Memory Card failure at wedding

ryanyboy

ryanyboy

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Ryan
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Hi all,

A Lexar Professional card failed me at a wedding today. The camera came up with "For" on the LCD top plate and wouldn't shoot until I replaced it :(

When I put it in the Mac just now Lightroom said it was unable to read from this card.

Now, the question is, would you reformat this card and happily use it at the next wedding or would you throw it in the bin (as is my intention)??

Just wondering really…..

(P.S I have 15+ Sandisk cards and just two lexar cards. I wonder if it's significant that it was one of the Lexar's that died…..)
 
Me? I would format and reuse it ... but if I was using it professionally, especially for something like weddings I would bin it.

Actually had an issue with a Duracell 8GB at the weekend, 2nd slot card had an error and I tried to format it in camera but it wouldn't have any of it. Tried twice and then fellow tog offered to format it in his Canon ... it did ... then my camera saw it and formatted it fine ... continued to record images :shrug:
 
I'd be relegating it to the bottom of the pile (as in 'use only if there's no alternative' - so if you're using it, the alternative to it would have been "not taking any shots").

It's possible that being Lexar is significant - but then do Lexar actually have their own flash fabrication plants? If not, it might be Sandisk under the hood... then what do you start to think? :shrug:

Luckily I just checked - they're a division of Micron (Crucial are another brand of theirs) who do have their own flash fabs. It's all a highly nefarious business though flash memory manufacturing and marketing....
 
Straight in the bin. You'll never use it at another wedding so why waste time on it.
 
I have only ever had one card fail on me. It was a lexar pro.

Like you I was able to format it and use it again - but it went straight in the bin. Can't be trusted and I had plenty of other (Sandisk) cards.
 
As I have said in other similar threads. I will only ever use Sandisk cards, and have never had a card fail.

I would bin the Lexar, as it would always be in the back of your mind.
 
Lexar have a lifetime guarantee don't they, contact them for a replacement.
 
Hi.
Sorry to hear about your card failure. Ouch! I have been there and know how much it hurts.

If you still have images from the wedding on the card you can often get them back with recovery software.

As for the card. Just chuck it or keep it for emergencies. Cards are cheap these days.

Good luck with everything

Roy

www.royriley.co.uk
 
Should be able to boot onto linux and carve the images out. Should have just about every image up until failure, unless it shorted or the connector failed :(
 
I'd defitely ask lexar about the lifetime replacement (even if they say no you've not lost anything by asking) but i wouldnt use it again - cards are cheap (comparitively) so why risk it

incidentally i use a mixture of lexar, sandisk, kingston, jessops, and generic 7 day shop cards and i've only ever had one fail , and that was sandisk - so i'm not sure brand has anything to do with it.
 
Thanks all for you help and advice.

I should point out that although the card failed, I was also backing up to a 16gb sandisk card that lives in slot 2. So no dramas. But it was a scary situation for a mo when I couldn't shoot because of the error!
 
ryanyboy said:
Thanks all for you help and advice.

I should point out that although the card failed, I was also backing up to a 16gb sandisk card that lives in slot 2. So no dramas. But it was a scary situation for a mo when I couldn't shoot because of the error!
Click to expand...

Good man!
 
Nikon Fan said:
As I have said in other similar threads. I will only ever use Sandisk cards, and have never had a card fail.

I would bin the Lexar, as it would always be in the back of your mind.
Click to expand...

Just had a Sandisk 2Gb CF card fail in my D3s. Had lent the camera to Willenium (TP) during a studio shoot and it died in the camera. Nothing I've tried will even let me read the card let alone recover anything. I'm just about to break it in half with some pliers!!

To be fair - this is the only card I've had fail on me and I always use 2 x CF cards on any paid work.
 
Would be a scary thing if your CF with your only copies of your work dies.

What would happen if you shot a wedding for example with your D700 or a 5DII and it corrupted? Would you give them some money back or does insurance cover these scenarios.
 
I only use cheap cards. I fill them a few times and reformat. Fill a few more times then replace them with another and put the old one in the bag as a spare. I've not had any fail even when using a cheap card constantly in an old lumix compact. I never use an external card reader. They live in the camera and are read by the camera. Don't know whether that makes any difference.

I'd bin a card that gave an error. I'm tight as a duck's bum too so it's not something I'd do lightly either :)
 
Lunawolfy said:
Would be a scary thing if your CF with your only copies of your work dies.

What would happen if you shot a wedding for example with your D700 or a 5DII and it corrupted? Would you give them some money back or does insurance cover these scenarios.
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in short you'd be screwed , and you'd definitely have to return the fee , but would still have a seriously unhappy client. Which is why many pro's use cameras that are capable of shooting to two cards at once, and those of without that luxury use more than one camera , and smallish cards (I usually shoot with 2gb cards) with regular swaps so that all your eggs arent in one basket.

with regard to insurance , business costs insurance (sometimes incorrectly refered to as PI) would cover you for the consequences (such as lawsuits/damages etc) but usually not for the return of your actual fee.
 
Thank goodness for our dual slots!!!

It's a difficult choice but I'd stop using it myself, once it's failed once I'd expect it to fail again one day soon. If a lifetime guarantee I'd act on that.
 
I only shoot with max 4gb cards but after yesterday I'll definitely be swapping them out more regularly (rather than when they are nearly full).

I would guess that the majority of canon wedding togs are shooting with 5D mk II's. And a high percentage of Nikon shooters are using D700's (including me). So It has to be a case of good card discipline, shooting to two cameras where possible and (in my case) using the D3s as the main camera.

I hope those who "fancy a go at shooting a wedding" have been reading this. It's a serious business and not one to be taken lightly.
 
Slightly off topic but....
What I don't understand is WHY would a card fail - there are no moving parts, so unless it got wet, short-circuited etc then what can go wrong and why ?
 
stevewestern said:
Slightly off topic but....
What I don't understand is WHY would a card fail - there are no moving parts, so unless it got wet, short-circuited etc then what can go wrong and why ?
Click to expand...

Anything can fail at any time, it does not need to have moving parts.
 
I had never had a card error until I got this d700.... Two cards are now relegated. One took an absolute age of swapping and trial and error to get the images off it.. then it won't format ready for use anyway so it's in the relegation zone. Then yesterday another card too but that one let me get the images fine but after CHA shows in the body/both the d700 and d300S actually. I'm thinking either they've had it naturally and it's all coincidence or there's something wrong with my imagerouter reader. Last nights and today's shoots have all gone through the sandisk extreme cf reader instead. That'll be a step backwards after tomorrows wedding when I have more than 2 cards to download.

Nervous times. At least the d300S has dual card slots. Grr.

Always format in camera. And don't throw all your eggs in one basket. I stick to 4gb max, but may go down to 2gb what with my new nervous disposition.

Oh, I do have the latest firmware in case anybody thinks it could be that.
 
ryanyboy said:
I only shoot with max 4gb cards but after yesterday I'll definitely be swapping them out more regularly (rather than when they are nearly full).

I would guess that the majority of canon wedding togs are shooting with 5D mk II's. And a high percentage of Nikon shooters are using D700's (including me). So It has to be a case of good card discipline, shooting to two cameras where possible and (in my case) using the D3s as the main camera.

I hope those who "fancy a go at shooting a wedding" have been reading this. It's a serious business and not one to be taken lightly.
Click to expand...

Genius idea with the deliberately small cards and mirroring! All about delivering just in case as a wedding tog I imagine :p
 
Nikon Fan said:
As I have said in other similar threads. I will only ever use Sandisk cards, and have never had a card fail.
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I don't use Sandisk and never had a card fail :bat:
 
ryanyboy said:
I only shoot with max 4gb cards but after yesterday I'll definitely be swapping them out more regularly (rather than when they are nearly full).

I would guess that the majority of canon wedding togs are shooting with 5D mk II's. And a high percentage of Nikon shooters are using D700's (including me). So It has to be a case of good card discipline, shooting to two cameras where possible and (in my case) using the D3s as the main camera.

I hope those who "fancy a go at shooting a wedding" have been reading this. It's a serious business and not one to be taken lightly.
Click to expand...

I rember the old days of film,used to make you :nuts:,a bit waiting for your film to return.
I had some problems with lexar card a few years back,alway been a bit warey of them since :)
 
An interesting update to this story....

On Wednesday a chap phoned me to confirm he wanted me to be their wedding photographer. I had met him and his fiancée a couple of weeks ago.

We chatted for several minutes and just before the end of the conversation he said "do you know what clinched it"?

"no" I said.

He replied - "I saw your update on your Facebook page about how your memory card went wrong but that you had a backup in the camera. I told Lisa, you must know what you're doing and that you were the man for the job"

I guess it was that extra bit of peace of mind for this couple :)
 
I wonder if a camera fault can corrupt both cards? Let's hope not... I must say though I've never had a card fail in camera ever.

A good positive result Ryan (y)
 
V8burble said:
I wonder if a camera fault can corrupt both cards? Let's hope not... I must say though I've never had a card fail in camera ever.

A good positive result Ryan (y)
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Now you've got me worried!!
 
V8burble said:
Thank goodness for our dual slots!!!
Click to expand...

And a card doesn't have to fail - last year I was taking pics at a barbie of my family and accidentally formatted the CF card with over 150 inages on it.

After a few moments panic I changed to the SD card and was later able to recover all the images from the CF card.

So YAY for dual slots!!

.
 
I have 4 Sandisk CFs and a Transcend 16GB CF.

The Sandisks have worked faultlessly for years in both my 400D and more recently my 7D but the Transcend card is a different story......

Pretty soon after purchasing I noticed and increasing number of images were displaying the error message "Unexpected end of file" in Lightroom.

Tried formatting but to no avail. Then I started testing the conditions that might/might not be causing this like repeatedly turning the camera on/off during shooting, reviewing deleting images etc. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason, if you're shooting JPEG you get an instant error message that it couldn't write to the card but not so with RAW.

End result is that the card is still in my bag for "emergencies" where I would shoot JPEG if I'd exhausted the 18GB of CF cards I have :LOL:

I've also just ordered another 16GB Sandisk from Play.com ;)
 
It occured to me earlier - before I smash the faulty card with a hammer, if anyone wants it just PM your address and I'll send it to you…...
 
ryanyboy said:
It occured to me earlier - before I smash the faulty card with a hammer, if anyone wants it just PM your address and I'll send it to you…...
Click to expand...

I just smash with a hammer,i had a lot problems with lexar a few years ago,after many phone calls to them and empson,not resolved,i think i enjoyed :bat: with them :D
 
Ryan
Contact Lexar, i had a card corrupt and their customer service is brilliant, they apologised for the error i popped it in the post and a new replacement was sent within a couple of days. You cannot complain at their service, give them a chance. I appreciate this is a bad senario at a wedding, but any make of card can fail. I had a sandisk corrupt and its a real pain to get an exchange.
 
Ryan, I would take the card from you as I never shoot anything that matters that much. However a much better idea for you would be to stick it on ebay, even fully disclosing what has happened. I usually find adding faulty to my ebay auction titles brings a lot more interest and some stupid final prices. :D
 
Thanks all. I'm going to try Jan's suggestion. I'll just be interested to see what Lexar say. Will keep you posted. If I have no joy, Barry it's yours :)
 
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