CF card error, recommended brands?

[strat666]

Hi all, nice to be on board :) Purchased a G3 last week along with a Kodak 256MB CF card. While the supplied 32MB Canon card has given no problems so far, I lost 3 images with the Kodak. So I returned it for another of the same [it was all they stock.] Results? The same. Three more corrupted images with the dreaded CF card error. Attempting to download them to my laptop crashed Windows 2000(!) I reformatted both 256MB cards and filled them up again, same thing.

The G3 came with the latest firmware [1.0.2.0] pre-installed. From reading the forum [found two relevant threads] I would assume the Kodak CF card is at fault, so I am going to return it for a refund.

Any suggestions as to which card I should get instead? I am looking at a Transcend 30x 512MB. Has anyone here used this model, and if so would you recommend it? Which brands are best avoided?

Here is an image taken while on my lunch break at work:

http://home.iprimus.com.au/alexanderino/flower.jpg

[813 KB, 2272x1704, JPEG Superfine, Macro, 1/1000@F3.5]

Thanks!

- Jason

[Freeflyer]

Hi Jason,

I can only comment on the brands that I have. I bought a G3 and 2x256Mb cards a few months ago, for a long trip abroad, one by Viking, one by simpletech.

2 weeks into the trip the viking card died. I used the simpletech for the next 2.5 months, taking thousands of shots and downloading them to my xdrive for safekeeping. Viking subsequently replaced the card, but I didn't get it until I was home. I wouldn't buy another one from them, but that's just because the first one failed. Maybe I just got a bad one, or there was a problem with the batch.

I absolutely love my xdrive, and can't recommend it highly enough. I was away from my laptop for 5 weeks, trekking in the himalayas and only got back a couple of days ago. The xdrive kept all the images safe.

Hope this helps.

J.

[Chardyboy]

I've had some corrupt images on a generic 64Mb card. The 1Gb microdrive is (so far) faultless.

What is the XDrive (and is it only used by X-Men?!)

Cheers

Dave

[taltalita]

I adore my Lexar 256MB 12x cards. Cheap, fast, over 600 pictures taken so far, not one lost.

It's not a lot of pictures, I agree, but based on my limited experience I would HIGHLY recommend that card.

[Charlie-Wisc.]

May we assume that you used the camera menu setting to format the card when it was new? In theory this isn't necessary, but I've read posts that suggests it's a way to have fewer problems.

[ashforth]

Hi Jason-

I have two Viking 512 cards and recently bought a Viking 1gb card. I used the 512's when I had my Minolta Dimage 7i and now use all three cards in my 10D. Haven't had any problems with any of them.

Herb

[Freeflyer]

Chardyboy,

the xdrive is a small battery powered hard drive with a built in card reader for the common digital storage card types.

I bought mine with a 20Gb drive, which allows me to store more photos than I'm ever likely to take in one go. It cost about $170 shipped.

When the card is full, I just put it in the drive, hit the copy button, wait a few minutes until it's done, and then take the card out and reformat it in the camera.

This worked like a charm on my trek when I was often many days from power and wanted to take lots and lots and lots of photos. Meant that I didn't have to take a laptop nor spend many more hundreds on CF cards.

Before anyone asks, I couldn't use micro drives as I was above 10000' for 2 weeks (going up to 18000'). I was prepared to risk the drive every few days for a few minutes, but not have the microdrive operating for much longer every day. hard drives are only good to 10000' nominally. I had no problem with the xdrive and used it up to 15000'.

J.

[strat666]

Thanks to everyone for their advice. Much appreciated.

@Charlie-Wisc.: yes, i formatted every time with the camera. Same thing happens.

Perhaps we should have a sticky thread listing the cards recommended for use with the G3?

[John from PA]

I use Lexar, and it is the brand that is shipped with most recent Nikon products.

A good place to buy is PCMall.com. Current prices (all Lexar) are:

12X 128 meg $46

12X 256meg $63

12X 512meg $135

Other brands are carried and might be more or less.

John

[Dana]

I don't happen to believe there are good or bad cards for the G3, though any manufacturer will produce some percentage (as small as possible, one would hope) of faulty cards. I've heard complaints about all the major brands, and statistically you'd expect that each will have some share of problems.

I use SanDisk standard 256 MB cards, $58 from the local CostCo, and never a problem/worry w/thousands of pictures taken/uploaded. Canon bundles SanDisk as well as other brands w/their cameras. The 32MB card that came w/my G3 is a SanDisk.

From what I've seen and read you may or may not get your money's worth by chasing "fast" cards when using them on the G3. Until you head up into DSLR range, the digicams aren't outfitted w/outrageously fast write/read speeds - the G3 is reportedly in the 8x to 12x range, but I have yet to see anything definitive.

I tried an "ultra" card and compared it to my regular SanDisk and didn't see any significant difference, so I took the "ultra" back. :-) Others feel there is a difference...I have my doubts yet that any difference is comparable to the additional cost. As it is, I've never had a card write slow me down from taking the next picture... :-)

The one side where speed can make a difference is unloading images to your hard drive, if you are using a card reader/USB connection that can take advantage of the greater speed.

Dana

[jbenenson]

Hi,

My favorite card is a 256 MB from Kingston (the memory people) that I bought on ebay for $36.14, shipping included. It's a good place to get things like cards and batteries.

[FrankG3]

My G3 came with an extra 256 MB A1 flash card on a type of sales promotion. When I saw this card I thought that it would probably be slow and/or useless. Surprise surprise ... it works well enough - don't see any speed difference compared to Canon 32 MB or Lexar 64 MB card.

Does anyone know who the manufacturer of this A1 card is ?

[Cheryl3700]

I have just had a similar problem getting a cf card error with my kingston 256. I had been deleting a lot of images as I forgot to format the card after the last upload. I'm thinking that caused the problem. But I'm going to get backup cf card because after getting the error on that one, the only card I had was the 32 that came with the camera. arg! I was at a hot air balloon festival, I got some amazing photos though!

[strat666]

Hi all,

just got the G5 and was playing around with it. Decided to fill the rogue Kodak CF card. Reformatted, tanked it up. Guess what? No errors at all. The G5 has no issues with it whatsoever.

One could conclude that the G3 still has issues with certain cards and may require another firmware update to resolve the remaining bugs.

Anyone else have the same experience in which a card works fine in one camera and gives errors in another?

- Jason

[pukkita]

strat666, be prepared for a ton of questions regarding the G5 :) I'd like to know if certain issues have been fixed or not.

I have that kodak 256Mb card since day one, and worked (is working) fine, along with a 512Mb trascend and the 32mb canon.

I'd bet it depends on the internal controller of the camera, or maybe on a simple issue like bad contacts on the card; a mate with a samsung couldn't get a Sandisk 128Mb recognised, while the G3 worked with it with no problems. And the samsung worked with the kodak 256 like a charm...

[strat666]

Hi Pukkita,

maybe it's all a conspiracy involving under-the-table deals between camera and memory manufacturers :O

Anyway, I have a G5 thread running here. Keep track of it for the latest developments.

Cheers,
Jason

[strat666]

Lost one image owing to "Memory Card Error" while doing some test shots with the G5 today.

As reported, filled up to capacity yesterday with no problems. The only difference between then and now is that I formatted the card with the power plugged in.

Perhaps this could be the reason, that the voltage drops sufficiently enough to cause format errors when running off the battery?

Those with similar woes, please try this approach and let us know how it goes.

- Jason