EOS-1D X Mark II Image Corruption with Sandisk CFast Cards

[canon1dxman]

Same / similar problem with my 7D M2 on the first major shoot in Africa Dec 2014/ Jan 2015. Took the card back to the retailer for a refund. Lost around 12 shots I guess.

 

[Andris]

Ohh, thanks for info! I'll try CFast card reader!

The same for me with Lexar 3400x CFast. From 1000 shots there were about 10 - 12 coruupted raw still image files. Also interesting that 4K .mov file size for some files ir 0 B. In camera clip is playing, when view or copy on computer, size is 0 B.

The 0B files are due to the Windows driver not being able to read large files using the camera driver. You need to use the EOS utility to transfer the file (slow) or use a cfast card reader which uses its own driver and can read large files.

 

[TommyLee]

RGF / rich...

I called sandisk yesterday morning... they said "canon and sandisk were working on a fix".. I said "the reports said card issue not camera... so I should take card to retailer.....?....my $6000 camera and CFast card are not working"

sandisk PROMISED to send me an email at the end of day...because I said the return camera thing ...I think...
they did not send an email...
I sorta see why.....

thing is ......I dont want to do a firmware update Just FOR CFAST.... CARD FAILURE
iff ....it is the card....

but I never used the card much....just a few times to see how it switched back and forth ...and some video...

///////

my Take on this is...
"Gee Canon people found this issue in days...(I think...I dont know)...........
.... your testing never saw it?"

I wont update til the few adventurous ones try it first...
might be tWo UPDATES......

 

[zim]

Hi weeowie, welcome to CR!

Firstly apologies for this being waaay off topic but but I'm really curious, the second example picture you posted where/when/how was that taken? ignoring the corruption on the right hand side of the image in truth it looks computer generated model render to me!
Please don't take that as a suggestion the corruptions you are experiencing aren't real, they clearly are!

Regards

 

[emailfortom]

I'm a 1DX ii user who has been talking to Canon about the loss of data in the bottom right hand corner. The camera was returned to canon service with Sandisk CFast card with problem files still on the Cfast card. I've since picked up my camera from canon with the recommendation to use a supplied CF card. Was advised that firmware was in pipeline to solve the problem with CFast card. The Sandisk CFast card supplied with 1DX ii does not have serial numbers that I can see.

I have followed the corruption thread with great interest...though I have not experienced the problem on my camera that I received early May. What I am wondering, and feel is part of the same topic, are there other "features and or feature fixes" that also need to be addressed in the soon to be released firmware update. Is there anything else that 1Dx Mk II users want/need tweeked?

 

[TommyLee]

emailfortom
////////////

yes I thought this also .. if they are running out a new firmware...
lets have a few other things fixed..
....

not to make a list here but

........ I may not understand this all yet ... in settings options
but
...why does the live view shot not zoom on focus point or center point ...consistent with slr mode?....
and why cant we set a preference here?...

there are a few little issues like that...
maybe a way to have the surrounding non-selected focus point in a faint red .. versus brite red focus point...
surrounding focus points...that are now dark/clear...
are useful to know might be helpful to see faint red....at the selection time... IMO

not a list here.....
just an example of.... fix a few things ... and I can go for an update...
but not so much JUST for a bad card/brand...

still no email from sandisk... like they said would send..
..listing what they would do..about card replacement etc...
...... seems i should be allowed to swap sandisk bad card for Lexar good card .... at the photo store..

let Canon sort it out...eat the cost...in the '1dx2 testing budget' ...
may I suggest....

 

[Mario]

I sent an e-mail to Sandisk customer service yesterday, right after seeing the notification on there website. I stated I did not see the problem yet, but that I was worried about the reliability of the Sandisk CFast card (64GB).

I got a reply today (in Dutch, I live in the dutch-speaking part of Belgium) thanking me for using Sandisk products and stating that at the moment Sandisk and Canon were working together to release a new firmware to solve the card problem and that it will be available soon. They apologized for the inconvenience and said to send an e-mail when the new firmware will be released.

Hartelijk dank voor ons op de hoogte te brengen dat u deze producten gebruikt!

Canon en SanDisk werken momenteel samen om een nieuwe firmware vrij te geven voor de camera om het kaart problem op te lossen, deze zal spoedig beschikbaar zijn. We willen ons verontschuldigen voor het ongemak dat dit veroorzaakt.
We zullen u een e-mail notificatie sturen wanneer de Canon firmware wordt vrijgegeven.

I haven't found any corrupted file yet. Yesterday I tried to reproduce the error, taking a picture and immediately switching the camera off, but gave up after about 5 attempts with no "luck" .

Mario

 

[clicstudio]

I have already taken over 9000 photos with the 1DX II and the Sandisk CFast and no problems at all with corruption...
I got the Kit with the reader. I use the reader, not the camera to download the Raw files to my iMac.

 

[jd39]

The firmware update will likely do one of two things:
1) add a pause between flushing the data to the card and removing power, giving the card time to write out the data from its buffers
2) update the way in which the camera talks to the card to ensure that the card has committed all data to "disk" before declaring it to be safe to remove power from

There's a third option in the firmware update:
3) Alter/eliminate the write caching to prioritize Sandisk-safe writes over faster write speeds.

We may get SLOWER capture rates with this new firmware. I don't know how to go back to an old firmware, so I am going to avoid upgrading to the new firmware when it comes out. I'm not willing to test the upgrade.

Could someone run some performance tests before and after they upgrade? I'd like to see number of frames captured in bursts, max frames captured in a fixed amount of time, etc. Please track if the amount changes before & after the upgrade.

I doubt the video capture rates will drop (that'd be too noticeable), but perhaps the encoding quality had to be reduced to accommodate the reduced write rates? I don't know how you'd test for that, I'm not a video person, but perhaps that's possible?

I'm concerned that this fix for a single brand of cfast is going to negatively affect everyone. Why can't we just all not use Sandisk and not change the firmware? Am I worried for nothing?

-- JD

 

[unfocused]

We may get SLOWER capture rates with this new firmware. I don't know how to go back to an old firmware, so I am going to avoid upgrading to the new firmware when it comes out. I'm not willing to test the upgrade...

...Why can't we just all not use Sandisk and not change the firmware? Am I worried for nothing?

Since the corruption only occurs on power down, I'm not sure why it would affect the capture rates (with one exception below). It might slow down the "power down" time, but that should not have any affect on shooting.

Exception: Since this also can occur when the camera switches from the CFast to the CF card (when CFast card is full), I could see some risk of losing capture or write speed during the card switch, but I'm not sure how much of a "perfect storm" would be necessary to see that happen.

 

[RGF]

I got a reply from Sandisk which basically said wait for Canon to make a repair via firmware update.

Not very happy about this, would like Sandisk to be more proactive about this but perhaps they can not. Too many cards out there, too hard to update firmware on the card.

 

[kaihp]

This isn't Sandisk's problem, it is Canon's.

Actually, we can't tell whether it's Canon or SanDisk having a problem.

It may be that the problem only occurs in the 1Dx2, but if it occurs because the SanDisk card is violating a spec, it's SanDisks problem.
It could also be the 1Dx2 that is violating a spec; then it's Canon problem.

And we can't tell the difference without looking at the specs, signals and timing diagrams to determine what happens.

 

[unfocused]

Look at it from another perspective: are there any reports from owners of cameras made by other manufacturers (e.g. Nikon) that are reporting the same problem?

This isn't Sandisk's problem, it is Canon's.

Wrong again. Users report a 100% failure rate when using a SanDisk CFast card in a Nikon or Sony body.

 

[East Wind Photography]

This isn't Sandisk's problem, it is Canon's.

Actually, we can't tell whether it's Canon or SanDisk having a problem.

It may be that the problem only occurs in the 1Dx2, but if it occurs because the SanDisk card is violating a spec, it's SanDisks problem.
It could also be the 1Dx2 that is violating a spec; then it's Canon problem.

And we can't tell the difference without looking at the specs, signals and timing diagrams to determine what happens.

Look at it this way. Both companies may have just decided that a firmware update was the least expensive resolution to the problem. We dont really know who is at fault. My lexar card works fine so is it canon?

 

[kaihp]

Look at it this way. Both companies may have just decided that a firmware update was the least expensive resolution to the problem. We dont really know who is at fault. My lexar card works fine so is it canon?

+1

Do we really care who is at fault, as long as we can get the problem fixed?

 

[East Wind Photography]

Look at it this way. Both companies may have just decided that a firmware update was the least expensive resolution to the problem. We dont really know who is at fault. My lexar card works fine so is it canon?

+1

Do we really care who is at fault, as long as we can get the problem fixed?

I think a firmware update is the easiest solution for everyone. Folks that say they dont want to update their firmware just plain dont understand modern technology. Cameras are extremely complex devices. In fact in many respects they are more advanced than many laptops and tablet computers. I rarely have ever experienced an issue on any device where i needed to roll back a firmware update.

I will be updating my firmware when its released even though i dont experience an issue. The reason is i dont want to be on travel, need to buy a card, and have to worry about wether this issue will crop up in the future.

 

[HKFEVER]

Canon replaced the original Sandisk 128GB CFast that came with my 1DXII, after the replacement, it still has problem, say one out of 30-40 pictures.

I purchased another Sandisk 128CB CFast from camera shop, it has problem, but once in hundreds. Sandisk replaced this. After the replacement, it happens every time 1DXII power off

I also have a Lexar 3600X 128GB CFast, it is 100% perfect since the first day.

 

[RGF]

happens only with Sandisk cards and not Lexar cards - so likely problem is ..

1. Sandisk cards. They behave out of spec.

2. Canon, Nikon, ... They failed to understand the details of Sandisk's specs which are slightly different than Lexar's.


Canon is fixing it. Quicker, easier than replacing all the cards. So you could say

1. Canon is providing a work around for poorly designed Sandisk CFast card

2. Canon is fixed the firmware to work correctly with the Sandisk CFast cards.

Either way, our camera's are not working correctly. If you go to a hotel the air conditioner is not working, if you go to a restaurant and the fail to include an item with your meal, they apologize and compensate you.

Happy that Canon is providing a firmware fix. Not happy with a systematic problem like this they are not offering current owners something. Sandisk stands look lose big to Lexar following this problem unless they step up and do something (such as 20% of new CFast card at retail, not their store which is 100% over priced).

 

[HKFEVER]

Sandisk Asia just asked me to take the card to HK dealer for exchange, LOL

It must almost cost nothing to manufacture memory cards, LOL

 

[HKFEVER]

Back from Sandisk service center:
- They don't know anything about Canon's claim
- They don't know anything about their own post of waiting for Canon's new firmware
- They don't have stock in for replacement
- Est. end of July to mid Aug for replacement