Reformatting you CF card.

[jtval 0]

HOw often to you reformat your card?


I didn't think that cutting and reusing the card would cause problems since their no registry but the last load of the day I took pictures the whole time, all the way to landing. After a handful of landing pictures the cam stopped snapping pic's.


I got a CF ERR when I plugged it in to the lap top It said I should reformat.


when it comes to hard drives I know that moving shit around a lot will cause errors if you dont defrag/reformat. Is this the same with CF card?

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[The111 0]

I never even thought of reformatting a CF card. Would also be interested to know if I'm missing out on something.

EDIT: Google search has revealed one interesting fact. If you format your card (still no word on the necessity of this) you should do it with the camera menu system (not through your PC), to ensure compatibility with the camera. Also, if you have a full card, it will take a moderate amount of time to delete all the pics on either camera or PC... supposedly formatting card in camera has the effect of instantly deleting all pics. Timesaving.

EDIT 2: Found a large argument on another forum over whether or not you should format your card frequently, or only when you get camera error. Everyone agrees to only format IN the device that it will be used with regularly. I'd say there's no reason to re-format until you get an error.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[jtval 0]

I've only put a few hundred pictures on the card (1500?)

but I had to reformat....I also bought a new CF card today , just in case.

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[Stumpy 256]

I'm not sure if you mean the same thing but i never just plain delete pics, i always format the card, its easier, quicker and it removes all the pesky directories that appear.

Never try to eat more than you can lift

[jtval 0]

So you copy them to your hard drive then reformat to delete them?

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[Stumpy 256]

Exactly.
There are a few threads on POTN about this if you look, but form memory most people seemed to thing reformatting was less messy.

Never try to eat more than you can lift

[jtval 0]

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Exactly.
There are a few threads on POTN about this if you look, but form memory most people seemed to thing reformatting was less messy.

Cool, I'll start doing it that way.. What does POTN mean.

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[Cashmanimal 0]

I do photography as a living in addition to casual skydiving photography...

I take tons, thousands of pictures. All the time. All I have ever done is format the CF flash card to erase it. Especially with some computer systems if you use the computer to erase the images on the card, it still has a large registry and will progressively allow you to take less pictures on an 'empty' card. Every time I take photos, I load them all onto my computer, and then trash the ones I don't want from the computer, as it is faster than scrolling through and deleting each individual picture I don't want from the camera. Then I stick the card back in the camera and format it. This ensures that every single piece of unnecessary memory usage is erased, ensuring that you get the most photos possible on the card.

It's confusing at first, at least is was for me. I would trash all the photos from the card while it was in my computer, and then put the card into the camera and when I pressed 'play' it would say that there are no images on the card. However, my 1g CF card would really only have 500mb of free memory space.

I have just made it a habit. There is no harm in doing it this way. Not that I am aware of, at least. Been doing it for two years now on the same 3 cards, not a problem in the world.

It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

[jtval 0]

SWEET! thanks.

So, as it would seem to me, since I reformatted the card it should be all cool to take pics,no?


It's not like I may have a bad sector, is it?

(i'm sure I'll just have to play and see but if you have any idea that will help speed the process.

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[The111 0]

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What does POTN mean.

I would assume he means THIS, an excellent forum where I have learned TONS of stuff. I take my real photography questions there (no offense, DZ.com photo experts ).

I did a google search earlier today in response to your original post and most of the discussions I found were on POTN.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[PharmerPhil 0]

Never. I also take tons of photos. More non-skydiving than skydiving, but tons and tons of both. I never, ever reformat my card and never have a problem with space, speed, errors, etc.

My routine is to download to iPhoto and automatically delete the photos as I do this (it is an option). My 20D creates a new folder for every 100(?) images. Every so often, I go in and trash the empty folders (iPhoto deletes the images, but somehow doesn't know to delete the folders once they are empty). In reality I only do this every couple thousand photos. I have taken many tens of thousands of photos this way on the same card without a hitch.

[Stumpy 256]

Quote

Quote

What does POTN mean.

I would assume he means THIS, an excellent forum where I have learned TONS of stuff. I take my real photography questions there (no offense, DZ.com photo experts ).

I did a google search earlier today in response to your original post and most of the discussions I found were on POTN.

Bingo!!
Whenever i sound like i know what i am talking about (bear with me here ) i pick up a lot of info from there. Its a creat site, however its VERY canon focussed. If you have a nikon there may be better places.

Never try to eat more than you can lift

[Stumpy 256]

And do you keep your tens of thousands of photos on iphoto? Do you have any problems?
Thats the suckiest bit of software i think Apple have produced - the one thing i think the PC is better at is Picasa.

Never try to eat more than you can lift

[vdschoor 0]

I format the card after every tandem, reason being that we use a cd burner to dump the photos from the card onto a cd (no pc in between)

If you delete the pics, the customer will get a cd with a lot of empty folders on there, and just the latest folders on the disc will have their pictures in there.

The second reason for formatting is it takes 2 seconds, vs.. a lot longer.. I dont have time in between tandems

[Calvin19 0]

I carry 2 cards, both 2gb. i have never formatted either.

i dont know how everyone else does it, but i carry a card reader and just take the pics off the card, after removing it from cam. so, i just delete all pics from card.

why do we need to reformat ever? after 23,000ish shots, never had a problem. canon rules.

[PharmerPhil 0]

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And do you keep your tens of thousands of photos on iPhoto? Do you have any problems?

I keep the keepers there. I only use iPhoto to catalog the photos I want to keep for myself for future use. My contract photos (mostly news photos) go to CD-ROM the week I shoot them for archive purposes.

I can't comment on iPhoto for editing (I use Photoshop for editing and as my default when I double-click), but I find that it works great (no problems) as library/catalog software.

[LouDiamond 1]

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All I have ever done is format the CF flash card to erase it. Especially with some computer systems if you use the computer to erase the images on the card, it still has a large registry and will progressively allow you to take less pictures on an 'empty' card.

I have found the same to be true with my 5D and my Mac. Transfer CF to Mac, Format CF in camera to get full capacity back.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[Cashmanimal 0]

Quote

Quote

All I have ever done is format the CF flash card to erase it. Especially with some computer systems if you use the computer to erase the images on the card, it still has a large registry and will progressively allow you to take less pictures on an 'empty' card.

I have found the same to be true with my 5D and my Mac. Transfer CF to Mac, Format CF in camera to get full capacity back.

I really don't see a reason to do it any other way. In my personal opinion, iPhoto is probably the biggest piece of crap program to ever be included as a standard program from Apple. I think it just lowers their standards to an embarrassing point.

I just don't like it when things get to automated with simplified programs such as iPhoto. The "transfer and erase from memory card" option may work for some, but that involves some third-party such as iPhoto most of the time.

I just trust it much when I select the folder, drag it to the desktop, when they are done copying, I put the card back in the camera, and reformat. But that's because i am a manual kind of guy, and probably work faster manually then letting something else do it for me.

Canon Camera, a Mac, and the entire Adobe Creative Suite cannot be beat in my opinion. If only more people would take the time to learn Bridge, they would see, understand, and bow down to the power of the Bridge/Photoshop combo. It makes programs like iPhoto an absolute joke, and at $250 for the entire Adobe suite premium (Photoshop, Bridge, Illustrator, InDesign, GoLive, Acrobat) nobody could complain. (I bought it my senior year of high school... educational discounts, woot!) (Freshmen year of college, also comes in handy with the new CS3 line coming out)

/end rant. Happy photos!

It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

[LouDiamond 1]

I don't care for iphoto much either. I used 2 or 3 times and haven't used it since.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[jtval 0]

seems reformatting is what i'll be doing.

I'm ontone for all that extra bullshit such as a program like Iphoto.

It drives my\e nuts that my gf has windows mediacenter ( i think thats what its called.) on her computer.

its a waste of time.


( I know, I know all you mac guys are saying "its PC of course it sux)

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[Stumpy 256]

Seriously - get Picasa - its the best photo organisation software out there and its free! (IMHO)

Never try to eat more than you can lift

[The111 0]

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Seriously - get Picasa - its the best photo organisation software out there and its free! (IMHO)

I just use the Windows file browser, with thumbnails if I need them.

And Irfanview for batch lossless rotating.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[jtval 0]

this was something wasnt too concerned with.(rotating)

I mount my cam upside down but turning it twice to right it won't make a noticeable difference.


so far though, I gotta give a (um...) "big ups" to digi stills. I have sold ECERY PICTURE I have taken since I put it in my head and I have jumped it on every tandem.

(though it has only been about 15/18 jumps.)

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[iamsam 0]

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I do photography as a living... I take tons, thousands of pictures. All the time. All I have ever done is format the CF flash card to erase it.

- so do I, and I treat my CF cards exactly the same. As other posters have written, you can live perfectly happily deleting images, but it's better to format - I don't know a professional photographer who doesn't.

but what do I know

[jtval 0]

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you can live perfectly happily deleting images, but it's better to format

THIs I'll have to disagree with since all I used to do is cut and paste (not exactly deleting) and my CF formatted when I tried but after a few pics locked up.


and it wasn't one of the cheap over-the-counter $19-on-sale cards. It was the this-thing-should-work-great-in-your -new-digi $69-cards.

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