SD cards for Digilux 3

[roguewave]

Does anyone have a list of the best sd cards for use with the Digilux 3. I have assumed that the size limit is 2GB in the SD & SDHC cards. Thanks, Ben

[jdlaing]

SD cards (SDHC) now are available up to 32 Gig or higher for less than 100 hundred dollars.

I suspect 8 GB is probably the limit until a firmware upgrade, but I am not sure as I hadn't tried one.

I use a Delkin 4 GB in mine...........

[maurometallo]

Hello,
I'm fairly new in the world of digital photography and this is my first post.
I have a 2GB San Disc in my V-LUX1 but I don't usually shoot in RAW, so I have plenty of space before downloads...
Mauro.

[ASpes]

Originally Posted by roguewave

Does anyone have a list of the best sd cards for use with the Digilux 3. I have assumed that the size limit is 2GB in the SD & SDHC cards. Thanks, Ben

the 2Gb limit was (and sadly is) true with the Digilux 2 and even the M8 at the moment, but is not with the Digilux 3, which can accept any SD-HC cards. With my D/3 I've been using a few Kingston 8Gb, class 6, SD-HC since the start without any issues.

If a problem is to be considered is the class, which expresses the minimum writing time of which the card is capable.
In the case of the D/3 there is a bottleneck in the speed of the card controller. In some test (see the DPR one for the sister Pan/L1) it has been estimated at around 4.5 MB/sec, thus making sort of useless the choice of a fast card, like the class 6 ones I have, as it does not improve the writing speed *in the camera*.

Anyway, given also the low prices you can get nowadays, having a faster card is still worthwhile as it improves significantly the transfer times to your pc if you use a suitable card reader.

Hope this helps.

[roguewave]

ASpes, thanks for bring some clarity to this post. One item of note. in your response you say "the Digilux 3, which can accept any SD-HC cards" . I tried using by Transcend 4GB cards that I use in my DMR & my D3 won't read them. I ordered some very fast 2 GB cards for $14/card. Great value I believe for all the cameras I have, D2, D3. DMR. Thanks again. Too bad LEICA has no interest in supporting the loyal customers that purchase their cameras with any ongoing compatibility issues. If they remain blind and arrogant in this regard it will push them further behind. Almost all the other brands update the compatibility listings with regularity. Their claim of limited resources is wearing thin.

[fschubert]

Originally Posted by roguewave

ASpes, thanks for bring some clarity to this post. One item of note. in your response you say "the Digilux 3, which can accept any SD-HC cards" . I tried using by Transcend 4GB cards that I use in my DMR & my D3 won't read them. I ordered some very fast 2 GB cards for $14/card. Great value I believe for all the cameras I have, D2, D3. DMR. Thanks again. Too bad LEICA has no interest in supporting the loyal customers that purchase their cameras with any ongoing compatibility issues. If they remain blind and arrogant in this regard it will push them further behind. Almost all the other brands update the compatibility listings with regularity. Their claim of limited resources is wearing thin.

I have been using two Sandisk 4GB Extreme III cards (SDHC type) for several weeks now with my L1 with no problems at all. I assume you had formatted the Transcend 4GB card in your D3 first before you tried to use it?

[ASpes]

Originally Posted by roguewave

ASpes, thanks for bring some clarity to this post. One item of note. in your response you say "the Digilux 3, which can accept any SD-HC cards" . I tried using by Transcend 4GB cards that I use in my DMR & my D3 won't read them.
...

Ben,

glad you found some useful info in my post.
(Btw, a typo in my previous post: "minimum writing time" should read "minimum writing speed". Sorry.)

The SD cards (the non HC ones) have an addressing limit at 2Gb.
To overcome this boundary some brands (and afaik Transcend is one) put on the market a few 4Gb (non HC) cards. As they are not compliant with the SD standard, they may have a compatability issue with the controller of some cameras.
So if your 4Gb Transcend card is not HC, it must be one of these non std compliant cards.

If this is the case, it's something we cannot blame Leica for ... not this time at least. :-)


Best.

[Delfi_r]

I have used 2 Mb SD and 4 and 8 Gb HC-SD cards of many brands without problems, when 16 gbyte and 32 gbyte will be affordable to buy two on a row, I'll test.

There is a bug in the FAT formating on the Leica cameras. Others will call this a feature. When I use the cards formated on the cameras I have problems with them in my non windows computers.

I use DFSee to format them in a correct FAT16 (for up to 2 Gbytes Cards) or FAT32 on 4 Gbyte and 8 Gbyte SD Cards. When formatted, the Leica cameras are able to create all the needed disk structure without problems.

[roguewave]

Originally Posted by fschubert

I have been using two Sandisk 4GB Extreme III cards (SDHC type) for several weeks now with my L1 with no problems at all. I assume you had formatted the Transcend 4GB card in your D3 first before you tried to use it?

fschubert. I believe the L1 is different than the D3 in handling the cards.

[roguewave]

Originally Posted by Delfi_r

I have used 2 Mb SD and 4 and 8 Gb HC-SD cards of many brands without problems, when 16 gbyte and 32 gbyte will be affordable to buy two on a row, I'll test.

There is a bug in the FAT formating on the Leica cameras. Others will call this a feature. When I use the cards formated on the cameras I have problems with them in my non windows computers.

I use DFSee to format them in a correct FAT16 (for up to 2 Gbytes Cards) or FAT32 on 4 Gbyte and 8 Gbyte SD Cards. When formatted, the Leica cameras are able to create all the needed disk structure without problems.

Delfi, I'd like to try this software. I have 2 machines, An iMAC24 with Leopard and a Windows XP machine. Will the DFsee work on those? I went to the sight, but saw no downloads for those operating systems. Thnaks for the info. Ben

[Delfi_r]

Originally Posted by roguewave

Delfi, I'd like to try this software. I have 2 machines, An iMAC24 with Leopard and a Windows XP machine. Will the DFsee work on those? I went to the sight, but saw no downloads for those operating systems. Thnaks for the info. Ben

It's OS2/eCS, DOS, Windows-NT/2000/XP, and LINUX version in a single package.

There is a CD-bootable version, but you can try the windows version first. And if you have problems you can ask directly the autor, Jan van Wijk at DFSee disk, partition and filesystem tool

[MJLogan]

An 8 gig Sandisk Extreme II works perfectly in my Digilux 3. It came with a card reader that works perfectly with my Mac and Aperture.

[stuny]

One caution that I'm adding since nobody has mentioned it: buy your SD cards from a reilable source. Counterfeiting of SD cards is rampant.

[fschubert]

Originally Posted by roguewave

fschubert. I believe the L1 is different than the D3 in handling the cards.

Thanks for pointing this out. I didn't realize that there could be a difference in this
regard between these two cameras.

[ASpes]

Originally Posted by roguewave

fschubert. I believe the L1 is different than the D3 in handling the cards.

I do not.
Never heard of any report about this, do you have any evidence in this? (apart from your specific compatability issue of course, which imo is in the card, is it a HC one?)

I have both cameras and, as far as cards are involved, I do not see any difference in use. Besides this is not related to the Leica customised processing of jpegs, this is a pretty basic routine which should abide to a standard, actually a plain old Dos FAT.

If anything, you could complain it does not work with off-standard cards, but imo that's hardly to be considered a camera fault.

Just for reference have a look at this page, which is rather exaustive:
Secure Digital card - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
See in particular the section "Compatibility issues with 2 GB and larger cards".

Just my 2 (euro)cent of course.