Delkin CF Cards in D810

I'm just now getting around to posting this, but thought I'd ask.

 

I have a pair of Delkin 32gb cards that I bought when I got my D800. They've always worked fine in that camera, and have been in rotation in my card wallet.

 

I've not used my D800 that much since getting my D810 last summer. The Delkins are "low enough" in my CF wallet also that I hadn't gotten to them in a while.

 

In any case, a few weeks ago, I was headed out the door and grabbed my D810. The CF was a bit full, so I just pulled one of the next CFs out of the wallet, which happened to be a Delkin. I stuck it in, and got "Err" on the LCD and a complete refusal to operate(there's an SD card in the camera also-it gets the JPEGs). I cycled the card in and out a few times with the same result. I took a look in the card slot, thought I saw a bent pin, said "Oh crap"(not exactly, but it works for here) then grabbed by D800, shoved the Delkin in it, and went on my way.

 

A few days later, I sat down with my various tools to try and straighten the bent pin. The only issue was there wasn't one bent. I'd initially seen it not in the best light, and think I was seeing a reflection inside the card cage. None the less, I tried a bunch of different cards in the camera, from the big Sandisks and Lexars I normally use on down to some 512mb no-names and a bunch of sizes and makes in-between. I did confirm, though, that it happens with both my Delkin cards.

 

I've not done anything else since then. I do know that the Delkins continue to work fine in the D800 as well as all my other CF Nikons that will actually handle a card that size(tried, just to make sure, in a D3s, D2X, D2H, and D300s).

 

The D810 could not get past "err" enough to even format the Delkin card. I tried formatting one in the D800, and even with a fresh format it did the same thing.

 

It's not a HUGE loss to me, probably just a sign that I should cycle these out of my card wallet and get some Sandisks to replace them, but I'm wondering if anyone else has seen this?

Does you D810 have the latest firmware? Maybe you can check with Delkin?

I did confirm, though, that it happens with both my Delkin cards.

... and only those?

 

I guess you could try formatting them on a PC/Mac in the various other formats such as FAT32, NTFS or exFAT etc to see if you can get past 'Err'.

 

I can't see why formatting in your D800 first doesn't work, but who knows....!

It's not a HUGE loss to me, probably just a sign that I should cycle these out of my card wallet and get some Sandisks to replace them, but I'm wondering if anyone else has seen this?

Sounds like a great Plan. Have used various in the D810, never Delkin, mostly SanDisk - first sign of trouble the card gets trashed.

Edited January 15, 2021 by ShunCheung

Someone had the same issue before: D810 will not format my CF card

Plenty of reports of CF card issues in the D810 when card works fine in other cameras.

I started out with Lexar CF card but now exclusively use SanDisk.

One of my Delkin 2 gb CF cards show err on my D810, others worked well. I returned it to Delkin which sent a replacement, no explanation. Years ago, I had a SanDisk card also not work on a D700. Nothing is perfect, but since my other Delkin cards work on the D810, I do not think it is a design or intrinsic defect.