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Extreme cold effect on Compact Flash card for 8 hours


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<p>Hi guys,<br /> I just got my sony compact flash card a few days ago but it was delivered to my outdoor letter box where the temperatures have been minus 10C or 15 F for the whole day.I am not sure if the extreme cold damaged the item.I know people go shooting in the extreme cold but i am talking of at least 8 hours outside in the extreme cold and it is not housed in a camera but is in it's very thin plastic packaging,that means,no insulation.<br /> I can test it for a few days and if it is ok,i will keep it but i am apprehensive if any internal damage has occured due to the extreme cold and this might surface in a few months time.By then,it is after the 2 weeks trial period,i cannot return the item.If problems arise much later,sending it for repair/exchange is not a problem.<br>

It is about those one off pictures that i take on holidays in some far off land that will be lost forever and flying there and having that unique moment is near impossible.<br /> So,what do you think i should do?<br /> Did anyoe experience this before?<br /> Thanks in advance guys and happy new year!<br /> Robert</p>

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<p>Robert -<br>

Suppose the card had been in a camera in the same location for the same time. It would still be the same. A camera provides ZERO insulation value (almost). Trapped air spaces in down, polyester, fiberglas etc. is what does the insulation. And you can only insulate something to keep it warm that is warmer than the surroundings to start with.<br>

Also many people get bolluxed up with wind chill. Only a thing that generates heat (read animal) experiences wind chill. Anything that's not such an organism gets cold, but wind chill is not 'felt', per se. Take a warm silver dollar outside in zero degree temps on a windless day. It cools to zero. Take the same dollar out on a zero degree day with 40 mph wind, it cools still to zero, but it loses the heat faster as the wind blows over the coin's surfaces. If it you had a silver dollar that went to ~ minus 35 that way, call NASA. Beware of junk science.<br>

Jim</p>

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<p>If you have not opened the pkg yet, just set it down somewhere in your den, living room, or kitchen. Let it sit there several hours and slowly acclimate to normal room temperature. After 4-5 hours, open the package, remove CF card and install it in your camera. Turn on the camera and try doing a FORMAT on the new CF card. If the card will do 3 sequential FORMATs OK and there are no errors or warnings, then the card is OK. Should be OK for normal picture taking. If you are still not sure, go out and take a bunch of test pictures, BEFORE you go on the important trip. On the other hand, if the new card FAILS to take a good format, and you see a consistent error or warning message, that's a good indicator the card is BAD. See if you can return it for a replacement. I have always had performance from Sony products, so my opnion is the Sony card will perform fine after you allow it to warm up to room temperature.</p>
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<p>Happy new year everybody!<br>

Thank you so much for all your input.It was a wonderful surprise that some of you replied so fast and some even went the extra mile as to go onto the sony website for the table.<br>

What prompted me to ask the question was that i read somewhere in the forum that CF cards and other types digital memory cards do fail and there goes all those hours of hard work.I am not sure why they happen and rather err on the side of caution.I am not a pro but can just assume that hard knocks,extremes of temperature and humidity do cause problems.That same idea applies to usb drives too and i believe they are of the same technology.I met a businessman who lost all his files in his 8gb usb drive!<br>

That prompted me to research the fallibility of digital memory.Perhaps if one uses it often and/or somehow accidentally subject it to strong magnetic forces or electrical fields,it might be risky.<br>

In any case,it would be nice if these "myths" could be substantiated or not by practical experience in the field.<br>

All the best<br>

Robert</p>

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<p>as for field experience my CF cards have survived ski trips in -27C for days at a time.</p>

<p>Many ski professional photographers also photograph outdoor cross country ski and downhill events without reported failures</p>

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<p>Thanks for the reply.Were those normal sony cf card 133x ? Or sandisk extreme ? I read those sandisk ultra,being cheaper,would not stand to extreme cold.<br>

Were there special precautions taken,like keeping the unused cards close to body for body heat and when it is used, taken out of camera and quickly placed back in near the body?<br>

It is little things like this to go the extra mile but i am not sure if it really helps.Or maybe,makes it worse regarding data loss?<br>

I read in the forum that CF data loss failure is possible but to date,no one seems to know why and how to prevent it or maybe,it is just plain depreciation ..the more one uses it,and combined with cold weather,the odds of it happening increases proportionately.<br>

My thanks to all those who contributed to this thread and/or reading this..<br>

Robert</p>

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