CF cards NOT compatible, any hints?

[martin11]

hello again,

this is quite an issue with the cam: i have 4 cf cards which had costed me about 400 US S this spring and that the s2pro will not accept (in camera formatting does not help).

is there any work around about this prob? i suppouse, if I could somehow formatte them with a dedicated software, may be this could help.

i had a kingston card which i had formatted on my ibook and since then it just wouldn't work with my old minolta 7hi anymore, no matter what i tried. so i suppose many of the card incompatibility probs could be due to the false formatting.

any hint would be greatly appreciated, 'cos otherwise i would have to sell all my incompatible cf cards making no good deal at all ;-)

martin

[Andre]

When I fist got my S2, most of my cards were not recognized - it said "card not initialized". It would also not let me format them in the camera.

I formatted them in my PC as FAT (FAT16) and they've been fine ever since. I don't know anything about Macs, but I would expect that they could format as FAT. If not, find someone with a PC and a card reader and try it there.

A lot of people say not to format CF cards in a PC, and that they should only be formatted in the camera. This is not true. CF cards are ATA drives, and accept the standard ATA commands from drive controllers etc. The format should end up the same form the PC or the camera.

[martin11]

andre,

thank you for your message, i have tried this but with no positive results. so it looks like i got a problem.

gonna wait 'til my personal computer guru is back from his holidays, may he'll help. little hope , though...


martin

[sandman]

Martin i have'nt a clue whats wrong, but i do know we've had this before, check out the memory forum, and this thread http://www.s2pro.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1103. hope it helps and best of luck.

Brian

[ballroom_boy]

I know this doesn't answer your question... I always check Rob Galbraith's CF database before buying any card as the S2 is very quirky about which cards it likes:

http://robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-6014

Take care!

[martin11]

hello guys,


thanks a lot for so much fedback!

i think the cards are definitely not compatible with the cam and my prob is, i had bought them 6 six months before i got the fuji.

i think the only one thing i can do now is to write to the card maker and ask for my money back or a replacement. it is going to be fun :-(

martin

[Wichita Wayne]

When you buy CF cards always, Always, ALWAYS (can't emphasize this more) take your S2 with you and try the cards before you buy the cards. That way you will know they work. Lexar CF cards seem to be the most troublesome of the lot. This is not a problem with Microdrives but CF cards are not standardized to the point that youi can depend on all of them working. Another thing, if you plan to use 128 MB CF cards then you might consider buying SmartMedia instead. They cheap and standardized, and they always seem to work. I have never known of a SmartMedia card that went bad or gave funny results. Most of my shooting is done to a 1 GB Microdrive or a 512 MB CF card, but we keep a supply of old 64 MB SmartMedia cards close for backup. I have also never had trouble with any of my memory devices.

[lightwrangler]

I have 4 CF Lexar's (2-128, 256, 512). The oldest are the 128s (going on 4 years) and the newest is the 512. They have been trouble free. I always format in the camera and never in the computer (I use Macs). As a matter of fact the Macs don't seem to want to erase or format the cards at all. They mostly freeze and crash whenever I try to do so. At least this is true for OS9 and on both a G3 PowerBook and an eMac.

[Wichita Wayne]

It probably does not matter what you use as long as you test it well before you use it on a live engagement and keep what works. It also helps to share information on forums like this so you can avoid the trouble that others experience. However with CF cards there does not seem to be any consistant information. I have heard good and bad about nearly all brands when loaded into the S2. The other variables in this process is the computer you use and the operators experience. Recently we had trouble with a CF card that I suspect was operator error on the part of my son-in-law. He also thinks he was the cause of the trouble. A program called PhotoRecover saved the day so rather than spending a lot of time fixing the blame we just fixed the problem and went on.