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Author Topic: Photofast Moster 64 GB anomaly? or 5D mark II anomaly  (Read 7684 times)

OpticalMedia

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Photofast Moster 64 GB anomaly? or 5D mark II anomaly
« on: December 22, 2009, 05:57:32 pm »

Based on the reviews including the one here on the luminous-Landscape (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/accessories/photofast.shtml) it seems as though the Photofast brand of monster cards are highly regarded CF Cards. Reviews can be read here Rob Galbraith (http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-10043-10255), The Photography Bay (http://www.photographybay.com/2009/10/07/photofast-cf-and-sd-cards-review/) and the (http://sportsphotoguy.com/new-kid-in-town-photofast/#more-623)

I have recently upgraded my camera from a 30D to 5D mark II. It was also applicable to upgrade my CF card which was an 8 GBs non UDMA SanDisk extreme III. I needed a large capacity card so that I could shoot weddings and do some film at the same time. Of course in at best quality settings. So I decided to purchase the 64 GB Photofast Monster which had rave reviews. A family member brought the product down from the states to me and on the first day of using it the camera only allowed me to shoot/film up to 7.37GB. So I formatted the card in Camera and it showed 7.37GB again (as though that's the actual capacity of the card). If I carry on trying to shoot I got an error 02. On computer it says the capacity is 7.37GB however under computer management> under disk management it shows 7.38 GB Healthy (Active) and 52.25GB Unallocated. I subsequently Googled the issue and found quite a bit of information though no one seemed to be able to help my problem.

Let me share what I found:

This I assume is related to my issue at hand though it is a different card and capacity - http://communities.sandisk.com/sandisk/boa...;message.id=388

From this website (http://www.hjreggel.net/cardspeed/) the author seems very clued up on Flash Disk Memory and I quote from his website

"Important note: It looks like the camera manufacturers did not learn from their own mistakes and those of the hard disk manufacturers. Although LBA was introduced in the early 1990s, some cameras seem to have problems with CF cards of more than 32GB. The Canon EOS-1D Mark II (1.2.6), for example, will format the card to 7.3GB only. However, the camera is able to recognize and use a pre-formatted 64GB CF card. " This seems to relate to my issue.

This website discusses the 64GB card (http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/convergent-design-nanoflash/467786-64gb-compact-flash-becomes-widely-available.html) and its issues with the first batches of them. The sole distributor in the states Jason Atkins of DVnation is actually mentioned in this interesting discussion... I quote on person "Any word when PhotoFast will "fix" their ROM data to properly reflect the size? I am holding off on ordering a handful of their 64GB cards until they fix it, as I don't want to have to worry what some alien OS will think when I mount one, and only let me access the first 8GB on the card." I think this looks like what I am experiencing?

A Similar problem here (http://photo.net/canon-eos-digital-camera-forum/00KrW6)

People argue you should format the card in camera and others disagree whilst talking about same problem as I am having here (http://www.apertureprofessional.com/showthread.php?p=36558) and here (http://digital-photography-school.com/13-tips-for-using-and-caring-for-memory-cards)

I have tried the HP Cf format card application (HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool) which many people have recommended. It simply showed that my card capacity on computer is now 31.9GB and under disk management it shows 59.63GB FAT32 Healthy. Once back in my camera it shows 31.9GB available however it only allows me to record up to 7.37 GB again! If I format again In camera it shows 7.37 GB available.

I also read that their are fake CF cards on the market which behave like I am describing - http://martybugs.net/articles/fakesandisk.cgi

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp...essage=19506964

Any advice from anyone>? Do I have a Lemon>? Is anyone else having problems with the 64GB photofast monster in the 5D MARKII?

Any help welcome

Mike



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schrodingerscat

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Photofast Moster 64 GB anomaly? or 5D mark II anomaly
« Reply #1 on: December 22, 2009, 09:20:52 pm »

Quote from: OpticalMedia
Based on the reviews including the one here on the luminous-Landscape (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/accessories/photofast.shtml) it seems as though the Photofast brand of monster cards are highly regarded CF Cards. Reviews can be read here Rob Galbraith (http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-10043-10255), The Photography Bay (http://www.photographybay.com/2009/10/07/photofast-cf-and-sd-cards-review/) and the (http://sportsphotoguy.com/new-kid-in-town-photofast/#more-623)

I have recently upgraded my camera from a 30D to 5D mark II. It was also applicable to upgrade my CF card which was an 8 GBs non UDMA SanDisk extreme III. I needed a large capacity card so that I could shoot weddings and do some film at the same time. Of course in at best quality settings. So I decided to purchase the 64 GB Photofast Monster which had rave reviews. A family member brought the product down from the states to me and on the first day of using it the camera only allowed me to shoot/film up to 7.37GB. So I formatted the card in Camera and it showed 7.37GB again (as though that's the actual capacity of the card). If I carry on trying to shoot I got an error 02. On computer it says the capacity is 7.37GB however under computer management> under disk management it shows 7.38 GB Healthy (Active) and 52.25GB Unallocated. I subsequently Googled the issue and found quite a bit of information though no one seemed to be able to help my problem.

Let me share what I found:

This I assume is related to my issue at hand though it is a different card and capacity - http://communities.sandisk.com/sandisk/boa...;message.id=388

From this website (http://www.hjreggel.net/cardspeed/) the author seems very clued up on Flash Disk Memory and I quote from his website

"Important note: It looks like the camera manufacturers did not learn from their own mistakes and those of the hard disk manufacturers. Although LBA was introduced in the early 1990s, some cameras seem to have problems with CF cards of more than 32GB. The Canon EOS-1D Mark II (1.2.6), for example, will format the card to 7.3GB only. However, the camera is able to recognize and use a pre-formatted 64GB CF card. " This seems to relate to my issue.

This website discusses the 64GB card (http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/convergent-design-nanoflash/467786-64gb-compact-flash-becomes-widely-available.html) and its issues with the first batches of them. The sole distributor in the states Jason Atkins of DVnation is actually mentioned in this interesting discussion... I quote on person "Any word when PhotoFast will "fix" their ROM data to properly reflect the size? I am holding off on ordering a handful of their 64GB cards until they fix it, as I don't want to have to worry what some alien OS will think when I mount one, and only let me access the first 8GB on the card." I think this looks like what I am experiencing?

A Similar problem here (http://photo.net/canon-eos-digital-camera-forum/00KrW6)

People argue you should format the card in camera and others disagree whilst talking about same problem as I am having here (http://www.apertureprofessional.com/showthread.php?p=36558) and here (http://digital-photography-school.com/13-tips-for-using-and-caring-for-memory-cards)

I have tried the HP Cf format card application (HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool) which many people have recommended. It simply showed that my card capacity on computer is now 31.9GB and under disk management it shows 59.63GB FAT32 Healthy. Once back in my camera it shows 31.9GB available however it only allows me to record up to 7.37 GB again! If I format again In camera it shows 7.37 GB available.

I also read that their are fake CF cards on the market which behave like I am describing - http://martybugs.net/articles/fakesandisk.cgi

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp...essage=19506964

Any advice from anyone>? Do I have a Lemon>? Is anyone else having problems with the 64GB photofast monster in the 5D MARKII?

Any help welcome

Mike


Cards should be formatted in the camera, not the computer. I would hesitate to use one that had been formatted in the computer, as this introduces files that the camera doesn't utilize, other than for firmware updates, and that camera formatting may not eliminate. The card may start out working OK, but problems could crop up at any time. One thing you might try is formatting your card in one of the same manufacturer's cameras that is higher in the food chain. For some reason this works at times.

It has been estimated that the counterfeit rate is about 50% for flash media. The more expensive the product, the more attractive the target.

What does Canon say is the largest supported card? In any case, I prefere to use multiple cards rather than putting all my eggs in one basket. It might also be a good idea to use separate cards for still and video, much of this is still uncharted territory.

PS - Always a good idea to format the card at the beginning of each use. After downloading the files and making backups - obvios, I know, but...
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OpticalMedia

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Photofast Moster 64 GB anomaly? or 5D mark II anomaly
« Reply #2 on: December 23, 2009, 04:19:51 am »

Quote from: schrodingerscat
Cards should be formatted in the camera, not the computer. I would hesitate to use one that had been formatted in the computer, as this introduces files that the camera doesn't utilize, other than for firmware updates, and that camera formatting may not eliminate. The card may start out working OK, but problems could crop up at any time. One thing you might try is formatting your card in one of the same manufacturer's cameras that is higher in the food chain. For some reason this works at times.

It has been estimated that the counterfeit rate is about 50% for flash media. The more expensive the product, the more attractive the target.

What does Canon say is the largest supported card? In any case, I prefere to use multiple cards rather than putting all my eggs in one basket. It might also be a good idea to use separate cards for still and video, much of this is still uncharted territory.

PS - Always a good idea to format the card at the beginning of each use. After downloading the files and making backups - obvios, I know, but...


All the reviews use this card tested in a 5D MarkII..........Thing is the card has been doing this since day one. After which I reformatted in camera, the card carried on behaving like this. So think I have a lemon I was wondering if anyone else can experiment for me with their 5dmark II and 64 GB card? Does anyone use this combination? Could someone test the reformat in camera and let me know?

Mike
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busboys

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Re: Photofast Moster 64 GB anomaly? or 5D mark II anomaly
« Reply #3 on: October 12, 2010, 09:22:29 am »

Ready for the Solution?

We solved our problem, it seemed to have started by us formatting the card in the camera.  We now just delete the files from the CF card, then dont forget to empty the trash.  Here's how we got it to work again...

Okay, we just went through a few hours of hell.  If you have the Canon 7D or 5D and have purchased a 64GB CF card (ours was a Monster) and suddenly find it to only be 7.37GB then welcome to our world.  We finally figured it out.  Here's what to do.

1. Get an external usb card reader for a pc
2. Download a free program called SwissKnife http://en.kioskea.net/download/download-411-swissknife
3. Then format your card, it will be NTFS, although that seems odd, it works.
4. Put it in your Canon.  Go to format card and it should display about 60GB for a 64GB card.  By the way, DO NOT FORMAT CARD EVER AGAIN IN YOUR CAMERA

YEA!   Hope it works for you!  We spent hours figuring this out.

Best,
Dean S
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