, maybe even 10 seconds per shot. So you're not going to be shooting anything fast moving in Raw mode. I have the older format card.

 

[diversteve]

Another question is, how many times can u reformat your XD card to b used over and over again?

Not sure there's a limit. Most of the time, I just move the files from the card via Windows Explorer so I've actually never reformatted my card. The Olympus s/w works the same way. I've been shooting digital since 1998 or so with various cameras and I've only had to reformat a card once or twice.

 

[torrey]

Fry's online store has the Olympus brand 1gb H xD for $35 with free shipping here. I've got 2 and I highly recommend them.