Formatting SD card in M-D Type 262

[Guest]

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Unless I am going mad, this is a film camera, Leica M-A (Typ 127). It seems somehow that I have associated 262 with 127, in which case apologies for my confusion.

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[IkarusJohn]

To be honest, if your workflow is to review images on the LCD screen as you take them (or at home or in your hotel room at the end of the day) and delete those which aren't keepers, this has zero to do with formatting.  I do this sometimes, and for that I use the iPad SD card reader - the iPad screen is way better than any LCD on the back of a M camera (or any other camera that I've seen, to be honest).

 

For formatting, surely you only do this (if at all) after you've downloaded your images onto your computer, in which case you use SD Card Formatter.  I see no loss, and no advantage in putting the SD card back into the camera to format.  Surely you're not formatting your cards without downloading the images first?

 

As to SD cards, I realised some time ago that not all SD cards are created equal and sometimes they fail.  On a long trip, having all my photos on a single large capacity SD card is not a risk I am prepared to take.  SD cards are small, they weigh nothing and you can put them into a card wallet (I have the Think Tank version).  So, I use 8GB (for Monochrom) and 16GB (for M60), and a couple of Type III cards (for the SL).  When they are getting 2/3 or 3/4 full, I swap them out.

 

There are many good reasons for not wanting an M-D, but not being able to format SD cards would be the one which is hardest to follow ...

[ramarren]

I don't know about GAZ and LOL, but I think that's a wee unfair. I was actually thinking of buying an M as a second camera. I did not want to buy a film camera, so my interest was piqued when I realized that the Type 262 is offered new as a film camera or as a digital without rear screen. Both of these are pretty unique now. I cannot think of anyone else creating such cameras.

 

Anyway I just wanted to find out about the SD formatting because I was in a Leica shop and they & I looked online at the manual and we could not ascertain from the printed material the answer. So ramarren thanks for that.

 

As to asking or wanting further advice for a second camera I think I will not bother this forum anymore on that subject and just follow my own instincts. A digital camera that cannot format the media I have to say doesn't make sense. So we beg to differ on that, humble apologies if my opinion is different to anyone reading this in the free world.

 

 

No offense intended; 'twas just in jest. My GAS runs into itself too occasionally. 

 

(bolded) Just to clear up a detail here, the typ 262 M is not offered as a film camera. It's offered as a standard digital model, with LCD and all the usual control buttons and menus, or as the M-D model, with no LCD, no options, etc. The M-A is a film M, derivative of the MP (not to be mistaken as the M-P typ 240). 

 

If you just want an M as a second camera, go for it! Pick the one you want. If you want a full-featured camera with LCD, etc, the M typ 262 is the one to get, or the even more full-featured M or M-P typ 240. The M-D typ 262 is a more specialized model, just like the M Monochrom typ 246 is a more specialized model. 

 

The M-D makes excellent sense to me as a companion to my SL and maybe as a replacement for my M-P. Since I bought the SL, I find I hardly use the M-P with anything other than a 35 or 75 mm lens and most of its additional features are wasted. I like the space for my hands that the M-D's lack of buttons and screen provide. I'll use cards in it similar to how I use film in the M4-2: format card, fit it, shoot until it's full. Then remove card and process it, reformat card. I'll have to see how big the M-D DNGs are ... my box of 2 and 8G SD cards may have just found a new purpose! 

 

I use the M-P and SL in a completely different way, with huge capacity cards. 

[Guest]

Thanks for the clarifications.

[miro]

Is there a way to format SD card on iPad / iPhone ?

[Exodies]

I think not but they keep relaxing the restrictions on access to external storage with each release. (My answer is basically worthless but I'm a follower of John Cage - I have nothing to say and I am saying it).

[miro]

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Thanks for nothing

[ralphh]

It is not the effort put I rarely have a computer with me. I take images on multiple cards. I review them briefly on the SL screen, that tells me I got it or failed take another. When I am home then they see a computer. The big difference is the screen on the camera. That allows me to be happy that I have an image, so I do not need a computer with me all the time. That is less weight to cart around - it just does not make sense at all to have a digital camera that is unable to do things without resort to a computer.

Why not just format them on the SL then? these cards wmust go in something with a screen before formatting..?

 

Also, reviewing the images is one thing, but dont you still need to download to PC before formst - you're not taking a picture, reviewing it in camera, then formatting the card surely?

 

On the card side note... I tried an eye-if card in my M and it's so slow it's unusable. With a 32gb Sandusky it's very quick shot to shot. I've never filled the buffer. It does take a while to boot tho. Is that the slowness ppl are talking about?

[ralphh]

^^ Bloomin ipad spell checker!!