Anyone here have problems with their Z5 second card slot?

I've got two UHS-II V90 cards, one in each. First slot records just fine, second slot (I have it set to Backup) either:

-indeed backs up like all other second slots I have in my other Nikon bodies

-doesn't backup at all

-or this morning it backed up the stills but not the videos from this morning's shoot

I'm pretty sure it's not user error, I've used both slots as Backup since forever and, yes, it's set to Slot One>Backup>Slot Two

Swap the cards and see what happens. Maybe the card is marginal.

toomanycanons said:

I've got two UHS-II V90 cards, one in each. First slot records just fine, second slot (I have it set to Backup) either:

-indeed backs up like all other second slots I have in my other Nikon bodies

-doesn't backup at all

-or this morning it backed up the stills but not the videos from this morning's shoot

I'm pretty sure it's not user error, I've used both slots as Backup since forever and, yes, it's set to Slot One>Backup>Slot Two

Click to expand...

Does the Z5 support video 'backup' to the 2nd card?

Have you tried reformatting the card?

Robodob said:

toomanycanons said:

I've got two UHS-II V90 cards, one in each. First slot records just fine, second slot (I have it set to Backup) either:

-indeed backs up like all other second slots I have in my other Nikon bodies

-doesn't backup at all

-or this morning it backed up the stills but not the videos from this morning's shoot

I'm pretty sure it's not user error, I've used both slots as Backup since forever and, yes, it's set to Slot One>Backup>Slot Two

Click to expand...

Does the Z5 support video 'backup' to the 2nd card?

Click to expand...

Good call. Till now I've only shot videos with a D7500 and a Z50, both of which only have one slot

From Nikon's website but not in the Z5 Reference Manual:

BACKUP

When you set the secondary card slot to backup, the camera will then duplicate every photo, saving one copy to each of the cards. Many wedding and event photographers demand this capability because it provides a safety net in case their primary memory card fails. Just be aware, this feature only applies to photos and not videos.

A curious decision by Nikon but it is what it is

toomanycanons said:

I've got two UHS-II V90 cards, one in each. First slot records just fine, second slot (I have it set to Backup) either:

-indeed backs up like all other second slots I have in my other Nikon bodies

-doesn't backup at all

-or this morning it backed up the stills but not the videos from this morning's shoot

I'm pretty sure it's not user error, I've used both slots as Backup since forever and, yes, it's set to Slot One>Backup>Slot Two

Click to expand...

For videos it can only write to one slot or the other (not both, even when setup to backup mode), so videos are not backed up to the second slot.

As for the stills, don't know. Did you try a second set of cards. Maybe your backup card is bad?

toomanycanons said:

Robodob said:

toomanycanons said:

I've got two UHS-II V90 cards, one in each. First slot records just fine, second slot (I have it set to Backup) either:

-indeed backs up like all other second slots I have in my other Nikon bodies

-doesn't backup at all

-or this morning it backed up the stills but not the videos from this morning's shoot

I'm pretty sure it's not user error, I've used both slots as Backup since forever and, yes, it's set to Slot One>Backup>Slot Two

Click to expand...

Does the Z5 support video 'backup' to the 2nd card?

Click to expand...

Good call. Till now I've only shot videos with a D7500 and a Z50, both of which only have one slot

From Nikon's website but not in the Z5 Reference Manual:

BACKUP

When you set the secondary card slot to backup, the camera will then duplicate every photo, saving one copy to each of the cards. Many wedding and event photographers demand this capability because it provides a safety net in case their primary memory card fails. Just be aware, this feature only applies to photos and not videos.

A curious decision by Nikon but it is what it is

Click to expand...

Not realy, because if yo uthink about it if you have say a 1GB video, it can slow down the camera if it has to write video files to both cards, plus there is possibly a concern of the two cards getting out of sync (plus in some systems -- and may not apply to NIkons or the Z5 -- the second slot is a slower speed slot (so the primary slot -- slot 1 -- may be UHS-II but the second slot might be UHS-I rated so it writes slower). I don't think this was the reasoning behind the limitations, but file size and overhead may have been the concern. Writing stills to both cards is one thing, but writing basically recording video to two slots at the same time likely takes more overhead.

There may also be a limit, like if the card slots are more "sequential" layout than parallel, meaning that it may be only able to write to one card at a time, and that what you perceive as "at the same time" for stills is really writing one card, and then the other card (but it's generally so quick you don't notice due to file size for stills, about 30MB or so for the Z5) but writing to both cards simultaneously (for video especially) may not be possible.

Now it would be nice (and I've been "asking" for a function in the menu to let you manually copy files between cards, so this would mean you could copy video files as well, but so far, no such update has been made/added). I believe some Canon cameras can do this (Copy files between cards via the menu.)

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NOTE: If I don't reply to a direct comment in the forums, it's likely I unsubscribed from the thread/article..

my second slot will not work and I cannot use it to format. almost new camera I purchased directly from Nikon. Nikon want to charge me foolish price to lookout it.

ddexter said:

my second slot will not work and I cannot use it to format. almost new camera I purchased directly from Nikon. Nikon want to charge me foolish price to lookout it.

Click to expand...

That's kind of scary. I just picked up another Z5 (new) so I'll have to check mine. I havent run into card issues on any of my Z cameras so hopefully this isn't a defect on the newer Z5 batches.

Does the camera even recognize the card at all? Is there any strange issues when installing the card (ie. it won't stay clicked in, or it takes more force to insert the second card than the first)?