5D mark III problem - 32gb sandisk extreme pro destroyed

[synthetiq]

Discussion getting off topic.

The fact that you are able to repeat the error and someone else is not points to a problem with your setup (camera, firmware, ?).

Suggest calling Canon support and at the same time RMA to Sandisk.

And apparently wrapping your camera in a tin-foil hat to protect from cosmic rays.

 

[Zv]

I noticed one of my Sandisk CF cards was acting funny. Then I looked at it closely today and realized it looked a bit different to my other three. I am convinced it is actually a fake. My Lexar card reader doesn't recognize it and my laptop showed me the blue screen of death moments after. I also recall an error on my 7D but just removed the battery and it was fine. Now I realize it was prob that same card. What the heck should I do with it? Throw it away? I have contacted the seller (Amazon marketplace) since I bought it last month maybe they might offer something? Prob not. Kinda annoyed with myself, I'm usually more careful.

 

[Richard8971]

Hmm, I have recently had a similar issue with a Lexar card with my 7D. Two brand new cards used for only a short time and then bzzzt, gone, nothing. I sent the first one back to Lexar and they replaced it and then about 2 months of use the second card also crapped out. I am running the newest firmware V2.03 on my 7. I baby my camera and my equipment, I have no idea why 2 cards have taken a dump, I have never in all of my years of using compactflash (both Sandisk and Lexar) I have never had a problem. I bought my first card from Adorama and the second card came direct from Lexar... Hmmm, I am really confused...

D

 

[victorwol]

It does not sound plausible to me that a camera can break a card by reading or deleting it, that it might happen because the card was faulty, and you just happened to be writing or erasing something at that moment, that could be... But the camera toasting the card... Don't thing so unless there is a huge design fault on the camera and probably most of use would have the same problem and a huge class action against Canon would be in order by now.... There are no moving parts like in HDDs so it is harder to break, but for sure there are parts that can go wrong, I had a Sandisk Pro Extreme going bad, totally dead, but just sent it back to Sandisk, had it replaced in about 10 days, but would never blame the camera for it, of course it is going to break while you using it

Hope you get it replaced. Good luck!

 

[vanermi]

Hi Guys, I'm new to this forum. I bought my 5D Mark III back in May of 2013 and have been using it with only Compact Flash cards until recently I have been using and writing to both card slots due to a similar case. I shoot on average 300 pictures a day 6 days a week plus shoot video 3 days a week. I have not had a single problem until recently when I purchased two brand new Transcend 1000x Compact flash 32GB cards from BH Photo. I was in the middle of shooting a video and was turning the camera on and off between clips to save battery when all of a sudden the message came up saying card was not recognizable. I went through the same steps and could not format the card in the camera or on the computer essentially rendering the card garbage. Anyways I switched to my other new card (both of which had already been used quite a bit already with no issue). Within a few shots it too crashed and was not recognizable however this one I was able to format later and recover files. I finally put one of my older cards in and finished the shoot fine.

I got home and discovered there was a firmware update and I did that and started shooting by writing to two cards even though video only records to one and have been shooting this way now for about 3 weeks. Today I arrived at a shoot, put my memory cards back in the camera, turned it on and noticed the red light was solid and the screen was not coming on, then all of a sudden it came up with that message again "card 1 not recognizable by the camera" and poof it's ruined again, this time an older Transcend 400x 32GB card. I put another 64GB card in and it worked fine for the entire shoot.

I am at a loss to what's happening. Canon originally told me it was the cards but now the fact it's done it again and I'm out another $80 card has me pointing directly at the camera as being the problem.

Hopefully someone can help a brother out.

 

[agierke]

i have heard of transcend cards failing alot. i would steer way clear of that brand.

 

[vanermi]

Thanks for the advise but I have been using them for years and have NEVER ever had one fail this way. The fact that two in a row failed $150 each card, then to have one of my older cards that I've used for years fail a couple weeks later does not point to them being Transcend, but rather the camera in my opinion.

i have heard of transcend cards failing alot. i would steer way clear of that brand.

 

[LookingThroughMyLens81]

I too experienced problems with my camera and accessories after having installed the firmware. My SterlingTek batteries wouldn't work in the camera and even my unused came-with-the-camera Canon battery wouldn't work properly, so I went out and bought two new Canon batteries that work fine. A lot of other people have also reported weird quirks and problems with accessories after having installed the latest firmware, so some electrical changes may have occurred as a result of installing it.

 

[vanermi]

I too experienced problems with my camera and accessories after having installed the firmware. My SterlingTek batteries wouldn't work in the camera and even my unused came-with-the-camera Canon battery wouldn't work properly, so I went out and bought two new Canon batteries that work fine. A lot of other people have also reported weird quirks and problems with accessories after having installed the latest firmware, so some electrical changes may have occurred as a result of installing it.

It's actually got nothing to do with the firmware update. This problem was happening before the update and now after the update.

 

[cliffwang]

That may happen on any flash card. The controller or flash die of the memory card probably damaged by some unknown reason. I cannot say this is not caused by your 5D3, but most of time that caused by the flash card itself. I have worked/been working for both flash and semiconductor companies. What I can say is flash card damage is a normal thing. Moreover, CF cards are much more reliable than SD card. You should avoid to use SD cards when you can use CF cards. By the way, I believe 5D3 can support up to 133x on SD card which is much slower than CF card.

 

[sandymandy]

Perhaps fake SD card. Can also happen if u order via amazon or else. no way they can check every product for it being not a fraud one

 

[M.ST]

There is a big bug in the 5D Mark III card handling system.

I report the bug long before the 5D Mark III hit the market but nothing happend.

The same CF cards work perfectly in the 1D X.

 

[wickidwombat]

what makes you think the canon broke the card?

counterfeit sandisk cards (approximately one third are fake says sandisk) show this behavior quite often.

a fake will definately exhibit this behaviour
the fakes use chips that failed QA and only test out to a much lower amount it could be 4mb or 256 kb its pretty random
the card will work perfectly until the actual limit is reached and then the card will be completely dead. however you can download the programming software that will let you reprogram the card again (windows only) it will let you set the visible size of the card. its really really dodgy. i cant remember where to get the software but i have reprogrammed a few of these dodgy cards to their correct value but they are basically useless. because the usable value is most often very very low.

 

[Camerajah]

I hope you format the card in camera before a shoot

 

[vanermi]

I don't think any of you are seeing the point and just dead set on blaming the cards. My SD cards are fine and have NEVER failed. Also a compact flash card has NEVER failed on my before. I had the 5D Mark II before and never once did a card fail and I didn't format it each day. I shot with it for 6 months straight in Mexico not formatting it once and no problems. Now I have much faster more expensive CF cards and they failed back to back after already being used for weeks. Then yesterday another one fails. It's DEFINITELY the camera and I posted on here because I am exhibiting the same problems as the original poster and I can see his frustration too as people just keep getting off topic just to be heard. If you read my first post you'll see that every post after is redundant. It's NOT THE CF CARDS it is the camera and I want to know if there's a known issue before sending it back to Canon under warranty. If CF cards were that sensitive they wouldn't even exist. Thanks for trying but please stick to the subject and no more blaming the CF cards and spitting up over chewed up topic of failing cards as this is obviously a spike from the camera to the card.

 

[longtallkarl]

also - marooni - if you're still out there, was there ever any conclusion to your problems?

-karl

 

[tron]

Now I have much faster more expensive CF cards and they failed back to back after already being used for weeks. Then yesterday another one fails

Since you refer to 5DMK3 and to newer faster cards at the same time you must admit that you changed 2 parameters at once. So there is no proof like it or not. Proof would be if the old CF cards that worked fine in 5DMkII were damaged in 5DMkIII. And vice versa if the newer faster CF cards had worked with no problem and with the same scenario in 5DMkII and NOT in 5DMkIII.

That being said, have you sent your 5DMkIII to Canon?

 

[GuyF]

Don't SanDisk have a lifetime warranty? Could you return the card to them for a replacement?

 

[msatter]

There is a big bug in the 5D Mark III card handling system.

I report the bug long before the 5D Mark III hit the market but nothing happend.

The same CF cards work perfectly in the 1D X.

I had an err80 with my 5DMKIII two shoots ago and after taking out the battery is was away. After the last shoot I put my Lexar 32GB proffessional 800x in reader and Windows7 said it was a new card and wanted to format it. I put the card in a USB Lexar reader and to my relief there were still pictures on it.

Browsing the pictures I noticed that I was missing pictures and after checking I was missing the last 100 ones. I got 651 RAW pictures and that was 16GB on data still on the card.

I used Recuva to see if the missing pictures were there but there were only the deleted files from previous shoots.

Luckily I write JPG (S1) to my EyeFi SDcard (8GB) that transfer to an iPad with Shuttersnitch so I still got those. Setting for the two card: Rec. separately.

My observations; this was the first time I used the CF card as playback, picture on the LCD, and this because I got a err80 the shoot before. The camera did not produce any errors during the shoot and silently switched over to the SD card as playback medium. The pictures still present on the CF card is half the size of the total size of the CF card.

After saving all the files I put the CF card back in the camera and took more pictures and it functioned perfectly again.

Checked now with Windows7 if there are any bad sectors and there were any.

Next shoots I will have to check during the shoot if the playback setting silently switches and carry extra CF cards with me to exchange the used CF card when this happens again.

 

[cliffwang]

Don't SanDisk have a lifetime warranty? Could you return the card to them for a replacement?

Yes, you can return it and get a new one from SanDisk. However, you cannot get the pictures back on that card. I still prefer CF card because of the reliability.