Smart Media Cards

[Capt. Horrendous]

I've got a fuji digital camera which uses Smart Media to store the pics prior to download. Downloading the pics from the camera to my PC takes ages. I understand that it is possible to buy a gizmo to put the Smart Media card in to speed up the downloading process, anyone got any gen on these ??.

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Horry Snr.

[whisperer]

there are two ways that i know of.
1. a smartmedia adaptor, kinda like a floppy disk, put the flashcard in it and access as a floppy.
2. a usb adaptor, again plugs into USB port, and media shoves into it.

can reccomend the floppy disk adaptor

[Mac the Knife]

The FlashPath FDD adaptor that I have works well. Not cheap though. DOS/Windows just sees it as an ordinary stiffy. Reads are slow, writes even slower, but not noticably slower than a serial connection. Saves a lot on the camera batteries. Otherwise plug camera into mains adaptor during file tinkering to avoid subsidising the battery makers.

USB or Firewire connections are much faster, but not all cameras have 'em and & not all PC have Firewire (or USB for that matter).

[BoeingBoy]

I have a Fuji 4700 which I use with Gateway Laptop.

On buying the camera, the company salesman suggested that I buy a PCMCIA converter. So once the card has been used we mearly put the card into the PCM holder, and we can view the photo's instantly as an 'E' drive.

Any copies can then be sent to the hard drive, or onto LS120 disk, or the CD writer.

I think the PCM holder was about £40, but it's been worth every penny.

[Pengineer]

My camera uses a CF card but I think the principle is the same as yours.
Likewise for my laptop I have CF to PCMCIA adaptor (approx £10)works brilliantly as an extra drive, I can copy 300 pics from the card to PC in about 5 seconds.
At home I have a USB CF reader which works quite well but nowhere near as fast as the other method and that cost me about £40.
Using the camera and supplied serail lead takes one minute per pic!!!!

[fobotcso]

The local branch of the London Camera Exchange sold me a "JenReader" for £49.50.

Its a Smart Card reader that plugs into the USB port of my laptop or PC and draws its power from the USB. Like Pengineer's kit, it is lightning fast and will download a full card in a few seconds. (Pengineer's USB Okay?)

With it you can also upload images from PC to card although I haven't thought of a reason why I would want to do that. Perhaps to mail them?

The JenReader (German make - find their site) is more expensive from specialist computer suppliers.

[Capt. Horrendous]

Thank-you all for the replies.

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Horry Snr.