I think I've hit my first SNAFU with shooting to SDHC, though it's an irritation rather than a problem.

Two of my SanDisk Extreme III SDHC cards, used regularly in MxR adaptors, are missing their little grey Write Protect sliders, leaving behind a little empty hole.

I can pull stuff off, but they can't be formatted or written to because, well, the write protect thingy broke off when it was on. Well, the ones that have the grey thing work fine, and these two which don't, don't.

From wikipedia:

If the notch is covered by a sliding write protection tab, or absent, then the card is writeable. This can be overridden if the device reading it wishes to (and supports it).

To whit, I guess that the reading device (EX1) doesn't wish to override it. Nor does the MacBook Pro, which shows the card as write protected and won't even format it. Which is what you want really, unless the tab broke off.

Anyone know of a way of fooling an SDHC card in the same way a bit of tape over a write protect hole will force a tape to be erasable?

same happened to me, once. i disassembled the SDHC, only to discover some minute electrical contacts as part of the slide switch. way too small for my eyes or fingers to attempt repair. i'm afraid the card is worthless, at this point.

i'm afraid the card is worthless, at this point.

Well, it's chalked up as a lesson. I'd just got some dinky new SDHC cases - 8 cards in a neat little box. Quite tight, and a lot of traffic in and out of box and adaptors. I bet the thingies got snapped off in the new cases.

I should have got a batch of Ross's 'orange boxes' and just put up with the extra space required. Order now complete.

Or just do as I do with my SDHC adapters and leave all the SDHC cards "permanently" inside the Adapters and use each "Combo" just like a SxS stick (bar overcranking beyond about 48-50 fps). That way the SDHC cards are protected a bit. Those Kensington adapters are cheap enough for me to use this approach. I still put the Combos in a case and handle them like they are priceless - and at times they are (when the clips are on them).

Most SD cards have a lifetime guarantee. Perhaps it will cover the defect...

Considering the cost of the SDHC cards, this is a fairly painless problem. That's the beauty of this solution. The cards are virtually an expendable. Can be treated like tapestock.

Imagine if your SxS or a P2 card had that problem?

SanDisk will replace the card without a hassle. I would simply do that.

Also, the suggestion regarding extra preloaded adapters is a good one. That is what I did back when I bought six Kensington adapters. They are preloaded and I never have to switch cards at a shoot. I only switch preloaded adapters.

John

Or just do as I do with my SDHC adapters and leave all the SDHC cards "permanently" inside the Adapters and use each "Combo" just like a SxS stick...

I think thats a good idea.

Just received my EX3 and new to all of this, I thought I read on the forum about never go to a shoot with new unused SDHC cards, always shoot on a used one, is this still the case.

Hi Tony.
Always a good idea to test any recording media, be it tape or card, before using on a shoot. Hope you are enjoying the new cam.

Yes Colin, the pictures, what little I seen of them, are stunning.
What I was wondering was. I've started to gather up a few of these cards, like you and they are all new, so do you take a SDHC card and record say 5 or 10 min on each of them?
When would you know there OK to use, if you see were I'm coming from.

I always check cameras and media before a shoot. I shot a wedding last Saturday and used 2, 16 and 2 8gb Transcend cards, all tested for about 1 minute beforehand, no problem whatsoever. We just have to trust the technology I guess. I think its pretty sound. Certainly far less to go wrong than in a tape based camera.

So,take the SDHC card and record 1 or 2 mins on it and if theres no error messages it should be OK to record on. You don't have to record any more than that to test it.
Thats not to bad then.

What I'm hoping to do (but probably wont work like this) is to record my wedding onto the SDHC cards then let them stay on the shelf until I need to work on that wedding project, that could be about 6/7 weeks. I know I will need a good few cards to let me do that. Well, thats what I'm thinking of anyway.

Its reminds me of when I first got my DVCam tapes, a 3hr tape cost me £35, I always seemed to be buying tapes but then, after a while I didn't need to buy any at all.

Thanks.

You could go that way Tony, but it could get a bit expensive. I back up my edited footage, encoded to H264 on 2 seperate hard drives. You can pick up external 1 Tb drives for about £85. Doing it this way frees up your cards instantly. Some will say that hard drives can fail, and they are right, but by the same token any piece of equipment we use can fail. I tend not to think in a negative way, and as I have said in the past, we must trust the technology.

You could go that way Tony, but it could get a bit expensive. I back up my edited footage, encoded to H264 on 2 seperate hard drives


Hi Colin, what I meant was record my wedding, take the SDHC cards out of the readers and leave the cards sitting, untouched, until I have to start editing that wedding which could be 5/6 weeks later...or is this the wrong way.

Or do you mean shoot your wedding and then when you get a chance copy the cards to 2 HDs, leaving the cards usable again, only sooner.

Whichever works for you, I certainly would not hesitate to copy all the files to HDD as soon as possible.

So copy the BPAV folders to HDrive anyway even if I don't intend to reuse the SDHC cards for 5/6 weeks. OK Thanks Colin.

SanDisk will replace the card without a hassle. I would simply do that.

Also, the suggestion regarding extra preloaded adapters is a good one. That is what I did back when I bought six Kensington adapters. They are preloaded and I never have to switch cards at a shoot. I only switch preloaded adapters.

John

But that doubles the cost of the media. I don't think potentially the write protect tab alone is a common enough of a problem to justify that. If you have a hard enough time handling the cards because SDHC is too small to easily handle, then maybe its worth it.

If you have a hard enough time handling the cards because SDHC is too small to easily handle, then maybe its worth it.

I'm shooting on the run an awful lot and be stranded from my kit bag for almost a day, so now wear a Scott-e-vest waistcoat thing that is a little nerdy, but means I can carry a stick mic, Sennheiser XLR transmitter, radio mic, headphones, white card, extra batteries, Canon HV20, phone, ipod, etc. I can keep pre-loaded MxR adaptors on one side, then once used, put them in the other side. Then there's the secret pocket with the SxS card for slomo.

So now that I know the little aluminium SDHC card cases are bad karma, I'm sold on never taking them out of the adaptors. And I'm also going to treat those adaptors to some Tender Loving Care too.

The best thing about Fail Safe is 'safe'. The worst thing about Fail Safe is 'fail'.

BTW - No reply from SanDisk. No joy, or desire to take any further, from retailer. Lots of weasel words in warranty info (no offence to weasels). Lifetime warranty appears to be a marketing term.

I have a transcend 16 gB card with the same problem - if it just ended up with no write protection it really wouldnot matter. I just thought it was a plastic thing signaling to a switch in the reader - but you say it's a switch in the SDHC card. Maybe it can be moved over from an old 16mB card??????

I just thought it was a plastic thing signaling to a switch in the reader - but you say it's a switch in the SDHC card.

Erm, no - it is probably mechanical, just a sensor somewhere, but all devices know it has a read-write switch and that it's stuck in the read (lock) position. I guess those cards without the switch have a plastic moulding that emulates the position of the switch in write (unlock) position.

Whatever it is, I don't really want to risk doing a bodge job (as one would do with a VHS or DVCAM cassette) on something like this and write off the adaptor too. You just know it would get stuck in there in the 'not working' position.

Sigh.