Memory Cards for the M8

[koiroy]

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I just opened the box of my new M8...is there any recommendation for

which brand or size of memory cards to use? Your input would

be welcome.

[grduprey]

I use the SanDisk Extreem III 2G cards with very good results. You can go to the Leica web page and M8 downloads, there they have a list of the cards they support. IKf you want a 4G card then use the Trascend cards, but not the HD SD cards as they will not work in the M8 yet. Have fun with the new M8, you will love it and the files.

 

gene

[johnalex141r]

I was initially worried about it, too. Seemingly, the SD card standards were "loose" and have been tightened - search the web. IIRC, the older standards did not address 4gig cards; the tightened standards do. So, in my opinion, stick to 2gig or smaller, for now.

 

I purchased 2 2gig cards. The first was a "pinkish" SanDisk 2g, the second one a Centros card, from a store called The Source (was Radio Shack, but ownership changed in Canada). Both have worked just fine, so far.

 

There are faster cards, and slower cards. I didn't worry about it; these things are actually soo cheap, that I decided just to purchase 2 cards, and learn about things as I went along, knowing that maybe the cards would be replaced sometime along the way.

 

John Stewart.

[geoff]

Roy,

 

As mentioned, Leica maintains a list, latest update May 8, 2007, titled "Compatible SD Memory Cards for the Leica M8" which can be downloaded in .pdf format here.

 

To properly interprete this list, it is important to understand and keep serveral things in context.

 

This is a "safe" list of known SD memory cards for which Leica has been able to test and certify, to date, as compatible with the M8. As such, it should be understood that there are cards for which Leica has not yet tested that may, or may not, work with the M8. Incompatible cards simply are not listed, but cards not on the list do not necessarily signify incompatibility.

 

As of this date, support for SDHC memory cards is not provided in the latest M8 firmware although there is word that will be provided through a future update. There is much consumer confusion over SDHC memory cards, themselves, and SD memory card nomenclature, in general, for which many manufacturers have been less than helpful in clarifying, if not outright misleading in labeling and marketing. This has been further compounded through online forums as inacurate labels such as HC SD, HD SD or SD-HC are often sited and repeated. Altogether, in many cases this has been the primary source of incompatiblity run-ins.

 

In short, and as it currently relates to the Leica M8, industry standard Secure Digital memory cards, adherent to the industry standard SD Specification Version 1.1, support up to 2GB capacities. SDHC memory cards, also known as SD Specification Version 2.0, can support memory capacities beyond 2GB. Additionally, both the memory card and device must match in adherence to a specific spec, although backwards compatibility is supported. In other words, a higher spec card may not work in a lower spec camera or memory card reader but a lower spec card should work in a higher spec device.

 

One gray area, and this is only one of many, is with memory cards of 4GB capacity that were designed and manufactured outside of both the SD Specification Version 1.1 and 2.0. These cards are not industry certified. Some people have confused these cards as one-in-the-same as SDHC memory cards for which they are not.

 

Asides from officially supporting FAT32, which enables recognition of capacities beyond 2GB, the main significant functional difference between SD and SDHC memory cards is that SDHC cards use sector addressing as opposed to the traditional byte addressing of previous SD cards.

 

Currenty, there are two non-industry standard cards listed by Leica as compatible with the M8. "Compatiblity" being the objective word.

 

Additionally, the Transcend 4GB 150x TS4GSD150 card, which does work with the M8 but is not listed, use to ship with "SD Card" labeling. Now they are denoted as "SD Compatible," which falls more in line with the SD Card Association's guidelines and labeling requirements for true SD and SDHC cards, of which the TS4GSD150 is neither.

 

 

Geoff

myspace.com/geoffotos

[photolandscape]

Try Ridata 2GB, Lexar 2GB, Transcend 2GB and 4GB. The only thing I would add beyond that is don't use the lock switches unless you absolutely have to. I've found that when you do, and you've reformatted them in the camera, they still show as bing full and you have to play around with them for a while to get them to work.

[koiroy]

That was wonderful stuff guys...I really appreciate your inputs.

The instruction book led me to the German language version

of this list ( in the English part of instructions)...but Geoff...I

thank you for your detailed information. It probably saved me

a few hours of grief finding out what works best.