CF Cards Losing Capacity
Discussion
Has anyone had a CF card that's lost capacity whilst out shooting? (And not from photographs).
For instance, this morning my 16G was showing 1500 available in Raw, and after 300 shots was now showing around 290 left. Flipped to a 4G backup cards, and despite being formated a few days ago, was showing as 300. So formatted that and got it to show a slightly more reasonable 410 (which is where it should be).
Or do I just have two cards getting old and that should be on a date with the bin?
(Can't say these cards haven't done their fair share over the years. I'd say the 16G has probably shot close to 100k images, and is 3-4 years old).
For instance, this morning my 16G was showing 1500 available in Raw, and after 300 shots was now showing around 290 left. Flipped to a 4G backup cards, and despite being formated a few days ago, was showing as 300. So formatted that and got it to show a slightly more reasonable 410 (which is where it should be).
Or do I just have two cards getting old and that should be on a date with the bin?
(Can't say these cards haven't done their fair share over the years. I'd say the 16G has probably shot close to 100k images, and is 3-4 years old).
Can't say I've noticed, although the number remaining is only an estimate and doesn't always reduce by one at each photo.
The only thing that did give me a horrible shock once was halfway through a wedding when I'd taken about 300 photos, but the counter only showed about 100... WTF? Minor heart attack, keep smiling and carry on like nothing had happened... had I really lost all the preparations? However all that had happened was that the counter had got to 9999, and when it starts again at 0001 it makes a new folder and puts the new ones in there. And then you can't see the old folder. Thanks for the heart attack Nikon!
The only thing that did give me a horrible shock once was halfway through a wedding when I'd taken about 300 photos, but the counter only showed about 100... WTF? Minor heart attack, keep smiling and carry on like nothing had happened... had I really lost all the preparations? However all that had happened was that the counter had got to 9999, and when it starts again at 0001 it makes a new folder and puts the new ones in there. And then you can't see the old folder. Thanks for the heart attack Nikon!
Simpo Two said:
Can't say I've noticed, although the number remaining is only an estimate and doesn't always reduce by one at each photo.
The only thing that did give me a horrible shock once was halfway through a wedding when I'd taken about 300 photos, but the counter only showed about 100... WTF? Minor heart attack, keep smiling and carry on like nothing had happened... had I really lost all the preparations? However all that had happened was that the counter had got to 9999, and when it starts again at 0001 it makes a new folder and puts the new ones in there. And then you can't see the old folder. Thanks for the heart attack Nikon!
That happened to me on wednesday, wasn't at anything too important, but heart skipped a beat!The only thing that did give me a horrible shock once was halfway through a wedding when I'd taken about 300 photos, but the counter only showed about 100... WTF? Minor heart attack, keep smiling and carry on like nothing had happened... had I really lost all the preparations? However all that had happened was that the counter had got to 9999, and when it starts again at 0001 it makes a new folder and puts the new ones in there. And then you can't see the old folder. Thanks for the heart attack Nikon!
Have you been using high ISO settings? That can fill up the card faster than taking shots only at 100 ISO...
Do you wipe the card on your computer? If so, then try formatting the card in your camera instead.
I've always formatted the cards in the camera before use as it's generally seen to be 'best practice' - never had any problems with even my oldest cards that have been used and formatted many times.
Do you wipe the card on your computer? If so, then try formatting the card in your camera instead.
I've always formatted the cards in the camera before use as it's generally seen to be 'best practice' - never had any problems with even my oldest cards that have been used and formatted many times.
Mu 16gb cards tend to underestimate capacity when re-formatted but, as already said, the numbers are only estimates and file sizes, espcially shooting RAW and high ISO or anything that gives little ot no option for the files to be compressed for storage (not the same as compressed by processing) may mean the estimate is wildly out.
Grey is quite bad for that - was alwasya challenge back in the early days of network conferences win Windows tended to have grey backgrounds. High ISO means a lot of noise (even if it well suppressed on screen) and that reduces the compression options.
It may be worth rinning a diagnostic on the card to check for bad sectors but I would be surprised if the only symptom was an apparent loss of usable capacity compared to an initial estimate. More likely you would have some errors from time to time.
There might eb a few other options to look at but I would start with those. You could also simply copy a know volume (within expected usable capacity so about 15Gb) to the 16 and see what happens.
Grey is quite bad for that - was alwasya challenge back in the early days of network conferences win Windows tended to have grey backgrounds. High ISO means a lot of noise (even if it well suppressed on screen) and that reduces the compression options.
It may be worth rinning a diagnostic on the card to check for bad sectors but I would be surprised if the only symptom was an apparent loss of usable capacity compared to an initial estimate. More likely you would have some errors from time to time.
There might eb a few other options to look at but I would start with those. You could also simply copy a know volume (within expected usable capacity so about 15Gb) to the 16 and see what happens.
The one that always catches me out is when I'm running up to the end of 1000 frames, I have my bodies set to continuous numbering, approaching 1000 the shots remaining shows how many frames till 1000, not how many left can fit on the card. At 1000 it just asks me to confirm that it can start a new folder and then carries on but a couple of times I've been concerned about it, once at an airshow I knew I'd just put a fresh 32Gb card in only to be told it could only take another 45 shots 
Just to clarify, cards were empty, often formatted (although not yesterday day to start with), no iso changes, and both cards are known (eg I know what they should do, and they've worked perfectly in the past), and no reason that the first 300 shots should have produced 30-40M Raws when the camera usually produces 10-11M Raws.
So yesterday was a complete mystery.
I don't think it was a folder issue either as I've never seen a Canon have that issue. (Although I have no idea when or why it starts on a new folder anyway).
So yesterday was a complete mystery.
I don't think it was a folder issue either as I've never seen a Canon have that issue. (Although I have no idea when or why it starts on a new folder anyway).
JDRoest said:
Eventual file sizes were correct, camera is a 400D, and the cards are usually formatted rather than deleted. Last time the 16G was formatted was probably a couple of weeks ago, and it get used weekly. And I only shoot Raw these days.
Beats the heck out of me what happened yesterday.
FWIW - A full format on a 4Gb card in my 400D also indicates about 410 shots available. The actual number of files it will store is usually close to that but file size can vary a lot. I've never tried a 16Gb card in the 400D but I have some 2Gb cards and the number of files they will store is proportionate to the 4Gb cards.Beats the heck out of me what happened yesterday.
The actual number of files they will hold before indicating full is usually quite close to the estimate when shooting RAW. I rarely shoot jpg on the 400D so have no feel for comparative accuracy.
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