XD Picture Memory Guide

The XD picture card is a flash memory card used in digital cameras. The XD originally stood for "Extreme Digital". These cards were introduced by Olympus and Fujifilm in July 2002. Toshiba Corporation and Samsung Electronics manufacture XD picture cards for Olympus and Fujifim to be used in their digital cameras, as well as Olympus digital voice recorders. Fujifilm has also made an MP3 player which uses the card. As of this year, XD Picture cards are available between 16 MB and 3GB.

The original XD picture cards were only available in capacities from 16 MB to 512 MB. The type M card, which was released in 2005, uses MLC (Multi Level Cell) architecture and has a theoretical storage capacity of 8 GB. As of August 2006, 256 MB to 3 GB type M cards are available for purchase. The type M+ card, which was released in April of 2008, are only available in capacities of 1, 2, and 3 GB. In 2005 a type H card was released. The type H card offers higher data transfers, and are available in sizes of 256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB, 2 GB and 3GB as of 2008. Some newer Olympus cameras require type H or M+ cards to capture video at high-rate. Some older cameras may have compatibility issues with the newer M and H cards. Olympus and Fujifilm both have compatibility lists.

Pictures on a camera with an XD Picture card can be transfered from the card to a PC by plugging the camera in to the PC via a USB cable, or by removing the card and inserting it in to a card reader. The ability to plug the camera directly in to the PC makes the card easily compatible with any computer. XD picture cards are generally a little bit more expensive than some other forms of flash memory used in digital cameras such as SD cards, or Memory Stick. It's also limited to usage mainly in digital cameras, while many others have a more varied usage. However they have a low power consumption and quickly drain the cameras battery, and they are used by Olympus and Fujifilm cameras which are popular and well known brands of digital cameras.