Beginner Canon 60D/SanDisk Extreme issues

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m.d

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Hi all,

I've recently purchased a Canon 60D, along with two SanDisk Extreme (32GB) memory cards. I've been experiencing some odd behaviour, both when shooting in RAW and JPG.

When shooting in RAW, all shots initially show fine on the LCD, however when I come to view them either through the camera or on a PC/mac, a lot of the images aren't viewable (i.e, the file is written, contains data, but the image itself cannot be displayed). This seems to happen after around 990MB of RAW images (though this might just be coincidence).

When shooting in JPG, again all shots initially show fine on the LCD, but only the latest 30 images (regardless of format!) then display on the camera. When I've turned the camera off and back on, none of the files shot as JPG will display. Equally when I try the SD card in my Mac, none of the JPG images will display.

I'm struggling to work out if this is an issue with the camera, or the media - I don't have another camera to test, and the only two SD cards I have are these two which I'm experiencing the issue with.

I don't suppose anyone has seen this sort of behaviour before, or has any ideas what might be causing this?


Cheers.
 
That's weird.

Are they genuine SanDisk cards? Can you be sure? How / where did you buy them?

Have you tested the cards in your PC away from the camera? Stick card in card reader, fill card with data, check that data is readable.
 
Hi Stewart,

Thanks for your reply. The cards appeared to be in retail packaging, so I assumed they were genuine. They were purchased from Amazon (Amazon themselves rather than a seller). Having looked through some of the questions posed on the Amazon product page, one commenter notes that the printed number on the back of the card (presumably serial number) is identical on both cards... Both of the cards I purchased have the same number printed on the back - is this an indication that they're not genuine?

I've also just tested writing data as you suggested (~900MB of mixed JPG/PNG images) to one of the cards in my mac, and all of the files are unreadable from the card itself.

I'll raise a case with Amazon to get the cards replaced, or a full refund. Do you know anywhere that I can be sure I'll get a genuine card? I had assumed purchasing directly from Amazon would ensure this, however it appears not!

Cheers again for your reply!
 
Last edited:
m.d said:
Hi Stewart,

Thanks for your reply. The cards appeared to be in retail packaging, so I assumed they were genuine. They were purchased from Amazon (Amazon themselves rather than a seller). Having looked through some of the questions posed on the Amazon product page, one commenter notes that the printed number on the back of the card (presumably serial number) is identical on both cards... Both of the cards I purchased have the same number printed on the back - is this an indication that they're not genuine?

I've also just tested writing data as you suggested (~900MB of mixed JPG/PNG images) to one of the cards in my mac, and all of the files are unreadable from the card itself.

I'll raise a case with Amazon to get the cards replaced, or a full refund. Do you know anywhere that I can be sure I'll get a genuine card? I had assumed purchasing directly from Amazon would ensure this, however it appears not!

Cheers again for your reply!
Click to expand...
Purchasing direct from Amazon should have guaranteed you good cards. Before you go to the trouble of contacting Amazon, format the cards in camera and re-run the tests with your Mac. Actually, is your Mac set up to read Windows formatted discs? As that's what your SD cards are.
 
Hi Phil,

I've reformatted the cards both directly from the camera, and from my mac - both methods lead to the same behaviour. The behaviour exists taking PC/mac out of the equation by formatting directly from the camera, taking shots and being unable to view the images directly on the camera as described above.

I'll reformat the cards from my PC later today and test again.


Cheers!
 
Sounds like it's overwriting the images to me - if I've read it right, you take the shot and can see it on the camera LCD. When you've taken a certain amount of shots, the previous ones are no longer visible ? Is that right ???

If so sounds like the card is overwriting the images and would suggest it's not the size indicated !!!

The card should be formatted in camera before use, but format it on the PC (full) and see what size it gives the card as - does this match more or less the size you think it should be (ie 32GB) ? If so, then reformat in the camera and try again ... If not, then contact Amazon re the cards.
 
Hi Andy,

The files aren't overwritten as they still exist on the SD card, with a (seemingly) valid filesize. When I compare a working vs non-working file from the SD card in a text editor, the non-working file is full of bad data. I've attached a screenshot to show you (left = non-working, right = working).

View attachment 19171

Each device I plug the cards in to show the correct volume (~32GB) - be that the camera, mac or PC). The last method I need to try is to format the card within Windows, but given the previous test I'm leaning more towards bad media...


Cheers!
 
So I've formatted the card from within Windows, and not used the 'quick format' option - in all it took a few hours which seemed particularly slow to me. With this card in the camera, I'm still seeing the issues as above - some shots in RAW format display fine initially, however are soon 'broken'.

I think I'm leaning more and more to the media, so I'll raise a case with Amazon and see what they say.

Any recommendations of retailers that sell genuine media?
 
Hi

Yes sounds the best cause to raise an issue and return then...you could raise it with Sandisk themselves, bit the quickest option is back to Anazon.

With regards to where to buy, The popular options are from Amazon themselves, My Memory, you've obviously got the camera shops - Jessops, Wilkinsons etc, John Lewis is another option, but they tend not to be the cheapest. Some have bought from 7 day shop previously.

Hope this helps and you get everything sorted out ...
 
I use My Memory - always had genuine cards form them.

However, I recently bought a 64gb Lexar Pro SD card off them and it failed, not My Memory's fault, and reading around the internet it seems loads of people have had issues with this particular variant so I'd avoid them (shame, as they seem really good value).
 
I have had a look in my 60D manual and there's nothing to say the card is too big, which is why I looked. It does mention about the protect switch on the side and dirty contacts. It also mentions about depending on card reader and os cards might not be correctly detected.

Take a look at pages 33, bottom of 284, bottom of 289, and 291. Otherwise send it back. I have the 16gb extreme and that's been fine, except for slow writing at the end of a hs burst... but that may not just be down to the card. I think I got mine from Amazon too.

Hope this helps
 
Thanks for the replies and advice everyone.

I've contacted Amazon and they've arranged for a refund.

Now I just need to find some new cards (and cross my fingers that this doesn't turn out in some way to be a camera issue!)!
 
Well, I've just been considering a few for my D610, I know it's write speed tops out at around 45mb/s so there isn't much point in spending on cards that are faster (remember the advertised speeds are the read speed which is always much faster than write speed).

Currently wondering about these as I've had a lot of Kingston cards and they are very good:

http://www.mymemory.co.uk/SDHC/Kingston/Kingston-32GB-Ultimate-SD-Card-(SDHC)-Class-10-UHS-I-90MB_s

Or... just get Sandisk:

http://www.mymemory.co.uk/SDHC/SanDisk/SanDisk-32GB-Extreme-SD-Card-(SDHC)-80MB_s---Class-10-UHS-1

Whatever you decide I would suggest some Google work to find out your cameras maximum write speed and go from there.
 
'SDHC and SDXC cards featuring UHS (ultra High Speed) enable a maximum writing speed of SD Speed Class 10' - Bottom of page 33 in the Canon 60D manaul. I don't know what Class 10 is though o_O
 
That's only compatibility - not best performing. Class 10 can range massively, what you really need people geeky enough to actually test their cameras as it isn't something manufacturers normally tell you.

A very quick google indicates that the top write speed of the 60D is 20mb/s which seems rather low to me but there you go - it'll save you a bit on SD cards.

These Sandisk Ultras will be perfect: http://www.mymemory.co.uk/SDHC/SanDisk/SanDisk-32GB-Ultra-30MB_s-SD-Card-(SDHC)---Class-10
 
Just a quick update for anyone who's interested - I purchased another SD card from Amazon, and this time around it's a genuine one.

Being able to compare the two side-by-side, it's obvious that the first two are not quite right:-
- The read-only tab is yellow on the dodgy card, but grey on the genuine ones (and on product images online).
- The stickers are not aligned properly on the dodgy cards, but perfectly aligned on the genuine ones.
- The serial number and 'made in china' markings are only printed on the dodgy card versus printed and pressed respectively on the genuine card.

Getting the genuine card in to the camera makes it even more obvious - the write speeds are massively improved, with the internal buffer clearing much quicker than with the other cards.


Thanks for the input everyone - much appreciated!
 
Thanks for the info. I'd recently bought 2 Sandisk cards from Amazon, albeit 8G not 32. I hadn't had any problems with them but I'd never come close to their capacity as I keep swapping them round. They tick all the boxes for the genuine article - phew!
 
Phone SanDisk, get a job number, return it and they will replace very quickly, worked for me, cost of a stamp, Jim
 
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