Poll request: compact flash failures
Printed From: Dyxum.com
Category: Equipment forums
Forum Name: Other photographic topics
Forum Description: Miscellaneous photographic topics
URL: https://www.dyxum.com/dforum/forum_posts.asp?TID=22887
Printed Date: 18 April 2025 at 11:57
Topic: Poll request: compact flash failures
Posted By: rahim
Subject: Poll request: compact flash failures
Date Posted: 11 November 2007 at 19:06
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I know a number of photographer friends who keep multiple flash cards rather than one large card. The common justification is having a back-up should the card in the camera die in a critical situation.
I'm contemplating my next card purchase (probably when I finally get round to buying an A700 which may be some time!) and I'm wondering how common card death really is? If there's only a tiny number of failures across all the members here I'd be inclined to get a big card to avoid the hassle of switching. (A common second justification is often minimising the number of shots lost due to equipment theft/loss, but I'm just as, if not more, inclined to lose a floating second card...) Anyone else interested enough to justify a poll? |
Replies:
Posted By: redmalloc
Date Posted: 11 November 2007 at 19:55
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I would be interested to know how many have had problem with memory cards. Personally I have never had it happen.
Also another reason to buy multiple smaller card vs 1 big one, is cost. Generally it is easier to find cheap deals (cost/GB) in smaller memory densities. ------------- T: 17-50 70-200 100-300 M: 7D 16 28-135 50M 85 70-210 S: A700 |
Posted By: stiuskr
Date Posted: 11 November 2007 at 19:58
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I'd be curious to see the results. Up until just very recently I always reformatted the card in camera after downloading. Then I realized it's just as easy to delete them all at once with the cam still tethered to the computer. I've heard that excessive reformatting can degrade a card, but I've done it literally hundreds of times with no problems so far.
I've got three cards, a 2G SanDisk Extreme IV, 1G Dane-Elec(came with the gifted 7D) and 512MB SanDisk Ultra II(only thing I could find at Myrtle Beach when I received the camera). Of the 12000+ frames taken so far 99% were with the 2G card, and since I first got it it's only been removed from the cam maybe 3 or 4 times. We could probably have three or more polls concerning cards that I can think of. 1-Have you ever had a card failure? 2-What size card resides in the camera? 3-Do you download with a card reader or the camera tethered? 4-Do you delete all pics or reformat after downloading? 5-How many frames has the card seen? From these choices here I'd be most interested in the first two. ------------- Rob Suits Jr. a99M2 a99 a77 a700 KM7D|Min24/2.8 Min35/2 So50/1.4 So50/2.8 Min85/1.4G Tam90/2.8 Tam180/3.5|Tam17-50 CZ24-70G2 KM28-75D So70-200G1 So70-300G So70-400G1| SonyF60 AD200R2 |
Posted By: anderslynge
Date Posted: 11 November 2007 at 20:29
| Never happend to me... I use a Sandisk Extreme III one gigabyte and a Sandisk Extreme III two gigabyte. I bought the one gb first, and the two gb when it was the same price as the one gb was half a year before :) |
Posted By: OniFactor
Date Posted: 11 November 2007 at 20:42
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my entire thought about it is the same as for film.. spread your shots across multiple rolls/cards. if you lose one roll/card, that's not a chunk of time taken out of the photos, it's just a few from here or there.. ------------- Cam Lewis a500w/ebaygrip|Dynax7|Sigma70-200f/2.8IIHSM|Sigma24-60f/2.8|SigmaEF-610DGSuperFlash |
Posted By: David_S
Date Posted: 11 November 2007 at 23:04
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I recently had a 4gb transcend card fail. Newegg sent a new one no questions asked. I tend to carry a couple of 4gb cards when I travel and a couple of slower 2gb as backup. 1gb just fills up to quickly.
DS |
Posted By: polyglot
Date Posted: 12 November 2007 at 03:04
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27k actuations across my two digital cameras, no card failures. Both were using Ritek cards (512MB in the D7i, 4GB in the A100).
Repeated formatting will have no meaningful adverse effect on a card, certainly no worse than file deletion and possibly better than file deletion. The flash media in cards does wear out, but they have wear-leveling firmware built in so that writes are uniformly distributed across the physical media and the important sectors (FAT, free list and root directory) do not wear out prematurely. Writing a single jpeg to the card will wear out the card more than an in-camera format. Deleting hundreds of files individually from a very full card will require many sectors to be overwritten to erase all those diretory entries whereas an in-camera format will write only a couple of sectors to generate the minimal empty structure. Formatting on the computer though can cause significant wear (equivalent to filling the card entirely) if you enable bad-block checking in the format process. ------------- C&C always welcome ex- http://www.brodie-tyrrell.org/pad/ - Pic-A-Day https://www.flickr.com/photos/24125157@N00/ - on flickr |
Posted By: camelriders
Date Posted: 12 November 2007 at 03:34
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I have one 4 and one 8GB compact flash micro-drive, which I no longer use because of poor performance - these cards are slow.
I have a Snadisk Extreme III 4GB card and a Lexar 133x 4GB card - I have found the Sandisk a little fast than the Lexar. I have never had a card go bad in any of my Minolta/Sony cameras, however. I do have a 256GB Dane-elec card that went bad a few years ago and a 16meg card from many years ago that went bad as well. I have no plans on getting cards that are too large and will most likely stick with 4GB cards or possibly 8GB when I get a new camera if I need it - don't want the card to be too small or two big. I always use a card reader to load my pics to my PC as I see no reason to use my cameras battery power to handle this operation. Also, sometimes I perform a delete all of my pics on my card if there are not many, otherwise, I format the cards. If the card is full it takes a very long time to delete all the pics and uses to much battery power, whereas. If I format the cards, it's done in seconds. ------------- Regards, Bruce. |
Posted By: stiuskr
Date Posted: 12 November 2007 at 04:21
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ah-hah. Thanks much for that clear explanation, polyglot. I was going by a recommendation from Kim Komando (the digital goddess) about formatting and write cycles. Even though she was talking about usb thumb drives I figured the same applied to cf cards. So, back to reformatting for me. I'll still do all downloading in cam vs. the card reader though as I use the a/c power adapter so battery draw is not an issue.
And personally I've only maxed out the 2GB card maybe 3 or 4 times with the 7D, now that I've gotten away from bracket shooting I rarely take more than 100 shots at a time anyway. But if I do ever get the a700, or another Alpha yet to be released, I'll probably step up to a 4GB. #6-How often do you fill your cf card in one session? ------------- Rob Suits Jr. a99M2 a99 a77 a700 KM7D|Min24/2.8 Min35/2 So50/1.4 So50/2.8 Min85/1.4G Tam90/2.8 Tam180/3.5|Tam17-50 CZ24-70G2 KM28-75D So70-200G1 So70-300G So70-400G1| SonyF60 AD200R2 |
Posted By: PhotoTraveler
Date Posted: 12 November 2007 at 05:00
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I think the concerns over card failure aren't very valid. The issues causing card failure are preventable.
I have card from 4meg to 4gig, never an issue. Including my micro drives. Thing is, you should be practicing "safe flash card usage". 1) Only by the best stuff. The only MDs I would by are Hatachi, but they are no longer of use as flash is so cheap now. Any issues I have ever seen people have with MDs is non Hatachi units, or very early units, or ones people yanked out of portable devices. Other issues were caused by user that would be the same for CF. For flash. I now only buy Sandisk. I'd be fine with buying a Lexar too, and now probably wouldn't be an issue to buy a Sony card. But all the cheaper brands, no thanks. It's not like buying the best cards cost you much more. Why risk it. So many times when someone has a real problem, it's an off brand. 2) Never by cards from ebay or similar. I still do not understand why folks buy from ebay, of course this isn't just cards, but about anything. Ebay is not a store. It's an action site, it's for used things. If it's new, and it's on ebay, don't buy it. And besides we all know most the cards on ebay now are fake. By them from real place, reputable places like BH, newegg, or best buy. 3) Format in the camera every time. No exceptions. Do not use delete, do not delete or format in the computer. 4) Don't switch around between devices. Dedicate cards for a single device. Most CF failures aren't failures, they are corruption's. Mainly caused by people not formating, or formatting in their computers. Also people yanking them out not powered down. I've never heard of an actual real failure of a top brand card from the card just dying without anything being done that would cause issues. To me having a lot of cards laying around in your bag and loosing one is more of an issue. Or putting a filled card back in and formating over it by mistake. |
Posted By: MojoRick
Date Posted: 12 November 2007 at 06:03
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I put one though the washing machine AND the dryer. That was almost two years ago, and it is still working.
It is a 1 Gig SanDisk Ultra II. ------------- Rick |
Posted By: rahim
Date Posted: 12 November 2007 at 09:14
That's not what I wanted to hear! My current card is a 4GB Transcend too! Only problem I've ever had has been file corruption after using a dodgy card reader.
LOL |
David_S wrote:Posted By: Dipsausje
Date Posted: 14 January 2008 at 01:51
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I've never had any card fail. Not with my MemoryStick , MicroSD or CF. So I don't really worry about that happening. ------------- http://www.jelledekker.com" rel="nofollow - jelledekker.com | http://500px.com/JelleDekker" rel="nofollow - 500px |
Posted By: camelriders
Date Posted: 14 January 2008 at 02:06
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My friend has had a 100% failure rate on his cards, no matter what brand.
Though I do think it’s him. He’s the kind of guy who will pull it from the camera with the camera running, plug it back in with the camera on, etc. ------------- Regards, Bruce. |
Posted By: fmajor
Date Posted: 14 January 2008 at 02:57
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I have a Lexar 2GB 133X WA and never a failure or glitch of any kind in 2 years of shooting. ------------- |KM 7D|a200|Sig 15-30mm| Min 28-85mm|Min 28-135mm| Min 70-210mm F4|S75-300|S18-70 http://www.flickr.com/photos/18616048@N00/" rel="nofollow - my flickr |
Posted By: Mick
Date Posted: 14 January 2008 at 04:46
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The cards I have are:
2GB Fuji xD, 2GB Fuji xD, 16MB SD, 32MB SD, 64MB SD, 256MB SD, 1GB SD, 2GB SD x 4, 4GB Lexar SDHC, 256MB Dane-Elec CF, 1GB i-Pro CF, 2GB A-Data CF, 4GB Hitachi MD, 6GB Hitachi MD, 4GB CF, 4GB CF, 4GB CF. All San-Disk unless marked. Apart from it being obvious I am unable to discard anything that looks like it might be vaguely useful, I have had the following failures: 0 And that's the truth. I, too have washed and dried one of the cards, and a 2GB SD card was bent almost in half (creased the case). It still worked, though - I just stopped using it. I try not to remove a card from a camera - unless, obviously, I'm out and fill a card. All images are downed from the camera (any camera) via the tether, then immediately backed up (no processing) and I use the camera to format the card immediately. The cards are generally kept to the same device - although one of the 4GB ExtremeIII cards floats between a700 and 7D with seemingly no ill effects. Some of the cards have seen thousands and thousands of shots. Some, like the Hitachi MD's are kept purely for emergency back-ups as they're sooooooo ssssslllloooowwww. I do shoot a bit on them and re-format every couple of months just so they don't forget what they are. And I like the noise they make when they wind up ;) |
Posted By: Shaocaholica
Date Posted: 14 January 2008 at 06:51
You must have gotten burned on ebay. I've bought plenty of "new" things on ebay that ended up being "real" and at a steal of a price. Sure there are scammers on ebay just like there are scams everywhere. I recently bought a Lexar 300x UDMA 8GB card off ebay for $150 new. It came still shrink wrapped with the factory sticker. Packaging was way too fancy to be a knock off. Original warranty papers, etc. Shows up as 8GB in my A700, burst shooting confirms the speed is right and blazingly fast. |
Posted By: DaFoot
Date Posted: 14 January 2008 at 12:44
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I only have 2x2Gb SanDisk extreme IV.
No problems as yet, but then compared to a lot of folks I'm a very light user  ------------- http://www.dafoot.co.uk - Me |
Posted By: Ronald
Date Posted: 14 January 2008 at 12:58
| I'd be more worried about bent contact pins in the camera. Using an in camera USB2 will minimize these kind of errors. On the other hand, you should from time to time pull out the card to avoid corrosion, as the contacts are self-cleaning. |
Posted By: Mauricio
Date Posted: 14 January 2008 at 13:36
| I had a 1Gb Lexar fail when downloading from 5D to portable hard drive after about 8 months trouble free use. It was bought in 2005 and at L60 was an expensive consumable. It was returned to the UK supplier and they replaced it FOC and I've had no further problems with that or my other 2 cards which are Sandisk. Other than away from base, I download direct to my PC and always format in camera. I have a card reader which I take away with me but avoid using it. |
Posted By: numo
Date Posted: 14 January 2008 at 13:49
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I never had a card fail on me - I use them in cameras, PDA and also as a solid-state device to boot my firewall from. However, none of these was used in a way that would write one place very often - 10000 pictures with 100 pictures on a card only means 100 writes on each place.
I had one card that simply refused to work in a particular device (other ones were fine). A colleague had one card failed on him. It was none of the big brands (he said it was Apacer, but wasn't too sure). Other than that I personally do not know anyone who ever had such failure. |
Posted By: Ouscazz Photo
Date Posted: 14 January 2008 at 14:44
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I have 2 Sandisk Ultra II 1Gb CF and 1 Sandisk Ultra II 4Gb CF for my dSLRs and a pile of Sandisk MS duo 512Mb and 1Gb for my cellphones and compact digicam.
I've been using card memorys for at least 10 years now and never ever experienced one single problem. ------------- http://www.flickr.com/photos/ouscazz/ - My Gallery |
Posted By: alanfrombangor
Date Posted: 14 January 2008 at 14:59
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1-Have you ever had a card failure? No
2-What size card resides in the camera? Normally Sandisk 1Gb 3-Do you download with a card reader or the camera tethered? Card reader 4-Do you delete all pics or reformat after downloading? Delete all 5-How many frames has the card seen? No idea, but a fair number I've never had a problem with my cheaper CF cards or smartmedia cards either. |
Posted By: Glyn R
Date Posted: 04 April 2008 at 23:03
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Never had a CF card failure. Though I did buy just 1gb cards until recently just in case. I use Integral iPro 100x and Sandisk Extreme 3. Now with bigger files I use 2 & 4gb cards. Latest version of Extreme 3 is 30Mbps. I have had Hard drive failures though so now always have external backup drives. ------------- The older I get the better I used to be |
Posted By: groovyone
Date Posted: 03 November 2008 at 20:34
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1-Have you ever had a card failure? NO 2-What size card resides in the camera? Usually 4GB, now 8GB 3-Do you download with a card reader or the camera tethered? Both, primarily card reader now 4-Do you delete all pics or reformat after downloading? Typically reformat 5-How many frames has the card seen? My 4GB 133x Lexar has probably seen 10K+. I have 2 4GB 300x that I rotate in and now 2 8GB 300x. Also had 1GB Sandisk Extreme III that saw 5K or so with no issues. ------------- A99|A900|A100IR|A7|Maxxum 7|Maxxum 5|Polaroid |
Posted By: ferretracer
Date Posted: 30 November 2008 at 22:23
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I never had a card failure
I've had 1, 2 and 4 Gb cards. All have been Sanddisk except for 1 Kingston 1gb card. I download mostly with the CF card slot on the computer. As for frames, I could only estimate that each has seen around 2-4K each. ------------- You don't stop having fun because you get old, you get old because you stop having fun. |
Posted By: Fuzzphoto
Date Posted: 29 May 2009 at 21:06
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Zero failures on CF cards.
Canon branded 32 MB Kingston elite pro 256 MB Sandisk Ultra II 1GB Sandisk Ultra II 4GB Kingston elite pro 8 GB One failure on an SD card in a pocket PC (a Dane-elec 128 MB card, ages ago), but card worked fine after that for months. I sometimes have corrupted files when downloading a card onto my HD, but that's because I always have Win XP run 10-15 apps at the same time, and I use a nickel&dime card reader. I just download them again and they're fine. |
Posted By: pegelli
Date Posted: 29 May 2009 at 21:20
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Zero failures sofar (since 2006) with ~20000 clicks combined on KM5D and A700. Both cameras still in use.
Pretec 512 MB 80x Pretec 1 GB 80x 2 x Lexar Platinum II 2 GB 80x Kingston Ultimate 4 GB 133x (default card for KM5D) Transcend 8GB 133x (default card for A700) No other SD or MS failures either I always take the card out and put in a reader After I backed up to two external HD I format the card in camera ------------- You can see the April Foolishness 2023 exhibition https://www.dyxum.com/dforum/april-foolishness-2023-the-exhibition_topic142439.html - here Another great show of the talent we have on Dyxum |
Posted By: DavidBo
Date Posted: 29 May 2009 at 21:28
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Zero failures.
Sandisk Extreme III 1GB Sandisk Extreme III 2GB Sandisk Extreme III 4GB Sandisk Extreme III 4GB Sandisk Extreme III 8GB Sony 133X 20MB/sec 4GB (came with my A700 as a rebate) Kind regards David ------------- http://www.davidcartagena.dk/ - |
Posted By: artuk
Date Posted: 29 May 2009 at 21:35
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Zero failures:
Sandisk Standard Sandisk Ultra II Transcend 133x Lexar Platinum 80x ------------- Art |
Posted By: Gancherov
Date Posted: 29 May 2009 at 21:44
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Old thread but here goes anyways,
I have a 16Gb Sandisk Extreme III ($50) a 1Gb MS ProDuo (this stays in the camera because my dumb ass leaves the CF card in the card reader at least every month or so) ($20) I keep one big CF card that way I know with certainty that I have room for ~1000 raw format shots. I have never needed more. If I am on vacation I shoot Jpeg or at least cRAW which give me 4000 or 1800 shots respectively. The MS card in the cam is an insurance policy so I never end up completely card less. ------------- There is no problem in the world that can not be solved with the proper application of explosives. |
Posted By: Wayne09
Date Posted: 29 May 2009 at 22:05
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1-Have you ever had a card failure? No
2-What size card resides in the camera? Sandisk E-IV 8Gb 3-Do you download with a card reader or the camera tethered? usually tethered 4-Do you delete all pics or reformat after downloading? Delete all 5-How many frames has the card seen? probably 5000 ------------- C & C always welcome, Wayne |
Posted By: I Inspiron
Date Posted: 29 May 2009 at 22:09
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1-Have you ever had a card failure?
Yes, A700 + Sandisk Ultra II, from 200 pictures ~5 were corrupt and couldn't be opened anymore No problem with the Extreme III cards though 2-What size card resides in the camera? 4GB Sandisk Extreme III 3-Do you download with a card reader or the camera tethered? Card Reader 4-Do you delete all pics or reformat after downloading? reformat with the camera 5-How many frames has the card seen? ~5000 ------------- Chris |
Posted By: Alanbrowne
Date Posted: 03 November 2009 at 17:54
Why don't you hold a poll to see if a poll is justified.
IAC, I know of nobody who has had a CF failure - except myself with a brand new card that died after less than 100 shots. I think if a card survives the first 1000 shots, it is essentially good for life (following the bathtub curve for electronics failures and the fact that long before we get near the end of life of the card, it will end up sitting in the bottom of the bag as an emergency backup as we will have moved on to larger-cap/faster cards within a couple/few years.) Other reasons to avoid several cards are logistical: you are less likely to accidentally format a card that you haven't offloaded yet (which, by the way is recoverable if you have the s/w tool for it). I do know some people who always prefer several smaller cards over fewer large cards. I'm just not in that camp. ------------- I have discovered photography. Now I can kill myself. I have nothing else to learn.- Pablo Picasso |
Posted By: Alanbrowne
Date Posted: 03 November 2009 at 18:04
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1-Have you ever had a card failure? 1 2-What size card resides in the camera? 16GB or 8 GB 3-Do you download with a card reader or the camera tethered? 90%: card reader. 4-Do you delete all pics or reformat after downloading? 75%: re-format; 25% delete by computer/card reader (Mac OS X). 5-How many frames has the card seen? The card that died had less than 100 frames shot. It was a classic electronics declining bathtub curve failure. Other cards in the past (1 or 2 GB) have had over 10,000 frames shot resulting in about 50 overwrite cycles*. *Note that when you delete images from a card, new writes to the card occur in older cleared areas. This is to spread the 'death' of the card over the entire memory. A bit of the cards memory is reserved to track where the next write area is. ------------- I have discovered photography. Now I can kill myself. I have nothing else to learn.- Pablo Picasso |
Posted By: Rusty
Date Posted: 03 November 2009 at 21:05
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1-Have you ever had a card failure?
nope 2-What size card resides in the camera? -8GB Sandisk UltraII (main) -3GB Microdrive (backup) -2GB Sandisk UltraII (backup) 3-Do you download with a card reader or the camera tethered? integrated card reader 99% of the time 4-Do you delete all pics or reformat after downloading? delete 5-How many frames has the card seen? 8gb - over 10 000; 3gb - probably around 1000-2000; 2gb - 1000-2000 ------------- a850 | MinO 35-70/4 | MinO 28-85 | MinO 100/2.8 Macro | Tamron 70-300USD Fuji X-Pro1 | X-E2 | 10-24 | 18-55 | 55-200 | 35/1.4 http://www.flickr.com/photos/93494978@N06/ - Rusty's Photostream |
Posted By: pinkchry
Date Posted: 03 November 2009 at 21:26
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1-Have you ever had a card failure?
Nope 2-What size card resides in the camera? -4GB Sandisk UltraII (main) 3-Do you download with a card reader or the camera tethered? Camera tethered 4-Do you delete all pics or reformat after downloading? delete 5-How many frames has the card seen? 4gb - over 2000 |
Posted By: AlexKarasev
Date Posted: 22 January 2010 at 05:23
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1-Have you ever had a card failure? No. A trade show rep from a tier-1 maker suggested 80% of failures are due to the user taking the card out without logically / electronically ejecting it. This can put a controller in a transient state it does not on its own know how to recover from, and/or sets a "time bomb" when the related memory segment is accessed later.
2-What size card resides in the camera? Sandisk E-IV Ducatti edition (45MBps) 8Gb. I have 2 of these. Also Memory Stick 32GB. I tend to get the largest cards available after 1st price drop, then skip 2-3 years. It's almost time to trade up from the Ducati's to the faster 64GB crop of CF's. I do not believe in having more than 2 cards per camera other than for historical reason or special workflow requirements, simply because, as long as you deal with tier-1 manufacturers (Sandisk, Lexar, and such), the risk of loss of any given picture is far greater due to human error, physical loss or mishandling, than electronic failure. 3-Do you download with a card reader or the camera tethered? Reader 4-Do you delete all pics or reformat after downloading? Reformat 5-How many frames haVE the cardS seen? ~ 20000 |
Posted By: Maggy
Date Posted: 03 February 2010 at 17:19
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Only one card annoyance once: a thin blue line on all the pictures on one CF card. I rinsed its connector with ethanol, dried it 2 days and it's still working 5 years later.
Last monday I unpacked a new 4GB Sandisk SDHC when the mailman was at the door. When I returned, the memory card magically had vanished. This morning my dog laid an "egg"... It's still working. Fortunately she didn't chew. |
Posted By: p_man
Date Posted: 03 February 2010 at 17:30
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I've never had a card fail.
I always reformat in the camera, always right before I use it (I have 2 cards I cycle through). I like 4 GB cards because they are about equal to a DVD (4.7 GB) so I can back up one card to one DVD. Also If I use bigger cards, it's just too many photos in one place if I happen to take the card to the photo kiosk. ------------- p_man a200 | Sony 18-70 kit | Min50/f1.7 | Minolta 70-210/f4 | Promaster100-400/f4.5-6.7 | Sigma EF-530 DG ST C&C always welcome |
Posted By: terenz
Date Posted: 17 March 2010 at 02:57
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1-Have you ever had a card failure? Yes
2-What size card resides in the camera? 2 or 4GB in A100 2, 4 or 8GB in A850. 3-Do you download with a card reader or the camera tethered? Card reader until card reader/drive got too small. Not via tether. 4-Do you delete all pics or reformat after downloading? Delete all 5-How many frames has the card seen? Over 1,000 for the 2GB cards, few hundred (>500) for the 4GBs and 1 of the 8GBs. My card inventory consists of (in approximate order of age) 2GB RiData Pro 150x card 3 years 2GB Sandisk Ultra II 3 years 2 x 2GB SanDisk 3 years 2 x 4GB Kingston Elite Pro 133X 1 year? 8GB Sandisk Ultra 30 MB/s 5 months 8GB Kingston 1 month Only failure has been the 8GB Kingston that had a weird issue. If I hooked up the camera to a PC and transferred the pix files, the camera would no longer recoqnise the card (will become unusable and not formattable) and it may or may nt have been recoqnized by the PC. This was within a week of getting it. I sent the card to Kingston via FedEx and received a new one (works fine so far) since. ------------- A100 A850: Maxxum 16mm fisheye, 28mm f2.8, 50mm f1.7, 135mm f2.8, 28-85mm, 500mm f8, Sony 18-70mm, 18-200mm, 75-300mm, 16-80mm CZ |
Posted By: keith_h
Date Posted: 17 March 2010 at 03:20
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1-Have you ever had a card failure? No
2-What size card resides in the camera? Normally Sandisk UltraII 2Gb KM5D and Sandisk Extreme III 4Gb a200 3-Do you download with a card reader or the camera tethered? Card reader 4-Do you delete all pics or reformat after downloading? format 5-How many frames has the card seen? more than 20k for the 2G card and about 10 K for the other one. ------------- http://gallery.heinrich.id.au - My gallery http://gallery.heinrich.id.au/gear - A700 x2, A99, other stuff |
Posted By: KoprivaMedia
Date Posted: 17 March 2010 at 05:43
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1-Have you ever had a card failure? No
2-What size card resides in the camera? Sandisk Extreme III 4GB, 2x Kingston 8GB 233x, 2x Sandisk Ultra Memory Stick 4gb 3-Do you download with a card reader or the camera tethered? Card reader 4-Do you delete all pics or reformat after downloading? format 5-How many frames has the card seen? A lot. I use the same dual-card setup on both of my a700's, at least a 15k pictures for each CF card ------------- http://kopmed.com/ - KoprivaMedia |
Posted By: PHCorrigan
Date Posted: 05 April 2010 at 17:38
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1-Have you ever had a card failure?
No. 2-What size card resides in the camera? 2-8GB, various brands and speeds 3-Do you download with a card reader or the camera tethered? Card reader usually, but sometimes tethered to an 80GB portable storage unit if I'm traveling. 4-Do you delete all pics or reformat after downloading? Reformat after download and backup. 5-How many frames has the card seen? Unknown. I have about eight cards and 20,000+ total exposures on my two a100s. I have had a few JPEG corruptions (I shoot RAW+JPEG so this was not a major issue) and one RAW file corruption. All were early on and could have been the result of removing the cards with power on (yes, I was guilty of doing that for a while!). I didn't discover the RAW file corruption until recently when I was converting to DNG. I have to say that on average I did much worse over the years (losing images) with film. |
Posted By: Canadapt
Date Posted: 11 April 2010 at 20:13
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I've never had a card failure (I own 4 memory cards - 2@4gb and 2@2gb - Lexar and Sandisk) - I have probably reformatted them 300-500 times? I rarely fill the 4gb's - bought them because I was filling the 2gb's fairly regularly - since I replaced my 7d's with A700's. I only shoot raw so I get 203/208 frames on my 4gb cards respectively. For trips, I bought a JOBO hard drive storage/display device instead of purchasing more cards - works like a charm! ------------- Canadapt www.flickr.com/people/canadapt |
Posted By: PhotoTraveler
Date Posted: 11 April 2010 at 20:19
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I started reading this thread without realizing the date it was first created. I was all ready formulating a response in my head, when I saw my post from 2.5 years ago. I was exactly the same as I was going to say today.
But since then, I have got more cards, bigger sizes, the same still holds. Yet to have a card failure. Stick with top brand cards, always format in camera, and life is good. |
Posted By: ryansholl
Date Posted: 30 March 2011 at 17:09
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1-Have you ever had a card failure? nope 2-What size card resides in the camera? -32 GB transcend CF, 8 GB sony MS PRO DUO 3-Do you download with a card reader or the camera tethered? Card reader 100% of the time 4-Do you delete all pics or reformat after downloading? Usually just delete, occasionally format 5-How many frames has the card seen? No idea. I've owned 8-10 CF cards, many of them cheap generics, and have never had one fail. For that matter I've never had any problems with any solid state drives, including the card in my phone, my computer's SSD, god knows how many USB flash drives, SD cards for point and shoots, etc. I will actually trust a cheap USB flash drive for retaining non-corrupt files more than I would a standard HDD. |
Posted By: DaveK
Date Posted: 30 March 2011 at 17:26
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1-Have you ever had a card failure? - None! Gladly! 2-What size card resides in the camera? - 32 GB transcend CF, 4 GB sony MS PRO DUO on A850 - 16 GB transcend CF, no reserve on A700 3-Do you download with a card reader or the camera tethered? - Hama Cardreader 100% of the time 4-Do you delete all pics or reformat after downloading? - Format on the camera's 5-How many frames has the card seen? - A700 60.000 (gamble) - A850 10.000 (idem) ------------- Best regards, Dave A7r & A7r3 Let's make a colorful world! http://dave-kloren.smugmug.com/ - Gallery |
Posted By: blinztree
Date Posted: 16 June 2011 at 04:15
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1-Have you ever had a card failure? Yes 2-What size card resides in the camera? 8GB Apacer. The vendor offered to replace it but I declined the offer and switched to 16GB Sandisk. The 16GB was the only Sandisk they had left, I would have prefer an 8GB card. 3-Do you download with a card reader or the camera tethered? Card reader 4-Do you delete all pics or reformat after downloading? Mostly delete, at odd times, I'll format 5-How many frames has the card seen? Less than 100 Look back at some of the replies on this 2007 thread, I am pretty sure that there have been much design improvements in chip designs. My spanking new Apacer failed last year... corrupted files, so I'm a little disappointed. I have a 8GB Kingston as a X'mas gift last year but it sits unopened in my dry-box. Should I trust it? Another question is... I noticed most of you folks format your card. Does it make any difference between formatting and deleting the files on the card? ------------- ¿Location? Beats me... I'm lost on a far.far.away.tropical island. Eldred ZeTerrible@Borneo, Land of the Head Hunters |
Posted By: stiuskr
Date Posted: 16 June 2011 at 12:23
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Yes it does, and I was about to comment on that as I was reading your reply. Formatting the card is the only way to truly reset it to zero so to speak. Formatting removes all data from the card where deleting pics one at a time doesn't. And a note to be sure to format with the camera and not the computer, if you do it on the computer you could reset the card's protocol without realizing it and then the camera won't recognize the card. ------------- Rob Suits Jr. a99M2 a99 a77 a700 KM7D|Min24/2.8 Min35/2 So50/1.4 So50/2.8 Min85/1.4G Tam90/2.8 Tam180/3.5|Tam17-50 CZ24-70G2 KM28-75D So70-200G1 So70-300G So70-400G1| SonyF60 AD200R2 |
Posted By: artuk
Date Posted: 16 June 2011 at 12:57
Do you know for sure that formatting deletes all the blocks of data? It can be achived by merely deleting the able of contents - and I suspect is what happens as it is quite fast. A full format can take considerable time. I assume by "ressetting the card's protocol" you mean FAT32 file format vs NTFS? I *think* most cameras expect FAT32 format. You can choose what file format to use within most recent versions of MS Windows. ------------- Art |
Posted By: Rusty
Date Posted: 16 June 2011 at 13:09
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1-Have you ever had a card failure? Yes 2-What size card resides in the camera? 8GB Sandisk UltraII. 3-Do you download with a card reader or the camera tethered? Card reader 4-Do you delete all pics or reformat after downloading? I cut & paste to my computer, sometimes I reformat the card in-camera 5-How many frames has the card seen? No clue. probably around 10-15k ------------- a850 | MinO 35-70/4 | MinO 28-85 | MinO 100/2.8 Macro | Tamron 70-300USD Fuji X-Pro1 | X-E2 | 10-24 | 18-55 | 55-200 | 35/1.4 http://www.flickr.com/photos/93494978@N06/ - Rusty's Photostream |
Posted By: SChurchill
Date Posted: 16 June 2011 at 13:12
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I've recovered data off an accidentally formatted so I'd say no. It probably just resets the Master File Table. I still format cards rather than delete though. ------------- Steve Churchill A77ii, A77, A700+VG, Dynax 7, ARAX 645 MLU/SE, Pentax 645 + loads of Minolta film bodies. http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevechurchill/ - My flickr |
Posted By: michaelg
Date Posted: 16 June 2011 at 13:26
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1-Have you ever had a card failure? Not a CF card 2-What size card resides in the camera? 4gb 3-Do you download with a card reader or the camera tethered? Reader 4-Do you delete all pics or reformat after downloading? Format 5-How many frames has the card seen? 1000's From these choices here I'd be most interested in the first two. ------------- a850, M24-50/4, M35-70/4, ZA 24-70/2.8, Sony 70-300 G, M50/1.7, M135/2.8, S105/2.8Macro |
Posted By: blinztree
Date Posted: 16 June 2011 at 13:28
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I was on another forum recently and one photographer was complaining about his failed Kingston card after 4 uses and his experiences on his warranty claims. It's interesting to know that Kingston USA claims their cards are not designed for dSLRs. Do I have another clay pigeon in my dry-box? ------------- ¿Location? Beats me... I'm lost on a far.far.away.tropical island. Eldred ZeTerrible@Borneo, Land of the Head Hunters |
Posted By: blinztree
Date Posted: 17 June 2011 at 04:37
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I have another question regarding formatting the cards as to deleting the files on camera. How does that effect the card? Does it mean that new images written on a newly formatted card are digitally cleaner or the action serves to allow faster files writes/ transfers to the card or PC? ------------- ¿Location? Beats me... I'm lost on a far.far.away.tropical island. Eldred ZeTerrible@Borneo, Land of the Head Hunters |
Posted By: stiuskr
Date Posted: 17 June 2011 at 12:26
Well that's debateable and kinda like the question 'should I use a lens filter?' and is discussed in this very thread. Start over on page 1 for more info and POV's. ------------- Rob Suits Jr. a99M2 a99 a77 a700 KM7D|Min24/2.8 Min35/2 So50/1.4 So50/2.8 Min85/1.4G Tam90/2.8 Tam180/3.5|Tam17-50 CZ24-70G2 KM28-75D So70-200G1 So70-300G So70-400G1| SonyF60 AD200R2 |
Posted By: blinztree
Date Posted: 21 June 2011 at 06:47
I see your point. I posted the question because if formatting the card makes a difference, I will adopt the habit but since that practice is debatable... I see no reason to change my current habit at the moment. Thanks for clearing up the fog. ------------- ¿Location? Beats me... I'm lost on a far.far.away.tropical island. Eldred ZeTerrible@Borneo, Land of the Head Hunters |
Posted By: Jocelynne
Date Posted: 21 June 2011 at 07:34
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I have never experienced any memory card failure. I have SanDisk CF cards in 8GB and 16GB sizes. I have Sony brand Memory Sticks in 4G, 8GB and 16GB sizes. I purchase no other brands of memory cards. My memory problems have all been with my A700. Both types of memory card sockets failed. The CF socket failed within less than a year of purchase. The memory stick socket failed within about two years of purchase. This latter failure required replacement of 700's main board because the memory stick socket is directly soldered onto the main board. This latter repair cost me approximately half the new A700 purchase price.   Out of curiosity, I asked the repair service what happens to main boards when they fail. I was told that they are repaired and recycled. But I was required to purchase a NEW main board because the memory stick socket developed a mechanical, not an electronic, failure! That is what I was informed. I am not absolutely certain that I was not sold a recycled main board. I transfer picture data into computers via card readers and via direct cable connections between the cameras and the computers. Both methods appear to perform well. I normally erase picture files by reformatting the memory cards in the cameras. I NEVER erase picture files or format memory cards in the computers. I purchase only new memory cards from well known dealers. ------------- Maxxum 450si, Sony A300, A700, A900 and a cubic meter of Alpha lenses |
Posted By: kerplunk
Date Posted: 16 November 2011 at 06:33
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The only memory card I've had fail was in a phone, and it came that way. I generally take the card out and put it in the computer these days, download all the pictures, delete them, reformat the card in the camera. I've adopted these steps cause I'm lazy, I've left the camera running plugged into the computer too often and found dead batteries, found myself with multiple duplicated photos cause I downloaded them multiple time (not deleted from the card) and generally forget to reformat the card when I put it back in the camera. Most of my cards are sandisk. And I suppose that putting it in the computer and formatting with block checking on occasion might be a good idea, to see it there are any errors, but I'm sure I would be way too absent minded to remember to do that. And I find the claims that reformatting in the camera will increase performance pretty easy to believe, having worked in system administration type jobs for 20 years. |
Posted By: Bob Maddison
Date Posted: 16 November 2011 at 09:32
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The CF card has vulnerable pins. Careless insertion or an inappropriate card slot can lead to a bent pin(s). The camera slot is deep and has long guide 'rails' however, the compact card readers often have very shallow slots with inadequate guidance hence extreme care must be used when inserting a card. The slightly larger readers are better. I have had one bent pin which I straightened with pliers then inserted it into a deep slot in a reader to complete the straightening. No more problems! It is worth remembering that a card "reader" is no more than an interface between card and computer. It doesn't 'read' data: it allows the computer to do so! If data is corrupted, then don't blame the reader - blame the computer! I had one complete CF Card failure which was accounted for because I had tried to use that card for MS's Ready Boost. This overwrote must of the card's memory and would not allow it to be used again in the camera. I recovered it by using the computer to fill the card with copies of photo files to overwtite the 'ready boost' area. When it was reformatted it worked correctly, but failed completely some time later. It may be worth while to identify each card you use and to keep a record of exactly what it was used for. The idea of using one card - one device is sound. |
Posted By: Jocelynne
Date Posted: 16 November 2011 at 13:56
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God commentary, Bob. Thanks for the observations. ------------- Maxxum 450si, Sony A300, A700, A900 and a cubic meter of Alpha lenses |
Posted By: keith_h
Date Posted: 15 February 2012 at 13:04
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I use only Sandisk, download images using a media adapter/reader in my computer and reformat the cards in the camera after each download. No problems after many years of service. ------------- http://gallery.heinrich.id.au - My gallery http://gallery.heinrich.id.au/gear - A700 x2, A99, other stuff |
Posted By: sybersitizen
Date Posted: 15 February 2012 at 15:34
I'm not sure any debate is warranted, at least with recent Sony cameras. My reasoning is: 1. If you have only a few files to delete but want to keep other files on the card for the time being, then delete only the few files. For still files, this can be done either in-camera or with a computer. However, with movie files, you had better do this in-camera. Sony's movie files are tied to a bunch of other files that should be updated following a deletion. 2. When you're done with all files on the card, format it. Why wouldn't you want to do this? It doesn't take any more time. And you should do it in-camera because, as mentioned, Sony requires a number of subfolders and files to be present on the card. If you format the card in a computer first, the camera will have to build that folder and file structure anyway. 3. Every once in a while it could be a good idea to full format (not quick format) the card using a computer - especially if the card has already misbehaved in some way. The full format exercises and refreshes more of the data areas, so it might correct, or at least identify, any problems. That's why a full format takes much longer. |
Posted By: jdkeck
Date Posted: 15 February 2012 at 16:28
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i have several memory cards from different manufacturers, the only issues i have had were with an adata 16 gb card, it would loose one raw file every time i shot with it, so i dont use it. right now i have 2 32gb 433x transcend cards, i have had no issues with them. I understand the multiple card issue, and if you are a pro, shooting high end on site shots, I would probably agree. I am not a pro, i do shot some on site stuff, but since i have not had an issue with the cards I use, I have not worried about it. For me, a large card allows me to not have to worry about changing cards often, and if i go on vacation, i will usually download them every night. ------------- a850,cz24-70,, sony 35 f1.8, sony 70-300g, minolta 70-210f4, sigma 70-200 f2.8hsm is, sigma 100-300f4 |
Posted By: Wayne09
Date Posted: 15 February 2012 at 16:34
I am not sure what you are referring to??? The CF card has no pins, they are in the reader/camera. The same caution applies though, the pins in readers, especially, are vulnerable. I have had one 16GB Sandisk failure. They replaced the card. ------------- C & C always welcome, Wayne |
Posted By: AutumnRose
Date Posted: 12 March 2012 at 01:48
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Most of my CF, SD and MS cards are Sandisk. I download with my computer's built in card reader and format the cards in the camera. I use 4GB or 8GB MS in the second slot of the camera for backup. I have switched cards from one camera to another; when I buy a bigger capacity card it goes in the higher resolution camera, and it's card moves down to another camera. I've never had a problem with any of my cards but, I did purchase a Sandisk Extreme III 4 GB CF card from Best Buy that was DOA. ------------- Kathi A900, A77, A37, A700, A580, NEX6, 800si, Maxxum 5 and a few lenses |
Posted By: MartyMoose
Date Posted: 12 March 2012 at 02:07
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I've never had any problems with CF cards. I've even washed & dried one in my pants pocket and it still works. ------------- ILCE's a6000, a7, a7ii, a6400 CZ Batis 25, 85, SEL's 55/1.8, 35/1.4, 16-70/4, 24-70/4, 70-200/4, 90/2.8G Macro, 55-210/4.5-6.3, 16-50/3.5-5.6, Rokinon E 12/2, and a modest collection of vintage lenses |
Posted By: waleskeg
Date Posted: 12 March 2012 at 02:34
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Most of mine are Lexar and they are faultless for me. Actually have never had any problems with Lexar, Sandisk or Kingston which are the 3 brands I use. ------------- http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenwales - http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenwales |
Posted By: Jozioau
Date Posted: 12 March 2012 at 03:42
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The only CF card failure I experienced was in a card I had purchased new on eBay from what looked like a reputable dealer. However, I subsequently found that it was a fake, and lost images taken with it - they looked OK on the back screen of my a700 at the time I shot them, but when I downloaded onto the computer there were some missing parts of images and interference patterns across others. Here is a link to a comprehensive illustrated guide to picking fake CF cards: http://reviews.ebay.com.au/FAKE-SanDisk-Extreme-Compact-Flash-Cards-Exposed_W0QQugidZ10000000001449653" rel="nofollow - http://reviews.ebay.com.au/FAKE-SanDisk-Extreme-Compact-Flash-Cards-Exposed_W0QQugidZ10000000001449653 And a similar guide to picking fake Memory Sticks: http://reviews.ebay.com.au/FAKE-Sony-Memory-Stick-Pro-Duo-MagicGate-Cards-Exposed_W0QQugidZ10000000001535703" rel="nofollow - http://reviews.ebay.com.au/FAKE-Sony-Memory-Stick-Pro-Duo-MagicGate-Cards-Exposed_W0QQugidZ10000000001535703 . When I identified the CF card I bought as a fake, I reported to eBay and got my money back, but did lose images, and as others have said here, only get your memory cards from reliable sources. The fakes look very like the real thing until you check the fine details against those links above. Joe ------------- "Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst" - Henri Cartier-Bresson https://www.flickr.com/photos/jozioau/albums - My FlickrPro site |
Posted By: al
Date Posted: 12 March 2012 at 03:45
| I buy Sandisk only, and never had any problems with any CF cards, from 256MB to 4GB. The only CF card that gave me problems was a Kingston 8GB elite pro. I got that card with a used A200. |
Posted By: Tricky01
Date Posted: 12 March 2012 at 08:32
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I bought a second hand "Photofast G-Monster CompactFlash CF 533X UDMA 32GB". They get good reviews but it kept causing an error on my A900 every 10 or so shots. Turning the A900 off and then on again fixed it for another dozen shots but after a few cycles of doing this I realised it was corrupting most of those shots it appeared to be saving anyway. I returned the card to the seller and now revert back to using the sandisk and transcend (CF) and Sony and Sandisk (MS) cards that I've always used without fault. ------------- http://www.simotre.co.uk - web A9, A7Riii, A7R (full spectrum) 12f2.8, 15f2, 16-35f4, tam28-200, 35f1.8, 50 1.8, 85f1.8, 90f2.8, 135GM, 200-600G, 1.4xTC // A: Sig 90f2.8 |
Posted By: ricardovaste
Date Posted: 13 March 2012 at 12:28
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I think with my first dSLR, the a100, I had one file develop an error, but that was months after it had been processed, so it was likely a computer problem. And even so, it was with the card that came with the camera. So I've never had a card fail that I've bought. I've stuck to sandisk extreme and ultra cards. Despite not having a failure, I do still use quite small cards because if a card were to fail with (for example) and entire wedding on, it would not look very professional at all. It doesn't take long to switch cards, 15 seconds? You just need a system for where you store your used cards, where you get your new cards from... and the swap is quick. Perhaps 3 minutes time in total spent over an entire day. Also, you obviously don't use the card right up to FULL - you switch when the time is appropriate, judging for what is around the corner, and how much space you have left on your current card. One final point is the extra card slot on our Alphas, always have a card in here as well so if needed you can make a very quick switch in even shorter time. ------------- I photograph the moments in people's lives that mean the most to them: http://www.rharris-images.com/ - Richard Harris Photography |
Posted By: Sublimity
Date Posted: 13 March 2012 at 18:25
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I've had a 32GB Transcend 400x fail in my pile of a dozen or so CF cards of various capacities. I find it interesting that quite a few in this thread comment that Sandisk is faster than Lexar. In my experience, using 300x or 400x cards, Lexar always seemed faster, both when downloading and when clearing the camera buffer. |
Posted By: Silver
Date Posted: 13 April 2012 at 08:30
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used 1 CompactFlash Sandisk Extreme III 4GB card since 2006 on the Alpha100 and its still working. Thinking about RAW format sizes and getting the Alpha77 Im now getting 2 SD cards with 32GB :) can be good to have an extra card, especially if away with no laptop to empty the cards too :) ------------- Alpha77, 11-18mm, 16-50mm f2.8, 100mm f2.8 macro, HVL-F58AM. |
Posted By: Epic Win
Date Posted: 31 May 2012 at 15:21
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i had two trandence 16gb 133x bail out on me slowly after ample warnings. I was about to start a thread on this. Sandisk however is still going strong. ------------- http://to.ly/8Gni - KM 18-70 DT + http://to.ly/8Gng - 28-70 G + http://to.ly/8Gnc - 80-200 HS APO G + KM 7D + http://to.ly/8RaY - Flickr |
Posted By: Wētāpunga
Date Posted: 01 June 2012 at 02:00
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So far I've stuck to Lexar & Sandisk CF cards, and Sony MS cards. My reasoning has always been that after spending thousands on camera gear, and more thousands to get to a foreign destination, saving a few bucks on a cheap card and risking failure, didn't make sense. The only time I've had a kind of failure is when I uploaded a card onto a portable drive, and the drive failed. Which is why I no longer use a portable drive on trips, but just stock up on cards. This is a lot easier given how much cheaper they are now then when I started. ------------- α1, α7cii- Voigtländer 15/4.5, 110/2.5 M; Zeiss Loxia- 21/2.8, 35/2, 50/2 & 85/2.4, Zeiss Batis- 85/1.8 & 135/2.8; Sony 24-105/4 & 100-400/4.5-5.6; Sigma 70/2.8 M; Sony 135/2.8 STF |
Posted By: Sigurd
Date Posted: 27 March 2013 at 17:32
| I have always Bought Patriot LX 32gb 10x cards. I have never had problems with them on the a77 but the a99 will not use them. |
Posted By: PeterB
Date Posted: 26 January 2014 at 08:06
| I always user my computers card reader. Never had a card breaking on me .. except the one rolled over wit a chair. I do forget to remove the card from the reader occasionally. Having a Sony memory stick as second card saved the day more than once. I typically reformat the card. |
Posted By: zbozic
Date Posted: 25 February 2014 at 20:34
1 - no 2 - 32Gb class 10 3 - card reader 4 - reformat always 5 - aprox 1200 raw, 1700 jpg |
Posted By: sploosher
Date Posted: 25 February 2014 at 21:05
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I always use a card reader on the pc to download images and have never had any problems. I always format the cards in the camera after doing so. I have 2 Lexar 8GB Professional UDMA 400x cards and 1 Lexar 4GB Professional UDMA 300x card in my A700. I also use a Lexar 16GB SDHC UHS-1 400x in the A550. For my wife and her A350, we have 2 Sony 4GB UDMA 300x cards. so far all good and no failures.............  ------------- A77ii,A700,A550,,3600HSD,Nissin Di866,Minolta 50mm 2.8 Macro,135,500,18-200,Sony50mm f1.4,Sony 70-300 G SSM, Sigma10-20,28-300,Tamron17-50mm f2.8, 90mm |
Posted By: Shelldrake
Date Posted: 25 February 2014 at 21:18
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I use 16 and 32 Gb Patriot LX class 10; CF and SDHC cards, which I always download with a card reader and delete after downloading. I only reformat the card occasionally. I have never had any sort of problem with these cards used this way. As an aside I have always been told to use this method in case there is a power surge or power failure or lightning strike etc, with the camera connected to the computer. Better to blow a card rather than the camera. I have actually had a lightning strike on my computer. Fortunately it blew the first link in the chain which was the modem. It literally blew the modem chip apart. |
Posted By: p-unit
Date Posted: 30 March 2014 at 19:37
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I also use Sandisk exclusively, never had one fail as of yet! (goes to knock on wood) |
Posted By: Azurael
Date Posted: 16 June 2014 at 14:59
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I've worked in photographic retail for a number of years now and certain things do seem to stand out - XD cards (remember those?) are like timebombs - they always seem to fail eventually (I'm guessing that's down to the controllerless cards depending upon the camera to do wear levelling) but aside from cheapo eBay jobs, I've not seen many SD/CF cards actually fail over the years - as others have said, corruption is a different issue and seems to be largely preventable by reformatting the cards after each use. Unless you're buying a Samsung/Toshiba/Sandisk card, it's a bit of a random bet as to who made the flash memory inside it anyway. Now the casings of SD cards breaking, and bent pins in CF slots - are a different story. For some reason I've had several Sandisk SDs disintegrate on me within the last few years, lucky they've got a lifetime warranty! Perhaps it's just coincidence and there's nothing wrong with the shells of Sandisk cards, but these cards were all far newer than the much abused PNY 16GB card which has been in and out of cameras so much in the ~5 years I've owned it that all the writing on the label has worn away! |
Posted By: keith_h
Date Posted: 16 June 2014 at 15:32
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No CF fails ever. I format them after each use. Since you are talking a700, I have 2x a700, 2x8G transcend as mains and 2x 4G sandisk as spares. That's plenty even for events. 8G cards are about $40-00 here now so they are plenty cheap enough. ------------- http://gallery.heinrich.id.au - My gallery http://gallery.heinrich.id.au/gear - A700 x2, A99, other stuff |
Posted By: luke
Date Posted: 16 June 2014 at 15:56
... and one should also mention Lexar which is owned by Micron. Anyway, I once had a Lexar CF 300x 32GB card with a problem (I did not have any data loss but could not access the images on the camera display, only on the computer). Lexar exchanged it without fuss to the newest generation card, and I am happy since then... |
Posted By: MartyMoose
Date Posted: 16 June 2014 at 16:26
I had (or still have somewhere) a Sandisk CF card that continued to work even after accidentally washing it in a clothes washer and dried in a dryer  ------------- ILCE's a6000, a7, a7ii, a6400 CZ Batis 25, 85, SEL's 55/1.8, 35/1.4, 16-70/4, 24-70/4, 70-200/4, 90/2.8G Macro, 55-210/4.5-6.3, 16-50/3.5-5.6, Rokinon E 12/2, and a modest collection of vintage lenses |
Posted By: PWhite214
Date Posted: 16 June 2014 at 16:28
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Two 16 GB Patroit brand cards bad right out of the new package. The company replaced them promptly. Really was not a big problem, I always test new gear in my backyard, just to be sure it works. Phil ------------- Sony A700,Sony A77, Maxxum 7, Dynax 9, mostly Minolta lenses some Sigma lenses. |
Posted By: fem2008
Date Posted: 05 September 2014 at 23:38
Had several Lexar CF flash cards with no problems whatsover. One went through a complete wash and dry cycle with no problems at all (the photos where a little faded afterwards  ).Had some photos corrupted on a Sandisk Pro SD card used on A77. ------------- Fem2008 http://www.flickr.com/photos/fem2008/ - My Flickr Page |
Posted By: Miranda F
Date Posted: 13 November 2015 at 21:24
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Never had an SD card failure. They just get smaller and smaller (I think I have an 8M SD card somewhere). OTOH I am inclined to think that *every* USB stick fails eventually. I have a large stack of them somewhere that have either failed completely or have become intermittant or unreliable. Maybe that says something about the relative reliability of memory chips and microprocessors. ------------- Miranda F & Sensorex, Sony A7Rii, A58, Nex-6, Dynax 4, 5, 60, 500si/600si/700si/800si, various Sony & Minolta lenses, several Tamrons, lots of MF primes and *far* too many old film cameras ... |
Posted By: flip43
Date Posted: 08 February 2016 at 09:54
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Never had a card failure, either CF or SD/SDHC. I use 2x 32Gb in my A99 one 32Gb in my A6000. (I used to use 64Gb CF in my 3 Sony Z1 video cameras. FWIW my current (and last) video camera (Sony EX1R) uses only Sony cards 64Gb costs £600). They recommend deleting files rather than reformatting, but I do both on all cards. Data always read from card via reader, never the camera. I always buy the best branded items - I see no point in spending a lot of money on camera/glass and kit and then buying cheap media - I never bought cheap film in the old days - if you can't afford good stuff, use less. Sorry to me it's a no-brainer. |