5Dmk2 UDMA cards and Mac problem

<p>I have just bought some UDMA 32 gb 400x memory cards which I am having problems with image transfer from 5D2. the images are mostly scrambled and divided into squares. It looks creative but makes images unusable. The images look fine on Camera; and transfers are OK when using a lower speed cards (Transcend 8gb UDMA 400x 60mb/s read 30mb/s write) <br>

The cards are Transcend (a brand I use regularly and reliably) 90mb/sec read and 60mb/sec write. I am using a 2011 Macbook pro quad core and 4gb RAM.<br>

I have tried 2 different card readers which have the same problem. I have tried using USB cable to the 5D2 but this is not seen by the OS.<br>

Does anyone have any idea what may be causing this? </p><div></div>

<p>Also the same problem occurs with LR4</p>

 

<p>Have you upgraded the 5D2 to the latest firmware 2.11? - it's supposed to support new UDMA7 cards at full speed. Not that it should cause this problem, but it would cover one possible fault. If you can view the images on camera (off the card) before transfer, then obviously this is not the cause of the problem. <br>

Most likely the problem is due to your reader and it's interface w/ the new card's new memory controller.<br>

I would advise contacting Transcend to see if they are aware of the problem first. (though they'll certainly blame it on the reader)</p>

<p>Is the reader built in to your Mac? or is an external unit?</p>

<p>Either way, I'd try to use a different reader, and see if you still have the problem.</p>

<p>Well, those images seem to be corrupt. The image you see in the camera is the embedded preview and not the actual file itself. Since the camera doesn't mount, it is possible that it is a directory issue. If you have access to different computers/operating systems, you can see if the card shows up on something else. I have had situations where other computers had, let us say difficulties with a card, and my computer could read it. Beyond that, and even with that, I am not holding out much hope for those images, they simply appear to be corrupted. The next question is why are the images corrupted? Is the card bad? Was the card formatted in the camera before use? Once you can determine whether or not you can recover and images, I would format the card in the camera (do NOTHING with the card until you figure out if you can recover the images). Always format the card in the camera that will be using it. Don't let the computer format or erase the card. And then fire off a test run of images and see how it works. If it still isn't working, I would say the card is bad.</p>

<p>This sort of problem has nothing to do with the computer and OS. You have a corrupt card. Happened to me once (looked just like your images) and the images were not recoverable. </p>

<p>To use the camera USB transfer, you need to install Camera Window (Canon Solutions CD).</p>

<p>John raises a good point, and I seem to have misread your post. I think he's right, and I expect you've got bad cards. It seems that these cards have an extremely poor record of reliability. The 8gb 400x have a different controller and are much slower (reputedly ~200x) than the 16/32gb units, but appear to have better reliability. </p>

<p>On Amazon's sale page there are 17 reviews (of 126)! of card failures (of this particular card) w/ current generation DSLRs. (5d2, 7D, D800 etc) Given competing units (Sandisk and Lexar) have 1-2 bad reviews (and those come w/ glowing customer service reports), I'd have to say that budget cards seem to cost much much more in the end...</p>

<p>Thankfully the images were test images; I wanted to be sure the new card was compatible; before using it on location.<br>

The firmware is 2.1.2<br>

I have had a high failure rate with Sandisc Extreme CF cards 2 out of 3 failed and the 3rd does not perform to spec. I have been using high capacity Transcend and Kingston SHDC cards for 2 years in preference to CF I've had no problems with any of them. My new 5D2 only uses CF. Its ironic that my other camera has dual CF and SD cards and Ive never had a problem.<br>

The Transcend may be budget in USA but cost 2-3 times as much here in SE Asia ($49 for 8gb) There are many fake Sandisc CF cards in the region; (I must have bought 2) so I won't touch them at any price. I had a friend in US bring some over for me this week as the 32 Gb CF cards are unobtainable here in Siem Reap Cambodia.<br>

I use a high speed Transcend USB3 card reader; it was bought a couple of months ago works well on the mac using USB2 and USB3 on my office PC. I downloaded some of the images at home using a slower Sony Card reader. It took an an unacceptably long time; but the images looked OK the first time.<br>

I then brought my Transcend reader from my office and downloaded the first images + a dozen more. These downloaded very quickly; but appeared corrupted. I shot a few more on my 8Gb card and were fine. I also downloaded the problem set using the slow Sony reader and they were unusable.<br>

It does look to be a CF card problem. I'll re shoot using another new CF Card.<br>

Thanks for all your advice.</p>

Sounds like cards my Macs work fine with UDMA CF cards from 5DII. Interestingly I have never had a card problem with

CF and I use Lexar and Sandisk but all mine are bought in the USA or Canada. I have however had problems over the

years with the odd SD card.

<p>I managed to download the images using the USB3 card reader to my PC no problems, (the PC is a quad core i7 64 bit Win 7 and 8Gb RAM).<br>

I tried a 2nd 32gb card and the same problem; but again the files transferred to PC OK, It seems to be a Mac problem as opposed to a camera or CF card problem I will test the card on a Nikon and see what happens?</p>

<p>First, be sure the images <em>did</em> download. That is, can you actually open the Raw files (sometimes previews appear to download but the actually Raw file is still corrupt. If can open the Raw files, great. From my limited understanding, that would mean it was some sort of directory issue: Mac can't recognize the files, PC can. Generally, this means the card was either <em>not </em>formatted in the camera that was using it (cards should always be formatted in the camera using them) or worse yet, a computer formatted the card. I have had students that have formatted cards in computers and after that cameras fail to recognize the card, much less format it. Which is just to say that card "maintenance" is important. However, as Marcus points out, that brand doesn't seem to fair so well. Personally, I have always used SanDisk & Lexar. And I always buy from a reputable dealer (B&H!). But then again, I am not in nor familiar with your neck of the woods! </p>

<p>Thanks very much for the helpful advice.<br>

To follow up; I did format the cards and tested on both Nikon and Canon; uploaded using Transcend card reader through the photo shops imac; the problem still persisted; so no camera issue. I do have a good relationship with my local camera store who have a good reputation locally They have been very helpful and t aken time to help resolve the proble<br /> Conclusion: I b<br>

So it seems that is a file error relates to Mac and USB 3 card reader and UDMA CF cards.</p>