brainiac37 Posted December 6, 2009 Share #1 Posted December 6, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hello... I got my M9 this week, and have tried three SDHC cards: 1. SanDisk Ultra2 8GB (from Costco) -- never recognized. Error is always "No SD card" 2. SanDisk Ultra2 8GB (2nd card from the same Costco pack) -- recognized, but 50% of the time, it says that the SD is locked. 3. Off-brand 16GB class6 card -- recognized as always locked. The crazy thing is that for the Ultra2 8GB in #2, I can turn the camera off and then on, and the "Locked SD" will suddenly work -- all without removing the card! Then, it'll stop working again. I've never inserted anything backwards or jam anything in the slot. But at this point, this thing basically can't take any pictures... Firmware is 1.002. What can I do? Or do I have to send in my brand-new M9 after less than a week? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted December 6, 2009 Posted December 6, 2009 Hi brainiac37, Take a look here Three SD cards all failing on my M9. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
spylaw4 Posted December 6, 2009 Share #2 Posted December 6, 2009 Sorry to hear about your troubles. My immediate reaction was that these are all - shall we say sub-standard or 2nds - but then I am sure that Costco would never ever market something like that would they? Leica recommend Extreme III or the "professional" grades from Sandisk or Lexar. I would therefore not attempt to use #3 at all. I would return to your dealer (if possible) and try your camera with a known "good" card. If that works then it's the cards that are faulty. Go buy some from a more trustworthy source. If even a "good" card fails then I would ask your dealer for a replacement camera straight away. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikasmg Posted December 6, 2009 Share #3 Posted December 6, 2009 Are these cards giving you trouble on any other camera as well? If not, you probably need to call Leica. I have not had any problem with SanDisk Ultra II cards. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick_Yoon Posted December 6, 2009 Share #4 Posted December 6, 2009 I have 2 Ultra II 4GB cards that I used with my M8 and Ricoh GRD without any problem. They both work in my M9. I always reformated in camera when switching cards between cameras. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
glenerrolrd Posted December 6, 2009 Share #5 Posted December 6, 2009 I have had similar problems with both the M8.2 (after the last release of the firmware) and the M9. While I don t believe its the cards themselves..you may find certain cards work better than others in the M9(check the frequently asked questions on the M9 website for Leica s recommendations). The Ultra II are recommended although specifically they point to the 4gb or the 16gb versions. In fact they recommend the Ultra II s and not the faster Extreme versions(this is discussed in several threads on this forum). Two things that can cause problems (1) the battery needs to be fully charged especially when you are reformating a card...low battery power is a common cause of incomplete writes to the card which cause corruption). (2) formating or using the card in another camera . To recover from a corrupt card..try reformating the card with your computer software..if its a Mac I believe its in disk utility and you go with FAT32 formating. Then do a complete erase and reformat with the M9. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottwallick Posted December 6, 2009 Share #6 Posted December 6, 2009 Hello... I got my M9 this week, and have tried three SDHC cards: 1. SanDisk Ultra2 8GB (from Costco) -- never recognized. Error is always "No SD card" 2. SanDisk Ultra2 8GB (2nd card from the same Costco pack) -- recognized, but 50% of the time, it says that the SD is locked. 3. Off-brand 16GB class6 card -- recognized as always locked. I have two SanDisk Ultra II 8GBs on my M9 (same firmware, of course) without issue. I think that packet may have contained faulty cards, which happens from time to time. Also, I have an A-DATA Class 6 16GB card that does not work. The M9 just doesn't recognize it as a valid card. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brainiac37 Posted December 6, 2009 Author Share #7 Posted December 6, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) Thanks for the suggestions! I did notice that SanDisk Ultra2 8GB was not one of the top three preferred cards ("++") in the Leica FAQ. I will chase down one of the "++" cards today and see if that works. I've also emailed Leica. Will provide an update when I know more. Formatting as FAT32 didn't yield any better result, and reformatting via the camera (full battery) was grayed out because the cards are "locked". Beautiful images though, when I could take them... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlmuck Posted December 6, 2009 Share #8 Posted December 6, 2009 Thanks for the suggestions! I did notice that SanDisk Ultra2 8GB was not one of the top three preferred cards ("++") in the Leica FAQ. I will chase down one of the "++" cards today and see if that works. I've also emailed Leica. Will provide an update when I know more. Formatting as FAT32 didn't yield any better result, and reformatting via the camera (full battery) was grayed out because the cards are "locked". Beautiful images though, when I could take them... Actually, all the cards listed are "recommended" the ++, +, and - are obscure references to speed. c. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
glasscain Posted December 6, 2009 Share #9 Posted December 6, 2009 Leica's top recommendation (from the M9 user manual) is the UltraII, not Extreme III. Sorry to hear about your troubles. My immediate reaction was that these are all - shall we say sub-standard or 2nds - but then I am sure that Costco would never ever market something like that would they? Leica recommend Extreme III or the "professional" grades from Sandisk or Lexar. I would therefore not attempt to use #3 at all. I would return to your dealer (if possible) and try your camera with a known "good" card. If that works then it's the cards that are faulty. Go buy some from a more trustworthy source. If even a "good" card fails then I would ask your dealer for a replacement camera straight away. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott kirkpatrick Posted December 6, 2009 Share #10 Posted December 6, 2009 I've been using Ultra II's and Extreme III's in my M9 in the past two weeks for a little over 600 exposures. Had a brief problem just today with an Ultra 16 GB Cl 4 (very new, no II, bought in a duty-free store but otherwise no reason to be suspicious of it). For two shots it refused to write the file out, saying "NO SD CARD" I switched off, then on, fiddled with some settings, restored them, and it has been working fine since. I hope we see these glitches go away silently as the firmware gets cleaned up, but it has been three months since firmware 1.002 was issued. It's about time for a Christmas release of new firmware. scott Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthury Posted December 6, 2009 Share #11 Posted December 6, 2009 Hello... I got my M9 this week, and have tried three SDHC cards: 1. SanDisk Ultra2 8GB (from Costco) -- never recognized. Error is always "No SD card" 2. SanDisk Ultra2 8GB (2nd card from the same Costco pack) -- recognized, but 50% of the time, it says that the SD is locked. [...] Pardon me but I find the choice of the flash card poorly made. Unless you have multiple batteries and have lots and lots of time in your hands, using a significantly faster card will ease the writing "pain" which was reported all over this forum. Additionally, why would one use a SD Ultra2 card after spending $7K on a camera? You could, at least, try out the Extreme IV, if not something faster. This choice of SD card seem to me like an attempt to save money in the wrong place. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlesphoto99 Posted December 6, 2009 Share #12 Posted December 6, 2009 Pardon me but I find the choice of the flash card poorly made. Unless you have multiple batteries and have lots and lots of time in your hands, using a significantly faster card will ease the writing "pain" which was reported all over this forum. Additionally, why would one use a SD Ultra2 card after spending $7K on a camera? You could, at least, try out the Extreme IV, if not something faster. This choice of SD card seem to me like an attempt to save money in the wrong place. These are the cards Leica explicitly recommends for the M9, and at the moment are more stable and faster then the Extreme's. Has nothing to do with cheaping out by the user. I bought two 16gb Ultras when I got my M9 and haven't had any problems. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthury Posted December 6, 2009 Share #13 Posted December 6, 2009 These are the cards Leica explicitly recommends for the M9, and at the moment are more stable and faster then the Extreme's. Has nothing to do with cheaping out by the user. I bought two 16gb Ultras when I got my M9 and haven't had any problems. End of 2009 and Leica is recommending using SD Ultra 2? That's another reason for not getting the M9. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shootist Posted December 6, 2009 Share #14 Posted December 6, 2009 Hello... Firmware is 1.002. What can I do? Or do I have to send in my brand-new M9 after less than a week? No ask, demand, a new camera or your money back. The one you have now is defective. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brainiac37 Posted December 7, 2009 Author Share #15 Posted December 7, 2009 I went over to my local pro shop (Keeble & Shuchat -- nice peeps!) and tried a few more SDHC cards. They all worked in other cameras (they didn't have any more M9 in the shop), but they are still all showing up as "SD locked". Will be contacting Leica tomorrow. Now the 50 lux pre-asph that I just got will have to sit around for a while. How sad... Oh, and yes, I bought the Ultra2 because it's recommended. I would gladly pay more for a RELIABLE card, but so far, my particular unit is not happy with anything (cheap or expensive). Happy shooting -- the rest of you! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
beamon Posted December 7, 2009 Share #16 Posted December 7, 2009 It couldn't hurt to again install the latest firmware. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brainiac37 Posted December 23, 2009 Author Share #17 Posted December 23, 2009 An update on my camera -- Leica repaired it and returned it to me just today (~10 days turnaround). The firmware version is still 1.002, but they said that the SD card hardware was replaced. So far, no problem with the Extreme3 (8GB). Previously, this card was failing intermittently with the "SD card locked" error. I haven't had the courage to put the Ultra2 (8GB) cards back in my baby yet. Will do that tomorrow. But the Extreme3 is recording images faithfully at this point -- Yes!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olsen Posted December 23, 2009 Share #18 Posted December 23, 2009 All these cards mentioned works OK - flawlessly on my Canon 1Ds III. Why not on a Leica M9? Either something is wrong with this individual camera - or, most likely, Leica owe you all a M9 up date. But fast! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted December 23, 2009 Share #19 Posted December 23, 2009 I bought the recommended 16GB Ultra II cards and have had not a whit of trouble since. I did make the point of doing an overwrite on first use. If you do this, make sure you use a newly charged battery. An overwrite of a 16GB card takes over 30 minutes and uses quite a bit of the battery charge. Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
enboe Posted December 23, 2009 Share #20 Posted December 23, 2009 I also had problems with Ultra II, Extreme III, plain Sandisk, Kinsington, etc. Cards were class 2, 4, and 10. I formatted in every possible device in my household except the George Forman grill. The camera would lose images up to 30% of the time. I purchased a 4GB Delkin EFilm Class 6 card for the princely sum of $50. It worked flawlessly on the first day of shooting. I spoke with Eberhard Kuehne, the Leica USA west coast rep, and he said I should wait for the new firmware, coming soon, instead of sending the camera in for repair. That's my current plan. Eric Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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