erg Posted December 2, 2006 Share #1 Posted December 2, 2006 Advertisement (gone after registration) Today I experienced a white screen during the reviewing mode of the M8 right after taking the photographs. This stopped after turning off and on the M8 but recurrently happened again until all pictures on the M8 became black, only showing the filename. After putting my SD card into the card reader the computer wasn't able to read the card or rather appeared on my desktop for a short time. I fear to lose all my pictures on my SD card, since I have made a lot of important photos today. Did anybody else experience this kind of a failure on his M8 ? Does anybody know a solution ? Your help is really appreciated.Thanks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted December 2, 2006 Posted December 2, 2006 Hi erg, Take a look here White Screen of Death on M8 . I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jfgilbert Posted December 2, 2006 Share #2 Posted December 2, 2006 This happened to me also today, blank screen and just the file names when I hit "Play." The card mounted on my computer (Mac) but Lightroom crashed when trying to read it. I was recording DNG and Fine JPG and was able to copy the DNGs to disk and process them. The Jpegs were unreadable. After re-formatting the card in camera, everything worked fine. I did not use to reformat the card everytime but I am doing it now. That card is a Sandisk Ultra II, if that makes a difference. Jacques Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
blovitch Posted December 2, 2006 Share #3 Posted December 2, 2006 This is a slightly worrying trend. 3 Dead M8s reported in one weekend...... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
georg Posted December 2, 2006 Share #4 Posted December 2, 2006 Always remember that the M8 is a quite exotic and new piece of digital technology. Common cameras are known by manufacturers of SD-cards and tested with them in mind - the M8 is not a "common" camera. So they have to adapt the firmware carefully to every SD-card available. I use my M8 since one month with thousands of pictures made and had not a single malfunction - except for one day, where it crashed two times because I've used a different SD-card... Try a different card (I use a standard Sandisk 1GB) and format the card from time to time - everything else has to be solved with time and new firmware. The SD-card is the piece of technology Leica simply can't control but it's still part of the system - it's the same problem people experiencing with their mobile phones in their cars... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rvaubel Posted December 2, 2006 Share #5 Posted December 2, 2006 ....... After re-formatting the card in camera, everything worked fine. I did not use to reformat the card everytime but I am doing it now. That card is a Sandisk Ultra II, if that makes a difference.Jacques Jacques It is recommended that the card is alway reformatted when deleting the old files. This is a menu choice that is as easy to do as not reformatting. I have never understood why reformatting isn't standard operating procedure for everybody. At any rate I have never had a problem with any of my cards although I only use Sandisk Ultra II's from reputable dealers. BTW, a large number of cards on the market are counterfit including Sandisk. I don't fool around when it comes to memory cards. I only buy from those vendors who are outside of the counterfit chain, like B&H, Calumet, etc. I would avoid the super discount internet sources like the plaque. Rex Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfgilbert Posted December 2, 2006 Share #6 Posted December 2, 2006 To be fair, my M8 is not dead, there was a problem with the card as evidenced by the fact that it crashed Lightroom. That was probably due to my not reformatting it for a couple of weeks, several hundred pics and deleting the files dozens of time. I was able to recover the files and have learnt that it is safer to reformat the card everytime I clear it. Another possible gotcha is that Lightroom (and, I suspect other programs) offer the option to "move" the files rather than just copying them - that means that the program may attempt to delete the files on the card, which is never a good idea. Jacques Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfgilbert Posted December 2, 2006 Share #7 Posted December 2, 2006 Advertisement (gone after registration) Rex, I agree, I got this card from Camera West and would not attempt to save peanuts by buying discount cards from unknown sources. And, yes, there are fake Sandisk cards floating around, usually sold on the net. I never had problems before so I did not think that reformatting was necessary but it makes sense. There are variations on the structure of FAT tables and not everybody plays by the same rules. Jacques Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
erg Posted December 2, 2006 Author Share #8 Posted December 2, 2006 My M8 is not dead. Actually this problem happened one or two times before and I reformated my SD card, but I never lost data. I'm not shure if this "white/black screen" problem is adressed by by Leica's current update. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Roberts Posted December 2, 2006 Share #9 Posted December 2, 2006 One more thing--you shouldn't ever be reading the card in a program like LightRoom directly from the card reader. Copy them to a hard drive first, then throw away the ones you don't want. All too often, programs and operating systems see the cards as little hard drives, and they're not used that way when they're going in and out of your camera. For instance, Windows XP has a "delayed write flaw" with removable FireWire stuff (not USB). But caching can also create problems. Sometimes, even RAW converters need to write temporary files to the directory the pictures are in... which is OK if the pictures on a hard drive, but not so good if you're putting all those files back into the camera (which doesn't understand what they are...). Anyway, to be safe, I always 1) copy files--RAW or JPEG--to hard drive for work 2) backup 3) format the card in the camera afterwards. Two other things can sometimes affect things, especially on a marginally performing card... A nearly dead battery in the camera can cause problems sometimes--especially if the card is nearly full or not-so-fast writing. This shouldn't happen, because camera usually knows its about to die But in extreme condiftions, you can get a write error. Also, I've had my share of dead memory, or memory that just is marginal and likes to scramble. Rare--but it happens... and it's happened in every digicam I've shot to date (but not the M8 yet). The copy--then--process from the hd prevents a lot of bad things, though. If you need to recover a card, there are a ton of programs, not expensive, that will do it. The Sandisk Extreme memory even comes with a recovery disk, though I have to say I've never had to use card recovery on a Sandisk Extreme card ... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogopix Posted December 2, 2006 Share #10 Posted December 2, 2006 here also (like the dead camera issue) the contacts inside camera can get dirt. If you clean a card and leave a little isopropyl on the contacts and then put in and out several times can clean. Often the intermitent means that oly SOME signal is missing, and a tip that it could be poor contact on one of the elements regards Victor Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted December 2, 2006 Share #11 Posted December 2, 2006 The problem can also be caused by altering the formatting on the card by using the PC to delete files or write the back onto the card, or even worse, formatting the card through the PC. Windows and PS have a habit of asking if you want to delete the files. If you happen to click "yes" it won't work, but the file structure on the card may be damaged. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
macusque Posted December 2, 2006 Share #12 Posted December 2, 2006 This is a link to a list by Leica of recommended SD cards to use with the M8: http://www.leica-camera.us/assets/file/download.php?filename=file_1302.pdf Maybe the OP used a different card ? Jacques, you said you use a SanDisk Ultra II, maybe 4 Gb ? I just realized that my SanDisk Ultra Extreme III 2 Gb is not listed... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean_reid Posted December 3, 2006 Share #13 Posted December 3, 2006 For what it is worth I always re-format each SD and CF card in camera before re-using it. I've been using Sandisk Ultra II, 1 GB, and (knock wood) have not yet had a problem like this with any digital camera. Cheers, Sean Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rvaubel Posted December 3, 2006 Share #14 Posted December 3, 2006 For what it is worth I always re-format each SD and CF card in camera before re-using it. I've been using Sandisk Ultra II, 1 GB, and (knock wood) have not yet had a problem like this with any digital camera. Cheers, Sean I too am using the 1 GB Ultra II. That and Epson batteries. As these things last a long time, I feel this is the wrong place to save a few bucks. I'm normally not that brand conscience (don't laugh, fellow Leicaphiles) but when it comes to the risk of losing days worth of work and the attendent frustration, its money well spent. Rex Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevez4 Posted December 3, 2006 Share #15 Posted December 3, 2006 My Hoodman 2g is definitly not compatable. When formatting the little red light just flashes til the battery dies. Just changed to an old SaDisk the M8 is happy with. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
erg Posted December 3, 2006 Author Share #16 Posted December 3, 2006 Dear all: Thank you all for your help. Here is how I saved my day (at the Leica Academy): - First of all, I use the "extremememory" Performance 4GB SD card, which is recommended by Leica and was sold to me by my Leica dealer. - I first tested than purchased File Salvage to recover my files from the SD card. In the process I discovered that my SD card contained hundreds of deleted files, even though I had formatted it with the fomat menu of the M8 recently. - I found out that the M8 sometimes doesn't accomplishes formatting if you don't verify by pushing the SET button for more than about 2 seconds. This may be the cause for inappropriate formating of the SD card. There is a remaining unanswered question about the white screen issue which occured on several M8's and which may be caused by inappropriate formating. The inappropriate formatting may also be the cause for interruption of the card reader. This above issues should be investigated if others of you have experienced similar problems. Thanks again to everybody. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enoteca Posted December 3, 2006 Share #17 Posted December 3, 2006 Dear Jamie, 1. can you please explain, what you mean by "backup" ? 2. While copying the DNG-Files to hard-disk (before processing with Capture One) - how are you able to see and decide, what pictures you will delete immediately? I'm working with Capture One Pro and then Photoshop. I thought, that I only can delete "trash-pictures" after having used C1 (which is much more time to spend). In Windows XP there is not to be found kind of "preview". I would prefer to see the new saved DNG-files before using C1. Thank you for a tip and thanks a lot for your profiles ! Have a nice sunday! Manfred Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted December 3, 2006 Share #18 Posted December 3, 2006 Backup: Copy the DCIM folder to your hard disk. Remove the SD card from the reader to prevent mistakes. Then burn the folder on a (or, with really important stuff, two) CD. Only then start opening your files and processing them. If the copies are OK you can format the card in the camera. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
c6gowin Posted December 3, 2006 Share #19 Posted December 3, 2006 Steve, I have a Hoodman 2 gig and it works fine in my M8. I say fine because it works, but I don't think it is as fast as it should be. My Sandisk 1g Ultra II (60x) seems noticably faster than the Hoodman (150x). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rvaubel Posted December 3, 2006 Share #20 Posted December 3, 2006 Steve,I have a Hoodman 2 gig and it works fine in my M8. I say fine because it works, but I don't think it is as fast as it should be. My Sandisk 1g Ultra II (60x) seems noticably faster than the Hoodman (150x). Thats the other problem with off-brand cards. Often times they will work, but slower than a major brand that makes their own cards. The consumer never knows that performance isn't up to snuff. Rex Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.