SD card problem HMC-151e at DVinfo.net

Philip Younger · September 16th, 2010, 07:56 AM

I was doing a shoot yesterday onto 16gig Kingston Ultimate 133X class 6 cards - which I have never had a any problems with.....until now!

One card worked perfectly, no problems at all. However, the brand new card, which was formatted in the camera, and had a short test shoot of a few minutes while I set-up (and that was played back, no problem so I erased that bit of footage and started filming) - no 'apparent' problem.

I started my shoot, I was continually shooting without pause for about 20mins at 720/50 then stopped (camera switched off and new battery). a little while later switch the camera back on and got an message flash up saying 'check the card'.

It would no longer film nor would it playback. I couldn't get past the 'check card' warning. I can't re-shoot that is lost forever, but I took the card out and used the 'old' card successfully to continue. I had hoped that returning home I might be able to rescue something from the first 'new' card but when I put the card in the camera or in a card reader (which is my normal way of doing things) the card isn't even recognised.

Are there any rescues I can try? and does anyone know what went wrong. The card remained in the camera between the two takes, the camera wasn't knocked nothing!

Chris Harding · September 18th, 2010, 12:49 AM

Hi Philip

First of all DON'T touch the card. Firstly go to Panasonic's International site and download the free card restore package and follow the instructions and you might be lucky.

My friend Bruce mentioned that Kingston are often under-rated in real life and are not suggested for high speed capture so I have never bought them.

Aparently the SanDisk is best but I have been using Transcend Class 6 and 10 and only had one failure during a Realty shoot where when I hit pause the pause indicator stayed on red and the camera just locked up totally!!!! I eventually had to remove the battery!!! I never bothered to restore the card as I simply reshot the bad piece on a new card and never had the issue again. I do around 30 shoots a month which include realy and weddings and that was the only time there was a problem. I do, however do a non-critical shoot on all my new cards to make sure they are OK before shooting a wedding for instance. That might be a good habit to get into????

Good luck with the card recovery...I'm told it does work well unless the card has a major issue!!

Chris

Philip Younger · September 23rd, 2010, 03:13 AM

Chris: Thanks for the info on the recovery software, which I tried to no avail together with other such software.

I have used Kingston and Sandisk cards a great many times and all my cards are purchased from a reputable dealer, so I know they are genuine. I've never had any such problem with still or video shoots before ,

As you advocate, I did do a test on the card prior to my shoot, and it worked perfectly, no problem at all. I then came to do my filming, which appeared to be working/recording just fine. Then, after a short break, turning the camera back on the OSD gave a message "check the card" which I couldn't get past. I had to take that card out and continue with a second - which I was very nervous about in case it was a camera fault, but that second card (also a Kingston purchased at the same time) was fine.

I have to say this experience has now made me very nervous about using SD cards (or, I suppose, any solid state media). How can you be sure that what you are filming is a) being recorded to media, and b) will be dowloadable after recording? I can't imagine what would have happened had I been filming a wedding - I'd have to go into hiding!

Chris Harding · September 23rd, 2010, 05:25 AM

Hi Philip

It has worried me during weddings especially the main camera that runs for a good 20 minutes non stop during the ceremony or speeches and carries all the audio from the radio mics too!!

Even in the days of tape you could see the reels turning but you didn't know if there was a problem or not. Was the capstan slipping .... ???? were the heads blocked????

Admittedly I have only even had a card that wouldn't finalise after a clip as mentioned above but have never had a "check card" error. What I do on new cards is give me a few Realty shoots before they are used for weddings..the one that failed on me was an 8GB card and it was about 50% full... I actually checked the read/write functions on the card and it came out 100% ...no errors.

Just for interest was there any chance of strong magnetic/electrical fields in the area??? or anything else that might affect a card/camera ..temperature???? My error happened in January and I haven't had one since and I shoot a LOT of realty video...between 5 and 7, 2 hour shoots per week!!

Hmmm maybe one needs a firestor or similar on critical bits?????

Chris

Vaughan Wood · September 27th, 2010, 01:30 AM

Hi Guys,

This is discussed a lot on the Sony EX forum, as recording MPEG 2 to SDHC is very demanding too.

There are websites that test cards for the EX series and test results are here:

MxM Express

I am using a ATP ProMax card for weddings without a hitch. (cross fingers) as I have had two A-data cards fail me, luckily not on critical Duty!

Philip, are you sure you didn't turn the camera off before it finished writing to the card?

This is the second biggest reason cards seem to fail, the first is pulling it out of the computer card reader without hitting "Eject" first, which is how I fried one of my A-Data cards.

I have noticed that my ATP ProMax card finishes writing data from the cache very quickly, usually close to 1 second after I have hit stop, and think it has saved me several times when I have been distracted and turned the camera off very quickly without thinking, or checking the flashing light.

I do wish the manufacturers would put a failsafe "delayed off" in the cameras so this wouldn't be a problem, just as they had with tape assemblies!

Cheers,

Vaughan

Chris Harding · September 27th, 2010, 05:21 AM

I'm not too sure about the 150's but on my 72's the moment you hit pause the pause icon turns red telling you that the data is being finalised to the card. When that happens and is all done, the pause icon then turns green and you get the normal camera "beep" to say recording has stopped.

Surely that is enough information to warn you not to try and remove the card before the LCD or EVF tells you to and you also have the audible acknowlegement that it's safe to record to the card again or remove it.

Must admit I have never tried "pulling power" during a write but surely the firmware would have something to protect the finalisation if the battery failed???

Thanks Vaughan!! I was tempted to grab a few A-Data cards a while back as they were a good price..glad I didn't!!!

Chris

September 16th, 2010, 07:56 AM	#1
Philip Younger Major Player Join Date: May 2008 Location: Warwickshire Posts: 207	SD card problem HMC-151e I was doing a shoot yesterday onto 16gig Kingston Ultimate 133X class 6 cards - which I have never had a any problems with.....until now! One card worked perfectly, no problems at all. However, the brand new card, which was formatted in the camera, and had a short test shoot of a few minutes while I set-up (and that was played back, no problem so I erased that bit of footage and started filming) - no 'apparent' problem. I started my shoot, I was continually shooting without pause for about 20mins at 720/50 then stopped (camera switched off and new battery). a little while later switch the camera back on and got an message flash up saying 'check the card'. It would no longer film nor would it playback. I couldn't get past the 'check card' warning. I can't re-shoot that is lost forever, but I took the card out and used the 'old' card successfully to continue. I had hoped that returning home I might be able to rescue something from the first 'new' card but when I put the card in the camera or in a card reader (which is my normal way of doing things) the card isn't even recognised. Are there any rescues I can try? and does anyone know what went wrong. The card remained in the camera between the two takes, the camera wasn't knocked nothing!

September 18th, 2010, 12:49 AM	#2
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Hi Philip First of all DON'T touch the card. Firstly go to Panasonic's International site and download the free card restore package and follow the instructions and you might be lucky. My friend Bruce mentioned that Kingston are often under-rated in real life and are not suggested for high speed capture so I have never bought them. Aparently the SanDisk is best but I have been using Transcend Class 6 and 10 and only had one failure during a Realty shoot where when I hit pause the pause indicator stayed on red and the camera just locked up totally!!!! I eventually had to remove the battery!!! I never bothered to restore the card as I simply reshot the bad piece on a new card and never had the issue again. I do around 30 shoots a month which include realy and weddings and that was the only time there was a problem. I do, however do a non-critical shoot on all my new cards to make sure they are OK before shooting a wedding for instance. That might be a good habit to get into???? Good luck with the card recovery...I'm told it does work well unless the card has a major issue!! Chris

September 23rd, 2010, 03:13 AM	#3
Philip Younger Major Player Join Date: May 2008 Location: Warwickshire Posts: 207	Chris: Thanks for the info on the recovery software, which I tried to no avail together with other such software. I have used Kingston and Sandisk cards a great many times and all my cards are purchased from a reputable dealer, so I know they are genuine. I've never had any such problem with still or video shoots before , As you advocate, I did do a test on the card prior to my shoot, and it worked perfectly, no problem at all. I then came to do my filming, which appeared to be working/recording just fine. Then, after a short break, turning the camera back on the OSD gave a message "check the card" which I couldn't get past. I had to take that card out and continue with a second - which I was very nervous about in case it was a camera fault, but that second card (also a Kingston purchased at the same time) was fine. I have to say this experience has now made me very nervous about using SD cards (or, I suppose, any solid state media). How can you be sure that what you are filming is a) being recorded to media, and b) will be dowloadable after recording? I can't imagine what would have happened had I been filming a wedding - I'd have to go into hiding!

September 23rd, 2010, 05:25 AM	#4
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Hi Philip It has worried me during weddings especially the main camera that runs for a good 20 minutes non stop during the ceremony or speeches and carries all the audio from the radio mics too!! Even in the days of tape you could see the reels turning but you didn't know if there was a problem or not. Was the capstan slipping .... ???? were the heads blocked???? Admittedly I have only even had a card that wouldn't finalise after a clip as mentioned above but have never had a "check card" error. What I do on new cards is give me a few Realty shoots before they are used for weddings..the one that failed on me was an 8GB card and it was about 50% full... I actually checked the read/write functions on the card and it came out 100% ...no errors. Just for interest was there any chance of strong magnetic/electrical fields in the area??? or anything else that might affect a card/camera ..temperature???? My error happened in January and I haven't had one since and I shoot a LOT of realty video...between 5 and 7, 2 hour shoots per week!! Hmmm maybe one needs a firestor or similar on critical bits????? Chris

September 27th, 2010, 01:30 AM	#5
Vaughan Wood Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Melbourne Australia Posts: 278	Hi Guys, This is discussed a lot on the Sony EX forum, as recording MPEG 2 to SDHC is very demanding too. There are websites that test cards for the EX series and test results are here: MxM Express I am using a ATP ProMax card for weddings without a hitch. (cross fingers) as I have had two A-data cards fail me, luckily not on critical Duty! Philip, are you sure you didn't turn the camera off before it finished writing to the card? This is the second biggest reason cards seem to fail, the first is pulling it out of the computer card reader without hitting "Eject" first, which is how I fried one of my A-Data cards. I have noticed that my ATP ProMax card finishes writing data from the cache very quickly, usually close to 1 second after I have hit stop, and think it has saved me several times when I have been distracted and turned the camera off very quickly without thinking, or checking the flashing light. I do wish the manufacturers would put a failsafe "delayed off" in the cameras so this wouldn't be a problem, just as they had with tape assemblies! Cheers, Vaughan

September 27th, 2010, 05:21 AM	#6
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	I'm not too sure about the 150's but on my 72's the moment you hit pause the pause icon turns red telling you that the data is being finalised to the card. When that happens and is all done, the pause icon then turns green and you get the normal camera "beep" to say recording has stopped. Surely that is enough information to warn you not to try and remove the card before the LCD or EVF tells you to and you also have the audible acknowlegement that it's safe to record to the card again or remove it. Must admit I have never tried "pulling power" during a write but surely the firmware would have something to protect the finalisation if the battery failed??? Thanks Vaughan!! I was tempted to grab a few A-Data cards a while back as they were a good price..glad I didn't!!! Chris