why is Olympus still using xD?

[Romphotog]

I just dont get it!?
Why is Olympus still using xD?
Even the new Olympus SP-570UZ uses it. I was considering it for the huge zoom, and the fact that in manual mode, if you in/decrease aperture/shutter speed, or in/decrease the ISO, the LCD gets darker/brighter. Only the Canon seems to do that as well. But not if I have to get that lousy xD card!

Even Fuji has gotten out of the xD biz; Olympus what's the deal here?
Why not just bury this useless unwanted format?!

[Dougjgreen]

Apparently, it's profitable for them, because it is completely lacking in competition. Because they get to charge $20 for a card that's smaller and slower than a $10 SD card, and people who buy their cameras need to pay it.

[Photo-John]

That's a damn good question. Doug's theory is the most plausible that I can think of. Because there are no apparent benefits for the user. I use the Olympus Stylus SW cameras a lot, therefore I use xD cards a lot. And from my perspective, there's no good reason for them. Sure, Olympus loads some cool panoramic software in their branded xD cards. But they could do that with SD cards, too. xD cards transfer and format a lot slower and that always annoys me. I keep hoping that Olympus will abandon them. They've got to be making money from them or there wouldn't be any reason, since they don't seem to offer anything to the user.

[drg]

At least Olympus has not hampered their DSLR's with the xD only format!

Olympus has always been quirky and willing to do their own thing. They've built cameras that are more fashion accessories than anything else. They have also built some ' p/s ' or really advanced compacts (c-series cameras from 2000- 8000's) that only now are all the DSLR companies catching up with in terms of 'features'.

They still seem to be selling plenty of cameras so market forces apparently haven't forced a re-design.

I agree those are $%@*^ annoying little cards! And, and, there are two not fully compatible xD types as well!!

[Justintoxicated]

are they slower than SD? in my 1030SW I can stream Video until the card is full, but when I put in SD it fills the buffer and then writes. I have to use the faster version of XD though..But it could just be the cameras implementation.