Fuji 'Support' Flash Media Testing Info and rant

[gheinonen]

I spoke (by phone) to fuji support for a lengthly conversation about my Pro S2 when it failed at the same time a cheap 1GB Compact Flash also failed.

After hammering pretty hard on the table, the support rep finally admitted there was NO BUDGET for purchasing Compact Flash media and testing although HE was able to do some limited testing. I am told by him the slot was designed for Microdrive and the intent was for Microdrive use.

During this conversation I am told that ONLY Lexar Compact Flash is supported and that other brands are 'iffy' working sometimes and sometimes not working.

I asked about Fat32 in a future firmware update if possible and I am told 'not going to happen' but he offered to forward me further into the cave to find someone who may know. 5 minutes and 3 forwards later I was back to our friendly Pro S2 support person. Get the idea? :confused:

It seems entirely possible a firmware update would address this issue. Can the camera do firmware updates? Other cameras have firmware updates, notably the Kodak Pro14n, which even gets new features beside bug fixes when they passout a firmware update.

I prefer to call my camera the SemiPro S2.

[Wichita Wayne]

The S2 was engineered to use SmartMedia and MicroDrives. SmartMedia is dumb memory with the controllers located in the camera. This helps eliminate compatibility problems because the interface is pretty standard. The MicroDrive is only made by one company when the S2 was released so there were not compatibility problems there either. But with CF cards it is a different story. The CF cards all contain controller electronics built in and there is a lot of variation between the many manufacturers. It is also reasonable for Fuji to not elect to spend the money on testing all available CF card variations. These tests are not simply inserting a card and seeing if it works. The tests are performed in an engineering lab and could have costs millions of dollars given the number of different CF cards on the market. Those dollars would have driven up the price on the S2. That is why Sony uses its own Memory Sticks and Fuji has its own xD memory, etc.

I mostly shoot weddings and need the most durable memory that will hold a large amount of data. We have had CF cards go through the washer and dryer and still download all the pictures with no problems. In fact we still use these cards every week. CF cards are also not sensitive to the metal detectors or the x-rays at airport security points. On the other hand MicroDrives have a hard disk that is made of glass and are not as durable as CF cards. Metal detectors will also cause trouble with them. At weddings all we use are CF cards. We use 256MB, 512MB, and 1GB CF cards that are mostly made by SanDisk. None of them has ever failed. I also have a MicroDrive and it is by far the fastest memory available for the S2. But I have had a MicroDrive crash and replaced under warranty. It worked for about 9 months and was replaced by CompUSA in three days. I am thinking about selling the MicroDrive but I haven't made up my mind yet.

As far as the format goes I do not see any difference between FAT and FAT32 on camera memory except for the fact that FAT32 will format larger than 2.2MB. To me using large storage is like keeping all your eggs in one basket. Currently we use 1GB and smaller memory, and FAT is fine for that. In fact if you always format your cards with the camera, which is a "best practice" with digital cameras then the type of format that is used is irrelevant.