Latest thinking on SD cards and M9

[antigallican]

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I've decided to buy some new sd cards to welcome my M9 back from what a member here memorably described as 'spa treatment' in Wetzlar. Of course, if you look  here and via google there are thousands of threads on the subject, mostly out of date. What's the latest thinking? My logic is, I've been using 32gb Sandisk Extreme pro, but I'm thinking of going down (that's right down) to 16 gb on the basis I never even half fill the 32 gb. I don't take 20 rolls of film out with an M6 (actually I don't take the M6 out now because I sold it). I was hoping to find a test site or similar, but apart from negative comments abt Sandisk dating back to 2011 there's no such luck. Which is the most bullet proof?

Edited February 23, 2017 by antigallican

[Robert M Poole]

I use a 16gb Sandisk Ultra 40mbs which is what they sold me with the camera but I'd like to hear other opinions too!

 

www.robertpoolephotography.com

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[antigallican]

I use a 16gb Sandisk Ultra 40mbs which is what they sold me with the camera but I'd like to hear other opinions too!

 

www.robertpoolephotography.com

 

Who are 'they'? Maybe they know something   . Maybe they're right. 16 gb 40mbs is what that Danish fellow recommends, with his beautifully shot videos, dry humour and stylish black tee shirts, but I don't think he really explains his reasoning.

 

ps does anyone understand Sandisk marketing-speak? Ultra, Extreme, extreme-pro. It's like a superlatives convention.

Edited February 23, 2017 by antigallican

[Robert M Poole]

Who are 'they'? Maybe they know something . Maybe they're right. 16 gb 40mbs is what that Danish fellow recommends, with his beautifully shot videos, dry humour and stylish black tee shirts, but I don't think he really explains his reasoning.

 

ps does anyone understand Sandisk marketing-speak? Ultra, Extreme, extreme-pro. It's like a superlatives convention.

'They' are Leica Store Manchester (Stephens Premier)

 

www.robertpoolephotography.com

[pgk]

Which is the most bullet proof?

 

I've only had one problem over many years of using a variety of SD cards of various sizes. This failed card (it became unreadable and could not be formatted) was replaced without any problem whatsoever even outside the warranty period (I can't remember the size or manufacturer). However I always buy cards from reputable dealers who in turn obtain them from good wholesalers who buy from the manufacturers. These cards have always been fine with this one exception. And they are genuine. From what I gather, there are many fakes out there and it may well be that these are the ones which give most problems. So my thoughts are to stick to well known manufacturers and ensure that you buy the genuine article. Even with stringent QC there will be the odd bad card though.

Edited February 23, 2017 by pgk

[antigallican]

'They' are Leica Store Manchester (Stephens Premier)

 

www.robertpoolephotography.com

 

Hm. Then I kind of think they might know a bit about it. Score one for 16gb Sandisk Ultra, which are dead cheap

[Ko.Fe.]

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I became owner of new M-E at Moscow in October 2016. Forgot to get card from the Leica authorized store and ended up with no-name 32 GB card from the no-name shop. M-E was handling it without problems, but two different computers with two different OS and two different versions of LR had serious problems to read from this card. I installed this card to dashboard camera and purchased normal latest Sandisk 16 GB card. No problems, except, then I installed non-Leica battery, M-E didn't recognized the card, but only for first time I have non-Leica battery inserted.

[mujk]

There's been a lot of discussion on the forum about M9 SD cards and card problems over the years. I think the general conclusion has been that the M9 doesn't benefit from the higher speeds of newer cards and may actually work better with smaller and slower cards. I have been using a number of Sandisk Ultra 30Mbps 8GB and 16GB cards on my M9 for many years with very few problems. In fact, the 8GB cards seem to be faster than the 16GB ones, at least on fw 1.176 (not the latest one).

[antigallican]

Thanks for these replies. Yes mujk it was the 'over the years' aspect that bothered me - some of the older discussions contradicted each other while others made it clear there had been changes. I decided on Sandisk Extreme 16 gb from Amazon UK. They are doing a pair for under £20. There's a limited range of 16gb cards available now - it seems not long ago they were the biggest thing you could get, now they are old hat. Now all I need is the M9 back from its tour of Europe.

[nobbylon]

Panasonic gold 16gb or Transcend 16gb. No difference in write speeds in practical terms but the Panasonics are read slightly faster on my 2010 MacPro desktop. I'm using a Usb3 card in the mac and a kingston usb3 sd card reader.

[AceVentura1986]

Panasonic gold 16gb or Transcend 16gb. No difference in write speeds in practical terms but the Panasonics are read slightly faster on my 2010 MacPro desktop. I'm using a Usb3 card in the mac and a kingston usb3 sd card reader.

I've got a Panasonic Gold 32 gig in both my ME and my M9M. Never had a problem with either.

[m0n0]

I saw threads a few years ago 8Gig cards with no more than 40mb/s write speed were recommended. This was in the context of extended and well informed discussions about file quality issues encountered (banding in the shadows) with unsuitable cards and what was causing them. This made me worry about stocking up on older cards for my beloved M9/M9M. I've not had problems using 32 Gig SanDisk Ultras and Extreme Pros but lately have dialed down to 8Gig Class 4 and Class 6 cards just to be sure. I don't use that much of the card before downloading the files and lower rated cards don't write any slower than the "faster" cards on the M9. They are, however, getting hard to find. I wonder if intervening firmware updates have made our earlier concerns about higher capacity cards redundant.

 

Sent from my EVA-L29 using Tapatalk

[antigallican]

I saw threads a few years ago 8Gig cards with no more than 40mb/s write speed were recommended. This was in the context of extended and well informed discussions about file quality issues encountered (banding in the shadows) with unsuitable cards and what was causing them. This made me worry about stocking up on older cards for my beloved M9/M9M. I've not had problems using 32 Gig SanDisk Ultras and Extreme Pros but lately have dialed down to 8Gig Class 4 and Class 6 cards just to be sure. I don't use that much of the card before downloading the files and lower rated cards don't write any slower than the "faster" cards on the M9. They are, however, getting hard to find. I wonder if intervening firmware updates have made our earlier concerns about higher capacity cards redundant.

 

Sent from my EVA-L29 using Tapatalk

 

Yes me too, to that last point. I was quite surprised when my moody old 32GB 7 day shop card worked in it. I only have them as 'spares of last resort'!

[barteria]

I've been using Toshiba Flash Air 32gb WiFi SD card on my M9 for 4 days now. No signs of failure/issue yet. I can transfer wirelessly to my iPhone with no issue too. I hope it won't fail/spoil because having not to take out the card from the camera is pretty convenient for me

 

 

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Edited March 23, 2017 by barteria

[uhoh7]

My M9 eventually trashed every card I used, though it took some time. The symptoms were: more freezes, then eventually could not write to card.

 

But I solved it. I never format. I just "erase all". Since I changed that practice it has never ruined a card. I shoot it every day for over 3 years, some times 300+ shots in a day. In the first year I was killing cards. Not since.

[barteria]

My M9 eventually trashed every card I used, though it took some time. The symptoms were: more freezes, then eventually could not write to card.

 

But I solved it. I never format. I just "erase all". Since I changed that practice it has never ruined a card. I shoot it every day for over 3 years, some times 300+ shots in a day. In the first year I was killing cards. Not since.

 

Thanks for the tip!

[Sub'erman]

I've been using Toshiba Flash Air 32gb WiFi SD card on my M9 for 4 days now. No signs of failure/issue yet. I can transfer wirelessly to my iPhone with no issue too. I hope it won't fail/spoil because having not to take out the card from the camera is pretty convenient for me

 

I have the very same card; haven't used it thus far, though...

[diddus]

Alright, so I've actually used a lot of different brands and sd card sizes in my M9

 

for the longest time I used 16 GB cards, which should be enough (around 800 RAW files) 

 

But lately, due to the low cost of the Cards, I switched to 32GB ... the 45mb/s Ultra from Sandisk.

 

I used to have banding issues with different cards at different times ... not anymore. I always buy those now...

[Rus]

Interesting

 

Alright, so I've actually used a lot of different brands and sd card sizes in my M9

 

for the longest time I used 16 GB cards, which should be enough (around 800 RAW files) 

 

But lately, due to the low cost of the Cards, I switched to 32GB ... the 45mb/s Ultra from Sandisk.

 

I used to have banding issues with different cards at different times ... not anymore. I always buy those now...

Thanks for sharing this. Interesting to know that the banding issues disappeared after switching to 32Gb 45mb/s from Sandisk. For a long time I've been using the 16Gb 45mb/s from Sandisk without banding problem, which started to appear after I switched to 32Gb 90mb/s from Sandisk for a brief period. The problem happened sporadically and usually when the battery power was low, and it ceased to appear after I switched back to the 16Gb 45mb/s card. 

 

Now that I've read about your experience, I wonder if it is indeed the writing speed that is one of the main contributing factors to this issue.

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[Go Figure]

at RUS & diddus 

 

could you  guys pls verify your information,

 

I have a feeling there might be a mix up?

 

Sandisk Ultra = 40mb/s

and

Sandisk Extreme = 45mb/s

 

so which ocard are you guys talking about  ... an yes an image of the card would indeed clarify it for all of us here - thx ! ... Go Figure