I've never had an issue with the electronics, however I have had two
cards, both Sandisk, have their cases split, and the little write
protect tab* got lost so both became read only. That wouldn't have been
bad if I wanted them to be read only...
In the *ist-Ds I was able to put tape over the write protect slot and
use the cards, that didn't work the the K20D the tolerances were too
tight and I couldn't insert the taped cards into the SD card slot.
I suppose I could have tried to take advantage of the Sandisk lifetime
guarantee but replacements were less than $10.00 each, for much higher
capacity cards, at the time and it wasn't worth $20.00 of hassle to get
replacements.
Since then I switched to PNY cards, they also have a lifetime warranty
that I'll probably never bother to take advantage of either, if they fail.
They're a bit slower writing than the Sandisk, in any class, but they
cost 1/3 to 1/2 less for equivalent capacity cards and really I've never
noticed a difference. After all I shoot Pentax...
*I still wonder who thought it was a good idea to incorporate, in an
advanced memory storage device, a write protect feature used in floppy
disks?
On 4/8/2015 11:22 PM, Ken Waller wrote:
FWIW
Never yet, in 12 years of shooting digital have I had an issue related
to memory cards, all SanDisk btw, either CF or SD. I snap the shutter,
an image is recorded and I work on the image.
Not so with film, in 37 years shooting film I've had numerous issues
which related to no image capture - such as when getting to the end of
a roll of 36 exposures, and going beyond to say 40 indicated images as
indicated on the camera and then realizing that the film was not
properly engaged in the take up spool.
Kenneth Waller
http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/kennethwaller
----- Original Message ----- From: "Stanley Halpin"
<s...@stans-photography.info>
Subject: Re: ... and another thing!
On Apr 8, 2015, at 12:11 PM, Steve Cottrell <co...@seeingeye.tv> wrote:
On 8/4/15, Stanley Halpin, discombobulated, unleashed:
How safe is safe enough? If we have airbags, do we really need seat
belts as well? Nomex suit? Roll cage? Helmet? How far do we need to go
to protect ourselves?
You're still sore I reckon about my Pentax FF order ;-)))
Early on the 1st I had received a Woodworking Newsletter which
contained the following link:
http://www.woodworkersjournal.com/plans/featured-free-plans/
(Good reading, particularly if you need a pallet or some sawdust.) So
I was already on the alert for anything out of the ordinary.
Points taken.
I'm shooting video, and on the particular camera I'm using, a 16GB card
will give about 50 mins of screen time. I think in general, my approach
is to minimise risk of loss and inconvenience due to hardware or
software failure. I've decided that spreading the risk out over more
cards is the way I play it. I also record onto 2 cards simultaneously,
so a backup is made as I go.
It's not that I don't trust the technology, it's just that I don't trust
the technology.
For me, I am willing to assume that 2nd-3rd generation 64GB SD cards
are
just as reliable as 3rd-4th generation 32GB cards as 4th-5th generation
16GB cards etc. So once the initial production of a new bigger better
faster card has passed, I don't get too concerned about card failure.
But still, maybe someday just possibly it might happen. On the other
hand, changing cards on a rainy windy day on the beachfront or next
to a
jungle waterfall or aboard a racing yacht creates its own potential for
problems not only with the card but also with the camera.
So, to avoid opening up the camera in inclement conditions, I judge
"required" capacity by # of images rather than GB.
I usually have two cameras and alternate shots. Long ago one body had
color print, the other B&W or color slides. More recently the one body
had a wider lens, the other had a longer lens. Now the two bodies I am
using yield a somewhat different look and feel, but I've still
tended to
use one for wider shots, the other for longer shots. The key though is
that by using two bodies, even if I have a card failure I have not lost
everything from that time period.
With my K-3 I use 32GB cards which provides a nominal capacity of about
560 images plus that many more on the 2nd card. So I can usually get
through a day on one card and the 32GB in the 2nd card slot gives me a
100% margin. With the 645z I have a 64GB in the first slot which
gives a
nominal capacity of 600 images, plus 250-300 nominal on the 32GB in the
second slot. So again I can get through a day on one card with a 50%
margin with the 2nd card. If/when I get a camera with larger files (or
if I find myself shooting drastically more frames per day) I will move
on up to larger cards as needed to keep me in that range of one-days-
worth of images-per-card. If I were shooting professionally (= many
more
shots per day, also = higher cost of losing the images on a card), I
would probably opt to stay with this same card-capacity and accept the
need to occasionally change cards in the middle of the day.
Sounds like a good system.
I take it you've never had a card fail?
I have damaged one of the thin metal contacts on one card through
fumble fingered poor insertion into a card reader. I was able to fix
the card well enough to read it; I then threw it away. I’ve never had
any other failure that I can recall. I vaguely recall there might have
been one instance where I tried to chimp after three or four images at
the start of the day, was surprised to find that no images had been
recorded. So I threw that one away.
If you had, and you were being
paid good daily rates for your shooting, I wonder would you do things
differently? Just curious.
I would probably make the same sort of choices you have. If I were
doing this professionally, “getting and keeping the shot” would become
far more important than worrying about possible damage to the camera
which might result from card changes in field conditions. I would
strongly prefer bodies that afforded two card slots that could be
configured to write original to one, duplicate backup to the second.
If I could not get that sort of realtime backup I might use smaller
cards.
There is another tradeoff there. The more small cards you use, the
more you increase the odds that you will have a bad card. If you use
one or a few large cards, the odds are better that it/they won’t fail
but a failure would be much more painful.
BTW, I don’t know if it really makes any difference but I have never
or at least hardly ever used anything than a genuine Sandisk card. I
do tend to trust the technology, I believe that SD failure rate is low
enough that I won’t spend much energy worrying about it, but on the
other hand I am going to maximize my chances of being right by buying
from “the” source.
stan
--
Cheers,
Cotty
--
I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve
immortality through not dying.
-- Woody Allen
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