Fuji S2 Pro "Card not Initialized"

<p>Hello all,</p>

<p>I have a Fuji S2 Pro. I recently purchased a SanDisk Extreme III 30mb/s 8GB card. When I insert the card, I receive the error "Card not initialized." After many tries, I can bring up the format screen then select "format," but after thinking for a few seconds, the camera returns the error "card error." I've tried this sequence many times and I keep getting the same two errors. </p>

<p>I inserted the card into our studios S5 Pro, formatted it, shot to it, then downloaded it and reformatted it without a problem. I then put it back in the S2 and received the same error.</p>

<p>After searching the web and forums, I've seen where some cameras will not support cards over a certain capacity. I can't find anything specific to Fuji S2 though. Does this seem like the case? If so, does anyone know where I can find specs on what capapcity cards are compatable? Is there a way to update the firmware in the camera? </p>

<p>Thanks for any help you can offer,</p>

<p>Jen</p>

<p>Jen, I once looked into buying a S2 Pro and recall it uses FAT16 file system therefore limiting card capacity to 2GB. I don't believe Fuji offers a FAT32 firmware upgrade to allowing higher capacity cards to be used.</p>

<p>.</p>

<p>Yup, sounds like the S2 can only access 2gb cards -- right? What does Fuji say when you ask them?</p>

<p>By the way, ANY card formatted to FAT16 or FAT16-cluster sizes writes as much as 8 times FASTER than FAT32 default cluster sizes, so if you want WRITE SPEED (and who doesn't) ... well, I never format in-camera, only in-computer where I can control cluster sizes.</p>

<p>.</p>

<p>I have the same problem with extrem 4 Gb ! I d like to know if 2GB goes for sure ! 1GB is OK !</p>

<p>Re: S2pro errors with regard to memory card. Well, you need to read the manual. In the manual for this camera it specifically gives the useable memory cards. Any cf card with a greater capacity that 1gb is not usable. Go to the fujifilm compatibility section and it gives a complete listing of usable media types for all of their cameras. But first you must read the user manual. There is a section in the manual that gives the information you require.</p>

<p>Here it is in B&W from the user manual ....useable media types</p>

<p>I have talked to a Fuji Pro rep after trying to use a 4 gig card many times that the s2s hardware will not recognize anything larger than 2 gigs.<br>

I've been a professional photographer for over 30 years and after having to give up my extensive Hasselblad system I chose the S2 and still love this camera. I just have to keep looking for older cards for now.</p>

<p>.</p>

<p>Yup, sounds like the S2 can only access 2gb cards -- right? What does Fuji say when you ask them?</p>

<p>By the way, ANY card formatted to FAT16 or FAT16-cluster sizes writes as much as 8 times FASTER than FAT32 default cluster sizes, so if you want WRITE SPEED (and who doesn't) ... well, I never format in-camera, only in-computer where I can control cluster sizes.</p>

<p>.</p>

Hi all, My first post on this site. Fujifilm s2 Pro. The spec for CF maximum capacity is 1GB. I use a 2GB and it works. Any CF card over 2GB will not initialize. John.

How did an 11 year old thread about the Fuji S2 pro DSLR even creep into this Mirrorless forum?

 

At least it'll be cheap to feed. They must be practically giving away 2GB CF cards these days.

How did an 11 year old thread about the Fuji S2 pro DSLR even creep into this Mirrorless forum?

 

At least it'll be cheap to feed. They must be practically giving away 2GB CF cards these days.

You'd be surprised...

 

We needed a 256MB CF card for an industrial controller at work to replace a failed boot card.

 

The price, even allowing for the usual '10x industrial spec mark-up' was eye-watering.

 

2 Gig SD and Micro SD cards are also shockingly dear on a price/capacity basis. There's quite a demand for these cards for older devices that only support smaller card sizes and supply is rather limited.

We needed a 256MB CF card for an industrial controller at work to replace a failed boot card.

If you need another one, I can supply it at a slightly less than eye-watering price.:cool:

 

That's if I can find my stock of abandoned low capacity cards.

Somewhere or another around here, I have an 8mb CF card. I keep it more as a curiosity than anything. It's branded Canon on the label, so I suspect was shipped as a "demo" card back in the early days of affordable consumer digicams. With say a 2mp camera, it's probably good for about 20 or 30 photos, which would be about what a customer would be used to with a roll of film.

 

I remember when I was first looking at my D800, the shop handed me a 256mb card to try it, and the camera just about laughed at it. I think it was good for 4 or 5 shots. BTW, they gave me the card-it was in their "junk drawer" of cards that were in the bottom of old camera bags.

 

The only Fuji DSLR I use regularly now is the S5, which is a Nikon D200 with Fuji guts. I use it as a "studio" camera, a job where it really performs well, and I usually stick 4gb cards in it. They're good for a few hundred shots, although I never come close to filling it. Of course the S5 is double the resolution of the S2.

If you need another one, I can supply it at a slightly less than eye-watering price.:cool:

 

That's if I can find my stock of abandoned low capacity cards.

I told them something similar, but company purchases don't happen in the 'real world'.

 

<shrug>

I told them something similar, but company purchases don't happen in the 'real world'.

 

<shrug>

 

Slightly related, but when I first got into collecting early Macintoshes I needed a good stash of DD floppies(800K on Macs, 720K on PCs, but one can be formatted for the other). Virgin 1.44mb disks(good luck finding them-even new old stock ones were usually pre-formatted) will usually format to 800K alright, but used ones generally won't, or at least not reliably. I found a supplier that sold new DD disks, and the price was eye-watering-something like $5 each. Fortunately, I went through my dad's couple hundred floppies that he'd just not hauled out to the garbage yet, and pulled out a little over 100 DD disks-most of them either TurboTax(he ran a tax prep business) or Software of the Month club. PC formatted 720K disks format beautifully to Mac 800K.

 

In any case, the supplier of DD disks I found apparently catered to users of old, extremely expensive industrial equipment. Apparently some really old CNCs and other even more complicated things need this format of disk to be programmed. Since that place basically had a monopoly on the market, they could charge about what they wanted.

Now to get further off topic.

 

Even 'virgin' old stock floppy disks might not work Ben. They have a tendency to stick or seize if not spun up fairly regularly.

 

I have some old software on 3.5" floppy for driving an RS232 DMM as a data logger. I fished it out a month or so back and it wouldn't read at all. I had to stick a pencil or somesuch into the centre hole and apply quite a bit of torque to get the disk to turn within the plastic case. Having freed it and spun it a few times it did eventually read in the FDD.

 

That software now resides on my HDD and a USB stick!

 

As for the short-lived ZIP drive and disks. I had about a 50% failure rate trying to recover some old backups off them. Good job they could only lose 100MB at a time.