EOS 7D problem when formating a 16 GB CF card

[gilou]

<p>Hi all,<br /> Few weeks ago i bought an EOS 7D. and I'm quite happy with it.<br /> few days ago I was surprised to see that my 16Gb car was full, considering that i only shoot less than 300 pictures in RAW or JPG or RAW+JPG.<br /> So I decided to format my 16gb Cf card (Transcend x133)... and the EOS7D says that the cad is 7.8Gb.<br /> I looked into the various forum and on the net i found that a guy got this kind of issue but with an EOS 30D ! He proposes a solution that works fine.... : Use a CF reader on your computer and a small software to format the CF card. <br /> Now I can see that I've 16Gb accessible for my shots .. but if I try to format this card with the 7D ... it transforms into a 8Gb CF card !<br /> In fact I've 2 cards (Transcend 16Gb 133x), and they react exactly the same...<br /> Are you aware of such issue ? In CLear i will have to delete the photos from my CF card ... but should avoid to format them with the canon - otherwise i will lose half of the capacity !<br /> Thanks for your feedback<br /> Brgds gilles.<br /> Note: My firmware is up-to-date (1.2.5).</p>

[philip_wilson]

Is it possible your card is a fake?

[charedan]

<p>May I suggest that you format the card with the card reader to 16GB and then try to transfer 16gb of data from your computer to your card to see if in fact it will hold that much data.<br>

Where I live, the Transcend cards are considered the really cheap ones.</p>

[marc_bergman1]

<p>Transcend makes fine quality cards.</p>

<p>To check if yours is fake go to this link.</p>

<p>http://www.transcend-info.com/Support/SerialCheck_tw.asp</p>

<p> </p>

[gilou]

<p>I've tested ... when properly formated, I can put More than 15.8Gb<br>

In fact I put the camera in Film Full HD 25p ... and it is quite quick to have xx Gb (about 1GB per 2 minutes.)<br>

Fake cards ? I don't think so. I'm gona ask a friend who got a 50D to test the Cards....<br>

I will check my S/N on the link provided and will tell you.<br>

Brgds Gilles.</p>

 

[bobatkins]

<p>I very vaguely remember some sort of issue with cards where if they had been formatted on a camera that couldn't access the whole card (e.g. a camera that could only read/write an 4GB card), it would leave behind some data that made it impossible to then format the card in a camera that could read write the whole 16GB card.</p>

<p>That's about all that I remember. Can't give you a citation or a fix for the problem, but maybe a Google search could dig up something. Maybe some sort of low level reformatting of the card? High level reformatting might not be enough.</p>

<p>Of course I could be mis-remembering the whole thing too!</p>

[randallfarhy]

<p>That particular Transcend card mau not be compatible with your 7D, I recall customer reviews from the BH website that mentioned this. I took a quick look but couldn't find one (of course). I'm not the most technical person, but the description also states it's NOT compatible with standard SD, only SDHC and SD3.0 (no clue if this matters in this case or not).</p>

[PuppyDigs]

<blockquote>

<p>That particular Transcend card mau not be compatible with your 7D, I recall customer reviews from the BH website that mentioned this. I took a quick look but couldn't find one (of course). I'm not the most technical person, but the description also states it's NOT compatible with standard SD, only SDHC and SD3.0 (no clue if this matters in this case or not).</p>

</blockquote>

<p>The 7D uses CF cards., not SD/SDHC</p>

[charedan]

<p>Strange. Do you have access to other Brand of 16GB cards from friends that you could test with your 7D?<br>

There as been other issues with Transcend cards formatting as 8GB instead of 16 or 32 GB. Read from the forum below...<br>

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1176335</p>

[gilou]

<p>i found the solution here :<br>

<a href="http://davidnaylor.org/blog/2008/04/problem-and-solution-16gb-compact-flash/">http://davidnaylor.org/blog/2008/04/problem-and-solution-16gb-compact-flash/</a></p>

<p>but the problem is an old one and should have been fixed a long time ago with the new firmwares.<br>

I'm gonna see if a friend can give me a try with a 16Gb or 32 Gb card.<br>

Will keep you updated.<br>

I've the solution, but wanted to have your feedback... I know how to have really 16Gb, but I need to avoid any formating by the EOS7D.<br>

I've seen the previous post ... and me too .. i bought my cards on amazen.com !<br>

Brgds Gilles.</p>

[randallfarhy]

<p>Puppy Face: You'd think I would have caught that, primarily shooting 7D's as I do-DOHHH! Thanks for correcting that flub, I think the reason I latched onto that is because my 60D uses the smaller card-though I'm fairly certain the review mentioned was from a Transcend/7D user.</p>

<p>Regards-Randall </p>

[Marcus Ian]

<p>I suspect this is a problem that is inherit in the memory controllers that transcend uses in this particular generation/size-speed. I had no problem running 32gb/133x Kingston cards in the Xt, XTi, 30D as well as 16gb Lexar cards. 133x is getting pretty old now, and is less than optimal for something of a 50D+ generation of camera, but this flaw seems unique to Transcend (though I could be wrong).</p>

<p>Frankly, if you have to find a 'workaround' to make something work the way it's supposed to out of the box, IMO, it's not of a high enough quality to trust in routine use. I'd suggest sending it back and getting a better quality CF card. </p>

[ljwest]

<p>I've been using 16GB Lexar 400x cards with no troubles in my 7D. They'll properly suck up 600+ RAW images from my 7D, while the 8GB Lexar only sucks up 300 or so... I bought my 7D in the fall of 2010, and it has the latest firmware installed (1.2.5?), and I always format the cards in the camera.</p>

<p>For me, it's not worth saving a few dollars if I have to "work around" something to use a cheaper CF card...</p>

[gilou]

<p>Hi Larry,<br>

Originally I look on various forum to see what was recommended for the EOS7D in term of CF card. And I saw many times ... any card will do the job. just make sure that the speed of the cards is at least x133. <br>

That is the reason why i bought these ones. I didn't know that i would get such problem with them. I 'm gonna see to change them... <br>

Brgds gilles.</p>

 

[gilou]

<p>All,<br>

For your info, I've contacted AMAZxN.FR (I'm French), And they accepted to refund me the value of these cards. They also said that they will stop selling these cards as few other users complain about the same issue. <br>

Next question is : What should I take to replace the transcend cards. (Sandisk/Lexar/Kingstone ...)?</p>

<p>Thanks and best regards Gilles.</p>