Play.com Memory Cards BEWARE!!!!!!

[Razor]

I have just returned from my holidays to the Red Sea in Egypt.

http://www.play.com/play247.asp?pa=s...C&title=502803

I was given 2x512meg SD memory cards (High Speed) from two good friends as a birthday present to use with my Canon digital ixus 700. Both cards produced memory errors and were unusable once a good few pictures were taken (approx 20% of card). I also have a Sandisc SD 1 gig card which I had no problems with at all.

To say I am annoyed at this is an understatement as I took both these cards on a dive to the Red Sea and chance had it I saw a 12 foot Hammerhead shark . Try as I might the card I was using wouldn't let me take a picture. I instead it kept saying 'Memory Card Error' or 'unreconised format'. Even though I had been snapping away with the camera all morning and rewatching short video and pics, with no problems.

This was the same for both play.com memory cards. In the end I had to resort to backing up my Sandisc card on cd by a small photoshop I found in the hotel.

Has anyone else had any problems with these cards?

[JohnG]

I always stick to branded memory cards and haven't had a problem so far ..... why did I say that

[Johndm]

Originally Posted by Razor

I have just returned from my holidays to the Red Sea in Egypt.

http://www.play.com/play247.asp?pa=s...C&title=502803

I was given 2x512meg SD memory cards (High Speed) from two good friends as a birthday present to use with my Canon digital ixus 700. Both cards produced memory errors and were unusable once a good few pictures were taken (approx 20% of card). I also have a Sandisc SD 1 gig card which I had no problems with at all.

To say I am annoyed at this is an understatement as I took both these cards on a dive to the Red Sea and chance had it I saw a 12 foot Hammerhead shark . Try as I might the card I was using wouldn't let me take a picture. I instead it kept saying 'Memory Card Error' or 'unreconised format'. Even though I had been snapping away with the camera all morning and rewatching short video and pics, with no problems.

This was the same for both play.com memory cards. In the end I had to resort to backing up my Sandisc card on cd by a small photoshop I found in the hotel.

Has anyone else had any problems with these cards?

Did you FORMAT your cards IN the camera, or just erase the mornings pics/video?

If you only erased, that might be your problem.

regards

[sy278]

perhaps they just hada bad batch in, it does hapen you know!

I have several memory cards from play.com and they all work perfectly.

[Razor]

Originally Posted by Johndm

Did you FORMAT your cards IN the camera, or just erase the mornings pics/video?

If you only erased, that might be your problem.

regards

Hi John

I just popped the cards in the camera and snapped away. I did the same for my Sandisc card.

I only deleted a few miss shots that came out poorly. Am I ment to format these cards first? Sorry for asking this as I am not a camera expert.

I did manage to recover the pics I did take which was a relief (I dont know if I lost any pics tho ).
My camera just wouldnt let me take any new ones or view the ones I had taken.

[Razor]

Originally Posted by sy278

perhaps they just hada bad batch in, it does hapen you know!

I have several memory cards from play.com and they all work perfectly.

sy278
You could be right there as both cards were bought at the same time.

[Johndm]

Originally Posted by Razor

Hi John

I just popped the cards in the camera and snapped away. I did the same for my Sandisc card.

I only deleted a few miss shots that came out poorly. Am I ment to format these cards first? Sorry for asking this as I am not a camera expert.

I did manage to recover the pics I did take which was a relief (I dont know if I lost any pics tho ).
My camera just wouldnt let me take any new ones or view the ones I had taken.

Oh yes.....you should always format new cards in the camera before first use.

Try it before you send em back, it just might be the problem.

[mr jones]

what manufacture are the cards?

[martynk]

Must admit, I've never formatted new cards (Sandisc) and I haven't had any problems, but I'll do so in future - you never know! I always format after use.

[Razor]

Mr Jones

I dont know what make these cards are, I would be intrested to see who originally made them.

Johndm

Sorry for being a total newbie here but how do you fromat these SD cards? Maybe the Sandisc cards are pre formated?

[mr jones]

another reason to buy a well known, well respected branded card. dont wanna loose your pictures!


i tend to ensure that i format my cards when they are new IN THE CAMERA, and not format them via a cardreader or connection to the computer. it takes seconds and is well worth doing IMHO

[Johndm]

Originally Posted by Razor

Mr Jones

I dont know what make these cards are, I would be intrested to see who originally made them.

Johndm

Sorry for being a total newbie here but how do you fromat these SD cards? Maybe the Sandisc cards are pre formated?

There will be an option on your cameras menu to format the cards.

Note, this MUST be done in the camera, never format in a computer or other device, as these might format differantly, thus causing the problems you have had.

Even so, stick to known brands as suggested. Sandisk, Lexar and Kingston for example

[mr jones]

i found once when i accidentally formatted via the computer and didnt reformat in the camera, the camera saved every image twice


weird.


needless to say i never did that again

[Razor]

Cheers for the advice everyone on formatting . I will still return these cards as I dont want to run the risk of it happening again and lossing any important pics.

I think I will stick to Sandisc as I have never had any problems with this brand.

[Iain]

I recently bought a 1Gig SD Bytestor ( high speed) card for my Canon S2 IS, I formatted the cards in camera with a full low level format. I also started to get memory errors at about 20% useage. The cards could be read from a reader and sometimes from the camera itself, I feared that the camera was to blame, serves me right for being an early adopter. But as I like the camera so much I did a bit of research into the memory, it turns out that this memory has quite a bad name for itself especially with Canons. Check out user reviews on amazon, I have no confidence in this memory at all and will be replacing it with sandisk extreme. I suspect that alot of the cheap memory is rebranded generic, definately a case of you get what you pay for.
Thankfully I have not lost any images and have learned my lesson, what with a new arrival due next month

Cheers Iain