This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Agile Buzz
by Mark Levison.
Original Post: Sony Compact Flash Card What a Mess
Feed Title: Notes from a Tool User
Feed URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/NotesFromAToolUser
Feed Description: Thoughts about photography, software development, reading, food, wine and the world around us.
About a month and half ago I thought I would treat my new D300 to 4GB compact flash card so I could go more than a couple of days without having to download photos from my existing card. I just happened to be wandering through Best Buy (which is located on one of Ottawa’s busiest and slowest roads) and where I stumbled across a Sony 4GB x133 (yes you can get faster cards – but it suits my needs) for a great price.
Returning home I swapped out my trusty Kingston 2GB x50 card and dropped in the Sony. Over the next few days I went burning through images at my usual rate. About a week later I went to download the images from the card and was shocked to discover Windows warning me that there were problems with the file system. It appears 16 of the 100+ images were missing or corrupt. Nutsss. I booted up Photo Rescue (thanks to Michael Reichmann for the recommendation) and was able to recover a few.
A few weeks later I again ventured down Merivale (its only 5km from our house, but it almost always takes 20 min and a dollar of gas) to Best Buy to replace the card. Again I was given a new Sony 4GB card. Right after I got home I headed off to Agile 2008 and so didn’t a have a chance to test the card. Yesterday, just before the start of our vacation I decided to test the new card to make sure that I didn’t lose any more images courtesy of Sony. Funnily enough it takes more than a few minutes to fill 4GB even with a D300. Sure enough when I went to download the images Windows reported that the file system was corrupt. Again the card appeared to have lost 15% of the images. Luckily this time they were just pictures of the kitchen and living room. Thinking maybe a low-level windows format of the card might help I gave that a try. Yet again I went through the process of filling the card with images. Yet again Windows reported problems with the file system.
I know its not the camera – it works brilliantly with my trusty Kingston card. So it has to be Sony. Arrrrgggghhhhhh. Now I face a two week vacation with only a 2 GB CF card and another painful slog down Merivale to replace it.
At this stage I can only assume that Best Buy on Merivale got a dud batch of CF cards from Sony (unless these cards are phony). If you’re from Sony and you want to help solve this problem all I want is 4GB x133 CF card that works without having the hassle of driving down Merivale. If you’re from Best Buy you could offer me a refund.
This rant brought to you by poor Quality Control.
If you enjoyed this post, subscribe now to get free updates.
Previous Topic
