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Do you format your CF card each time?

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CMalsingh said:
is there
actually any difference to the way a D300 formats a CF card to the
way that Windows (or for that matter a Mac) does?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure, but I believe in Murphy's Law, and I believe Murphy's Law is twice as likely to strike when there's Microsoft software involved.

I'm a Mac guy and I STILL wouldn't erase/format my cards on my machines. Again, letting your camera and your card talk to each other is a simpler thing than letting your camera talk to your card after your card has had a hopefully benign conversation with your PC.

deuxcent
 
CMalsingh:

Yes, and even with my 32 GB CF Cards, it takes just a few seconds, :-)

--
BRJR ....(LOL, some of us are quite satisfied as Hobbyists ..)


CMalsingh said:
Just read Busch's book, which includes the advice to format your CF
card using the D300 after uploading each set of images.

I've never bothered re-formatting before and not had any problems
with lost images (so far!). I also have some "owner" information
saved to my card (in case the camera ever gets lot etc, to help
getting it returned). I'd have to manually re-copy this after each
format if I followed this advice.

Any advice from the rest of you on this?

--
Colin Malsingh
-------------------
http://www.pbase.com/cmalsingh
Click to expand...
 
nipprdog said:
Steve Bingham said:
Never have and never a problem. This includes past ownership of two
Fuji S2, two Kodak DSLR/n, two D2x, one D200, one D300, my son's
D200, my other son's D300, and my wife's D50. I just delete the files
after I load them onto the computer - with the computer. Never a
problem. Perhaps formatting would be better, but why?
Click to expand...
I never delete the files after uploading to the computer. In case
something goes wrong before I make a back up, I still have the files
on the card. Saved me once.
Click to expand...
. . . and the very reason I check a few before deleting!
nipprdog said:
--



http://www.knippixels.com
Click to expand...
--
Steve Bingham
http://www.dustylens.com
http://www.ghost-town-photography.com
 
Tim Bury:

Thanks, for the link.

--
BRJR ....(LOL, some of us are quite satisfied as Hobbyists ..)


Tim Bury said:
As many others have stated, I also reformat every time. I know a lot
of people have not had a problem, but I know of folks who have. I
want to play it safe with my images and avoid corruption, so I follow
best practice. It's also quick to delete the images.

Here's ana rticle on the subject from Outdoor Photographer...

http://www.outdoorphotographer.com/columns/digital-horizons/thanks-for-the-memory.html

--
http://pics.myfotoguy.com
Click to expand...
 
Steve Bingham said:
But . . . I have had no problems for years and years with no
formatting. Does real world experience beat theory? Who knows. I was
simply stating my experience using a dozen cameras, a dozen cards,
and many, many years experience.
Click to expand...
I'm with you on that. If an in camera format doesn't do much than why bother??? The only thing that could mess up the CF card is a hardware problem or operator error, like yanking the card out when it's being written to or powered up. This can ruin pictures on the spot. I think, a few folks got real HW failures and now allot of people give formatting more credit than it deserves. But if one feels more comfortable doing it, then it's no big deal either way. I use Nikon transwer and most of the time have the delete after transfer option checked off. In over 5 years and 3 DSLR's I never lost a picture.
--
Stan ;o()



In the spirit of Occam’s Razor one should embrace the less complicated formulation or simply put, less is more.
http://standavidson.com/post/Birds
 
nipprdog said:
Steve Bingham said:
Never have and never a problem. This includes past ownership of two
Fuji S2, two Kodak DSLR/n, two D2x, one D200, one D300, my son's
D200, my other son's D300, and my wife's D50. I just delete the files
after I load them onto the computer - with the computer. Never a
problem. Perhaps formatting would be better, but why?
Click to expand...
I never delete the files after uploading to the computer. In case
something goes wrong before I make a back up, I still have the files
on the card. Saved me once.
Click to expand...
Wow, you must have many terabytes on your card. Where can I get one? :) lol
--
Stan ;o()



In the spirit of Occam’s Razor one should embrace the less complicated formulation or simply put, less is more.
http://standavidson.com/post/Birds
 
DStan said:
nipprdog said:
Steve Bingham said:
Never have and never a problem. This includes past ownership of two
Fuji S2, two Kodak DSLR/n, two D2x, one D200, one D300, my son's
D200, my other son's D300, and my wife's D50. I just delete the files
after I load them onto the computer - with the computer. Never a
problem. Perhaps formatting would be better, but why?
Click to expand...
I never delete the files after uploading to the computer. In case
something goes wrong before I make a back up, I still have the files
on the card. Saved me once.
Click to expand...
Wow, you must have many terabytes on your card. Where can I get one?
:) lol
Click to expand...
Uh, where did I say I only had a single card? Actually, I now use five 4 gig cards - gave the smaller ones away to my wife and kids - what a guy, no??? :^)
DStan said:
--
Stan ;o()



In the spirit of Occam’s Razor one should embrace the less
complicated formulation or simply put, less is more.
http://standavidson.com/post/Birds
Click to expand...
--
Steve Bingham
http://www.dustylens.com
http://www.ghost-town-photography.com
 
... oh wait ... you mean you can use the cards more than once??

jk
;)

--

Photography forum on ISCA BBS! telnet to bbs.iscabbs.com. Also, IRC photo chat at #photography IRC channel @ mesa.az.us.undernet.org
 
From Kingston.com

http://www.kingston.com/products/pdf_files/FlashMemGuide.pdf

According to Toshiba, the inventor of Flash memory: “the 10,000 cycles of MLC NAND is more than sufficient for a wide range of consumer applications, from storing documents to digital photos. For example, if a 256-MB MLC NAND Flash-based card can typically store 250 pictures from a 4-megapixel camera (a conservative estimate), its 10,000 write/erase cycles, combined with wear-leveling algorithms in the controller, will enable the user to store and/or view approximately 2.5 million pictures within the expected useful life of
the card.”

For USB Flash drives, Toshiba calculated that a 10,000 write cycle endurance would enable customers to “completely write and erase the entire contents once per day for 27 years, well beyond the life of the hardware.”

I like formatting, but with this kind of life cycle you chosse... It's a matter of personel choice..
 
nipprdog said:
I never delete the files after uploading to the computer. In case
something goes wrong before I make a back up, I still have the files
on the card. Saved me once.
Click to expand...
But what if your card should ever become full? Even the largest ones will become fiull one day...
 
I'm surprised that there isn't a chorus of YES answers, and a COMMON KNOWLEDGE among camera geeks about this:

You MUST format your memory card after EVERY removal + insertion. It creates a clean data path between the camera and the card, and a clean, empty card for the camera to use. If you go too long deleting tons of images in-camera, taking the card out and putting it back in all the time but not formatting, deleting more images in-camera, shooting more, etc. etc. ...you will definitely run a higher risk of corrupting images.

Take this knowledge and pass it on, please. This is something every photographer should know...

I've been shooting digitally for 5 years and have shot maybe a couple hundred thousand images, maybe a hundred thousand of those being images for paid work, most of it being weddings. Needless to say, image safety is my topmost concern. I've practiced all different kinds of workflow with regard to this in particular, and I've definitely lost my fair share of images to corruption.

So, you can either take my advice and do something that takes just a few seconds and is an easy habit to get into, but COULD save a lot of grief someday...

=Matt=

--



Cameras capable of making great photographs have become commonplace these days, but photographers have not. While technical innovations have made photography ever easier in recent decades, the art of producing images that other people will care about has become even more formidable. Galen Rowell
 
Cheers Matt, I think the majority of replies is in full agreement with you.

Whilst I've never lost an image or had corruption problems with my present approach (using Windows to "Move" files off the card, which I assume includes an implicit delete), I have no wish to encounter one now!

--
Colin Malsingh
-------------------
http://www.pbase.com/cmalsingh
 
CMalsingh said:
Whilst I've never lost an image or had corruption problems with my
present approach (using Windows to "Move" files off the card, which I
assume includes an implicit delete), I have no wish to encounter one
now!
Click to expand...
Promise me you'll never use "move" again, okay?

Use "copy" and, only when you're certain all images have been successfully copied and backed up, perform an in camera format to clear the card for the next shoot.

If something goes wrong during a "move", even a simple power failure, you'll have a tedious recovery job at best. More likely, you'll loose some images.
 
CMalsingh said:
Cheers Matt, I think the majority of replies is in full agreement
with you.
Click to expand...
Hi Colin, glad to hear that most are on the same page here, and the message is getting out.

I know that both Mac and PC will AUTOMATICALLY copy files when you are just drag-and-dropping them from one drive to another, so I guess you must be using an importing application like Lightroom etc. that have move VS copy options...

In any case, YES this is a bad idea. Personally, I strongly dislike the apps that import / download etc. I'd rather be completely in charge of my transfers, so I just drag-and-drop the main folder to my desktop, and if I do it via Bridge it is smart enough to never allow one folder / image to over-write another...

Anyway, that's another discussion for another time. The least we can do is to format our cards, IN the camera, after EVERY removal / insertion. If you "break the connection" between camera and card, you need to re-establish it cleanly, every single time.

The problem with safe data transfer practices is that failure is so rare, you could be doing things the wrong way for YEARS and never know it, ...until "one day"... If you don't experience a failure, you'll never know whether you're doing things the right way or the wrong way. But once you experience a failure, it might already be too late...

=Matt=

--



Cameras capable of making great photographs have become commonplace these days, but photographers have not. While technical innovations have made photography ever easier in recent decades, the art of producing images that other people will care about has become even more formidable. Galen Rowell
 
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