Editorial Review

Toshiba's flagship PDR-M81 digital camera combines 4-megapixel clarity with a Canon optical zoom lens and a full complement of features. If you're looking for a high-performance camera at an affordable price, the M81 is a great choice.

In its default mode, the camera is as easy to use as any point-and-shoot, but for photographers who want more creative control, the camera offers numerous advanced settings, including aperture- and shutter-priority modes, shutter speeds as slow as 15 seconds, a multimode flash, adjustable white balance, exposure compensation, and macro (for objects as little as four inches from the lens). Shots can be captured in black and white, sepia, vivid color, or standard color.

For power, the camera uses four AA batteries or an optional AC adapter. The big benefit to using standard AA batteries instead of a custom proprietary battery is that AA batteries are available virtually everywhere in the world, so missing a once-in-a-lifetime shot due to dead batteries won't be an issue. The downside is that a digital camera will kill a set of alkaline batteries extremely quickly, especially if you're using the camera's LCD display. If you're an occasional photographer, you can get by with high-power disposables, but if you plan to take more than a handful of photos a month, a set of rechargeable batteries (scroll up to our Accessories section) is a virtual necessity.

To compose your image, either look through the traditional viewfinder or use the 1.5-inch color LCD display on the back of the camera. Pictures are stored on SmartMedia cards in the industry-standard JPEG format. Images can be stored at three resolutions (2,400 x 1,600; 1,200 x 800; 720 x 480) and at three levels of compression. The PDR-M81 does not offer uncompressed TIFF or RAW recording, a feature found on some other 4-megapixel cameras. The included 8 MB card holds seven images at the camera's default setting or five images in the highest-quality (least compressed) setting. The card is reusable, but if you're hoping to take more photos before returning to your computer to transfer the images, you'll want a larger SmartMedia card.

Canon provides Toshiba with the 2.8x optical zoom lens. In 35mm camera terms, the lens zooms from 35mm to 98mm, and the aperture varies from f2.9 to f8.0. In addition to the 2.8x optical zoom, the camera includes an additional 2.2x digital zoom. This feature merely crops the edges off your picture and blows up the remaining image, enlarging your picture at the expense of image quality. Most photo-editing software will let you do the same thing to your picture once you've transferred it to your home computer, so it's a camera feature that's not often used.

Movie mode captures movie clips at resolutions of 320 x 240 or 160 x 120 pixels. This feature won't replace your camcorder, but it's perfect for when you just want to capture a quick movie and e-mail it to a friend or relative.

A video-out feature makes it easy to show your pictures in big-screen glory. Just connect your camera to your TV with the included cable to give a virtual slide show to friends or family. If you think your photos look impressive on a 17-inch computer monitor, just wait until you see them on a 27-inch TV screen.

Shutter lag--the delay between the time you press the button and the moment the camera actually captures the photo--is a problem with most digital cameras, and the M81 is no exception. The camera can take up to a second to snap your picture after pressing the button, which can be an unacceptably long time, especially if you're trying to take a picture of a quick-moving subject. Most of this delay can be eliminated by prefocusing--composing your shot, then pressing the shutter button halfway down to allow the camera to adjust the focus and metering. When you press the button the rest of the way down, the shutter will snap almost instantly.

The PDR-M81 comes with Image Expert software, an 8 MB SmartMedia card, video and USB cables, shoulder strap, camera case, lens cap, and four AA alkaline batteries. The camera is covered by a one-year warranty.

Pros:

• 4-megapixel sensor captures filmlike detail in your photos
• Advanced features like shutter- and aperture-priority for more advanced photographers

Cons:

• No connection for external flash
• No uncompressed (TIFF) mode
• Included alkaline batteries are only a short-term solution

Features

• Optimized for use in PDAs, MP3 players, or digital cameras
• Lightning fast read and write speeds allow you to get the best performance from your PDA, MP3 player, or digital camera
• High quality components guarantee steady performance, the utmost durability, and breadth of compatibility
• Individually tested to ensure each product works the first time, everytime
• Five year replacement warranty and 30-day money-back guarantee

Reviews (6)

A card that does its job just the way it should.
I have found no fault with this card, used in a digital camera. It gives a lot more (needed) capacity than the card that came with the camera and it works without a hitch. The photos from it download fine and are high quality.

Yet another great product from viking
This is a great card. I bought it for my sharp dig. viewcam. It works great. I purchased the 16 mb card and it holds so many pics.

Features

• Optimized for use in PDAs, MP3 players, or digital cameras
• Lightning fast read and write speeds allow you to get the best performance from your PDA, MP3 player, or digital camera
• High quality components guarantee steady performance, the utmost durability, and breadth of compatibility
• Individually tested to ensure each product works the first time, everytime
• Five year replacement warranty and 30-day money-back guarantee

Reviews (28)

buy online
I bought a digital camera and I would like to add some memory. Because there are so many different cards, I was afraid to buy online. The search engine is very good and I was able to find a card matching my camera. The card fits well and add 99 pictures above a card holding 24. The pictures are similar if not identical in quality compared with the one purchased with the camera.

Want to know how many pictures a smart media can hold?
Here is general guidline of about how many pictures a smart media card can hold. This list was made up using a 2.1 mega pixel camera at 1600x1200 resolution. (The Fuji Finepix 2300). So if you have a higher mega pixel camera the amount of pictures it can hold will decrease and you will be able to hold a few more pictures with a lower mega pixel model. But these numbers will give you a basic idea so you will know what capacity of smart media card is for you. (1600x1200 resolution) Example: Listed is the card capacity with the amount of photos it can hold in the camera's Fine (best mode), Normal, and Basic photo modes. (Fine,Normal,Basic)

8 MB (9,19,39) 16 MB (19,39,75) 32 MB (40,82,155) 64 MB (82,170,330) 128 MB (168,350,700)

*Most camera's normal mode takes pictures of good enough quality for most photos you will take, unless the camera is under 1.3 mega pixels.

*Many cameras come with a 8MB memory card. But that usually isn't enough memory for most people, here is what I would suggest purchasing:

My suggestions:

1-1.9 mega pixel camera - 8MB or 16 MB

2-2.9 mega pixel camera - 32 MB

3 mega pixels and up - 64 MB

Works great
I've ordered three of these things. They work great. Never had any problems. They come with a nice plastic case that is perfect for storing the cards in my camera bag.

Features

• Optimized for use in PDAs, MP3 players, or digital cameras
• Lightning fast read and write speeds allow you to get the best performance from your PDA, MP3 player, or digital camera
• High quality components guarantee steady performance, the utmost durability, and breadth of compatibility
• Individually tested to ensure each product works the first time, everytime
• Five year replacement warranty and 30-day money-back guarantee

Reviews (68)

Who could ask for more?
I have the fuji 40i digital camera with mp3 player built in and movie camera with sound feature also. What a super camera, so small. But I found after loading my mp3's and taking my movies, I had no memory left for pics. (fuji comes with a 16meg card) So I read the reviews on Amazon and noticed people said the Viking cards worked on the fuji cameras. (fuji needs a special ID memory smartcard for audio) So I purchased my Viking 64 meg smartcard from Amazon and I'm thrilled. According to what I have read , this is the maximum card you can use with this camera. Everything works. I can now take 51 pics in the 2400x1800 mode while holding my favorite mp3's and movie in the camera. Life is beautiful! Super price (can you believe the drop in smart card pricing?) Thank you ,Amazon and Viking!

1000 PICS in a match book that is as thin as a dime !
This card enables me to take about 1000 pictures (at the lowest resolution) with my Olympus 460. This is the largest smartmedia card you can currently buy and only has one minor draw back. The panorama feature is not available on Olympus cameras that have a panorama feature since this is not an Olympus brand card. Over all this is a great product. With such a high data capacity card as smartmedia USB reader is almost a must. I can download the 64 MB that are on this card in under 2 Minutes with a USB reader. Before with the serial connection that came with my camera it took (or felt like) hours! This is also the cheaper of the 2 64MB Smartmedia currently on amazon now.

Want to know how much smart media cards can hold?
Here is general guidline of about how many pictures a smart media card can hold. This list was made up using a 2.1 mega pixel camera at 1600x1200 resolution. (The Fuji Finepix 2300). So if you have a higher mega pixel camera the amount of pictures it can hold will decrease and you will be able to hold a few more pictures with a lower mega pixel model. But these numbers will give you a basic idea so you will know what capacity of smart media card is for you. (1600x1200 resolution) Example: Listed is the card capacity with the amount of photos it can hold in the camera's Fine (best mode), Normal, and Basic photo modes. (Fine,Normal,Basic)

8 MB (9,19,39) 16 MB (19,39,75) 32 MB (40,82,155) 64 MB (82,170,330) 128 MB (168,350,700)

*Most camera's normal mode takes pictures of good enough quality for most photos you will take, unless the camera is under 1.3 mega pixels.

*Many cameras come with a 8MB memory card. But that usually isn't enough memory for most people, here is what I would suggest purchasing:

My suggestions:

1-1.9 mega pixel camera - 8MB or 16 MB

2-2.9 mega pixel camera - 32 MB

Features

• Optimized for use in PDAs, MP3 players, or digital cameras
• Lightning fast read and write speeds allow you to get the best performance from your PDA, MP3 player, or digital camera
• High quality components guarantee steady performance, the utmost durability, and breadth of compatibility
• Individually tested to ensure each product works the first time, everytime
• Five year replacement warranty and 30-day money-back guarantee

Reviews (67)

Great Value
Have owned 4 months. Bought 2 128MB cards. no problems for 3 months. camera stopped recognizing 1 of the cards, but Viking promptly replaced. Best customer service I,ve seen for a long time. rebate was extra slow to arrive, took about 3 months.

At least this one works
In another review, I describe the negative experience I had with a Sandisk 128MB card. In summary, the card was defective and I lost 240 pictures. More recently, I have been using this Viking card and it has worked flawlessly, at least so far.

I have a 2 megapixel camera, and in HQ mode each photo is approximately 500K, and in SHQ mode 1MB. This means you can fit 256 or 128 photos in the respective modes. In my brief experience I have found the HQ mode sufficient for most photos, so for me this card stores the equivelant of 10 rolls of film. For my 2 megapixel camera, this has been a convenience. For those who plan to save even larger files, I would say that the 128MB size is essential. And with the falling prices on these cards, it makes more sense than ever to invest in a card this size.

The cheapest Smart Media on the market
I recently received a Fuji Finepix F601 as a gift; the giver, a professional photographer, included a Fuji 128MB Smart Media Card as a matter of course. Thank goodness he knew what he was doing in terms of storage needs, at least -- the 601 only comes with a 16MB card, which on the 601 is only enough for 5 images at the highest recording level. If you're getting a compatible Fuji, Olympus, or other-brand camera, you really need the highest storage card possible.

But it turns out these cards are fragile, and fingerprints can short them out or cause problems with the camera or reader being able to access their contents. So the best way to keep them around forever is to get a 128 MB card and never remove it! Ideally, then, this should be a solution coupled with the purchase or ownership of a camera which interfaces directly (USB or firewire) with the PC, so there won't be a need to remove the card. Ever. That security, and the ability to store over a hundred 8x10 print-quality pix on one wafer-thin card, makes the bigger sized card easily worth the extra cost if you're getting a Fuji or other-brand digital camera.

Features

• Inexpensive SmartMedia card reader solution for your laptop
• Transforms the PC Card (or PCMCIA) slot of your laptop to a SmartMedia card reader
• Enables you to drag and drop files to and from your SmartMedia card from any software program
• Very rugged design with no moving parts to ensure a long life cycle
• Five year replacement warranty and 30-day money-back guarantee

Reviews (5)

It works
This thing is fast and works well however for my next reader I will be getting one that does both Compact Flash and Smartmedia. Most cameras nowadays are Compact Flash so that limits the usability of this device unless all you're going to be using it for is Smartmedia.

Good Card Reader
I have had this reader for 8 months. I have not had any problems with it at all. Good buy for a smart media reader.

Features

• Turns your 3-1/2" disk drive into a SmartMedia card reader
• Transfer files from your SmartMedia card to your computer just like you would from a floppy disk
• Compatible with most Windows and Macintosh environments including Windows NT
• Transfers data at 500KB per second
• One year replacement warranty and 30-day money-back guarantee

Reviews (23)

Convenient. Saves USB hassle.
This makes transferring digital pictures from cameras that use smart media cards to the computer simple and easy.

The smart media card is inserted into the adapter, and the adapter then goes in the floppy drive and is read by the computer as any other 3.5 disk. The software installation is easy. It comes with software for most operating systems, but as of mid december the software for installation on windows xp had to be downloaded from their web site. The time to transfer files from the floppy to the hard drive is slower than USB, but the process doesn't need your attention so you can select the files you want to transfer and walk away while the process goes on.

The cost, of course, is added to the cost of the digital camera which usually comes with the USB cable included, so you do pay for the convenience of being able to download the pictures into any computer that has a floppy drive but may not have a free USB port, or of just avoiding the hassle of connecting and disconnecting the USB cable and of running down the camera batteries to transfer the files.

As noted by others, it does not come with a manual, but that is also downloadable from the website.

If you care to spend the money and can put up with a slower file transfer time, this is a great product for those who don't have USB capability, or to avoid any hassles or inconvenience that comes with the USB connection.

don't wasre your money
buy the original of Olympus. This doen't work with my windows xp computer, the fact is that you don't have an XP software with the product. you must go to the web and download it.The only thing you have with this horrible products are 3 diskettes , with no XP software and no instaling instructions....a minimun advice in the bag , refers to the web page for the instaling instructions, the last bad thing is!in the web there are no instructions, for this product¡¡¡¡I'm going to return to amazon.BRRRRRRRR

Features

• Reads and writes to: ATA Flash, CompactFlash, and SmartMedia
• Reads and writes at 1.5 MB per second (10X) allowing fast file transfer to and from your flash card
• Compatible with most Windows and Macintosh environments
• Computer recognizes the card reader as multiple additional drives on your computer; allowing the utmost in flexibility and convenience
• One year replacement warranty and 30-day money-back guarantee

Reviews (111)

More than what's advertised
I first bought (and have reviewed) the ScanDisk reader, with which I had too many drive conflicts and installation problems. The Viking unit is better thought out, and this is apparent from the moment you open the box and notice how it is neatly and carefully packaged. I installed the Viking software (30 seconds, no options), rebooted and plugged the drive into my USB port. It was recognized by the OS and the correct drivers were installed and, voila, I was in business! I seems to read a little faster than the ScanDisk drive, has better indicator lights for on/active & reading, and includes an adapter that allows you to use the CompactFlash card in your laptop without need of the larger drive. As a last little bonus, the drive can also read SmartMedia cards!

A good product; needs better support
After trying to get my IBM laptop to download pictures from my Nikon digital camera via the serial connection and discovering that the two units were incompatible, I decided to buy this card reader. It works well, but I have to follow a particular procedure or else I get a Windows 98 protection error or, barring that problem, the computer refuses to read the card.

1) Make sure the computer's USB hub has been disconnected before shutting down.

2) Plug in the USB hub (but keep the card reader unplugged for now).

3) Power up the peripherals, including the USB hub.

4) Boot up the computer.

5) Plug card into the card reader.

6) Plug the card reader into the USB hub.

7) Watch as Windows becomes confused because it also has a Zip drive attached to the hub.

8) Copy the pictures off the card in the reader.

9) Unplug the reader from the hub.

I had to do something similar when I tried using the reader on a Mac G3 tower.

It's a rigamarole, but it works. When I talked to the folks at Viking, they said it was a software problem (the usual contention made by hardware manufacturers--and vice versa) and said they couldn't help me.

So, it's basically a good unit, but Viking needs to work harder on compatibility and support.

Satisfy your need for speed!
Assuming that spending the bucks on a memory reader isn't going to cause any heartburn, you won't be disappointed by the USB Flash Memory Reader.

Essentially, what you are buying is speed. The USB Flash Memory Reader is fast, fast, fast. I've experienced a screaming 25-50X improvement! Transferring jpeg images files from my Nikon CoolPix to my Windows laptop previously took many minutes via a serial cable connection. Comparable transfers now require just a few seconds.

The USB device is plug-and-play and pretty funky looking (think: iMac cool). The drivers for Windows and MacOS are available.

CAUTION: I'm told there are unique technical issues surrounding the Diamond Rio MP3 Player's proprietary audio files.