NZDavid Posted April 18, 2014 Share #1 Posted April 18, 2014 Advertisement (gone after registration) I am posting the software recommendation below the SD card sub forum but wanted to also post this here with ideas for traveling with digital cameras in general and for Leica M cameras in particular. Your suggestions much appreciated. After the first day of my German media trip my San Disk Extreme 8GB SD card went on the fritz. Picture wouldn't play back and camera wouldn't turn on or off. I hadn't brought my Macbook (I should have done) but tried the card in someone else's and nothing showed up. I had luckily brought an extra SD card (San Disk Extreme 16GB version); I formatted it in the camera and it worked fine. However, I noticed later that the processing time seems to get longer and the LCD took a while to turn itself off. Is that normal? When I got home, I thought I would have to take the first SD card to a photo shop but googled recovering images and SD snafus seem to be common. I have had previous problems with SD card and M9, most annoying. I found this free program for restoring pictures and it worked straightaway: EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com I believe someone had previous recommendation for the best SD card for the M9, possibly Panasonic? How best to format the card? In future I would definitely take multiple SD cards, a Macbook, and backup camera. I think it is probably best to upload pics as you go. Digital cameras are admirable but alas, still not totally reliable. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted April 18, 2014 Posted April 18, 2014 Hi NZDavid, Take a look here SD card hiccups and digital travel advice. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
stevesurf Posted April 18, 2014 Share #2 Posted April 18, 2014 The SD Card Association recommends the SD Formatter 4.0 for SD/SDHC/SDXC, available free, here. Others use this and then reformat the card in the camera; I've just been using SD Formatter and that's it; works very well. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wda Posted April 18, 2014 Share #3 Posted April 18, 2014 Probably too late for this trip, David, but why stick with Sandisk? I recall widespread trouble reported on the forum last year with M9 cameras which seemed to be card maker related. I took advice from the forum and tried Lexar Professional cards and all has been well. Coincidence? Maybe. But I have avoided prevalent troubles. The Sandisk work well with my M8 and X1; always have done; so my legacy cards have not been lost. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Pandorf Posted April 18, 2014 Share #4 Posted April 18, 2014 I travel for work every other week for 7 days at a time and always have my Leica M-E and at least my 35 Summilux pre-ASPH. I quit using Sandisk cards when I compared the physical difference between them and Lexar. I have had the tiny plastic strips that separate the copper contacts to break. I haven't had any read issues with either brand but I'm using the older slow cards that are now hard to find. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevesurf Posted April 18, 2014 Share #5 Posted April 18, 2014 I travel for work every other week for 7 days at a time and always have my Leica M-E and at least my 35 Summilux pre-ASPH. I quit using Sandisk cards when I compared the physical difference between them and Lexar. I have had the tiny plastic strips that separate the copper contacts to break. I haven't had any read issues with either brand but I'm using the older slow cards that are now hard to find. Duane, you are absolutely right. SanDisk even changed the case on the 128MB card and I have had to send mine back twice, each with a one month delay, and one of them is breaking again. You have to be really, really careful to make sure the brand is giving you the right case. The older ones having low capacity do not have the case or the contact separator breakage. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Albertson Posted April 18, 2014 Share #6 Posted April 18, 2014 I use a lot of SanDisk card in the Monochrom, and haven't had any problems with them so far. Use a few Panasonic cards as well, though I wonder if Panasonic is getting out of the SD card market, as their cards are getting harder to find. Format cards in the camera, and every now and then do a complete overwrite. You can do that with the MM, don't know if it's available on the M. I carry a few spares, and swap them out frequently so I don't lose all my shots if a card fails. None of them have failed, but they will. If I don't take a laptop on a trip, I will take a sturdy external HD (the ioSafe 1TB doubles as a deadly weapon, if you throw it at someone) and a card reader, and back up images from the card using whatever computer I can find with a couple of USB ports. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photoskeptic Posted April 18, 2014 Share #7 Posted April 18, 2014 Advertisement (gone after registration) Believe it or not, I'm still using the same 2 GB SanDisk card that I started with in February, 2007 in an M8 and now in my M8.2. But all my other cameras use 16 & 32 GB Lexar cards. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotofool Posted April 18, 2014 Share #8 Posted April 18, 2014 (edited) FWIW, the official word from Leica on SD card brands and speeds is... Which SD memory cards are recommended? Which are the fastest? Fundamentally, we recommend San Disk cards as we prefer to use these for compatibility tests at Leica. To ensure optimum exploitation of the camera’s performance potentials, we recommend the use of Class 10 cards with speeds of ≥30 MB/s – e.g. from the SanDisk Ultra or SanDisk Extreme lines. SDXC cards with higher speeds are compatible, but offer no additional benefit in terms of speed compared with SDHC cards. http://us.leica-camera.com/assets/file/download.php?filename=file_7501.pdf EDIT: note that info is from the M typ 240 FAQ, but I suppose the brand preference for in-house testing would be the same for any digital Leica? Edited April 18, 2014 by fotofool Clarification of source Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Pandorf Posted April 18, 2014 Share #9 Posted April 18, 2014 FWIW, the official word from Leica on SD card brands and speeds is... Which SD memory cards are recommended? Which are the fastest? Fundamentally, we recommend San Disk cards as we prefer to use these for compatibility tests at Leica. To ensure optimum exploitation of the camera’s performance potentials, we recommend the use of Class 10 cards with speeds of ≥30 MB/s – e.g. from the SanDisk Ultra or SanDisk Extreme lines. SDXC cards with higher speeds are compatible, but offer no additional benefit in terms of speed compared with SDHC cards. http://us.leica-camera.com/assets/file/download.php?filename=file_7501.pdf EDIT: note that info is from the M typ 240 FAQ, but I suppose the brand preference for in-house testing would be the same for any digital Leica? The older tech in the M9 has different specs for SD cards: http://us.leica-camera.com/assets/file/download.php?filename=file_6300.pdf "Which tpes of memory cards will work with my LEICA M9? In principle, all cards complying with the SD/SDHC specifcations will work. Since this market with its many distributers changes quickly, Leica cannot constantly check the compatibility. As we limit our compatibility testing program to tests with SD memory cards manufactured by San Disk, we can only guarantee problem-free camera function with these cards. The read/write speed of the M9 is limited by the hardware. The maximum achievable read and write speeds are around 12 MB/s. Modern SD cards offering faster read/write speeds may be used in the camera, but do not show better performance when used with the Leica M9/M9-P." Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NZDavid Posted April 18, 2014 Author Share #10 Posted April 18, 2014 Thanks for all the useful advice, especially the SD formatting program which I have just downloaded and installed. Looks like having a selection of SD cards on hand is a good idea. (Well, they are cheaper and more compact than film at least.) Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted April 19, 2014 Share #11 Posted April 19, 2014 During the previous SD card upset we had on the forum Panasonic Gold cards were found to be preferable for the M9 as they have a data integrity check built in. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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