Card or a camera problem? I was shooting an event tonight and for the second time, I had what you see on the images below. My question is whether this is a problem with my camera or...

manofhg Loc: Knoxville, TN

I was shooting an event tonight and for the second time, I had what you see on the images below. My question is whether this is a problem with my camera or card. I think the last time this happened, I was using the same card. I will compare it with other cards and see if I can make it happen again. Most of these were the first shots out of about 170. All the other shots were fine.

Camera: Canon 5DIII
Card: SanDisk 64 MB Extreme Pro 170 MB/s

I appreciate your time and thoughts.

(Download)

IDguy Loc: Idaho

SD cards are cheap enough that the easy thing to do first is change the card and see if the problem persists.

You might also clean the contacts in the camera and if reusing on a card the card contacts too. Since the problem what away my suspicions lean in that direction.

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

you don't specify if it was the SD card or CF card. How have you got your card write to set up? With memory cards relatively cheap these days, I always set both cards to record independently raw files. That gives me an instant backup file in case a card goes bad or I do something stupid. Probably more likely the latter than a bad card.

If I had a suspect card, I would reformat it and run tests on it to verify any problems... or run tests and, if there are problems, then reformat and test again. You could also just send it back to SanDisk and seek a replacement.

manofhg Loc: Knoxville, TN

The card is an SD card. Yes, I could put a CF in with it and see if they are the same assuming the problem presents itself. If I do find it is the card, I will probably send it to SanDisk. I have many cards, most are SD 32s and I have a few CF cards that I use less frequently, but certainly use when I am doing something more important like a wedding. I may also do some contact cleaning like IDguy suggested. Thank you both for your suggestions.

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

manofhg wrote:

I was shooting an event tonight and for the second... (show quote)

Go into your menu to the Format Card page. Check the box that says 'Low Level Format'. Do a format then see if you can replicate the problem. The standard quick format only formats the card's directory. A low level format wipes the entire card. It is something that Canon recommends doing periodically to SD cards to restore full card performance. I doubt this is your problem, but, since it only takes seconds to do it's worth a try.

manofhg Loc: Knoxville, TN

LFingar wrote:

Go into your menu to the Format Card page. Check the box that says 'Low Level Format'. Do a format then see if you can replicate the problem. The standard quick format only formats the card's directory. A low level format wipes the entire card. It is something that Canon recommends doing periodically to SD cards to restore full card performance. I doubt this is your problem, but, since it only takes seconds to do it's worth a try.

Thanks. I think I'll try replicating with a second card to see comparisons, then if I do see the problem, do the format as you advise and repeat.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

I’ve gotten similar effects when I didn’t have my lens mounted properly.

lookingglass18

I had the same problem with a Lexar SD card a while back. I returned it to them for a partial refund. I had to provide the receipt which, luckily, was in my Amazon online record.

manofhg Loc: Knoxville, TN

gvarner wrote:

I’ve gotten similar effects when I didn’t have my lens mounted properly.

While I will check that, I don't think that is the problem. I can understand if it were to cause light leaks, but I think that would be on most all of the pictures, not just a few and mine tended to mainly be the first pictures shot.

unclehosst Loc: Montana

My Canon 5D MII will do this when I use NON-Canon batteries, regardless of charge level in the battery. Why? I don't know. To confirm this, I had a Sony point and shoot digital camera that did the same thing with generic batteries. I have changed the batteries but not the card and everything was well.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

manofhg wrote:

While I will check that, I don't think that is the problem. I can understand if it were to cause light leaks, but I think that would be on most all of the pictures, not just a few and mine tended to mainly be the first pictures shot.

A poorly mounted lens won’t always cause just light leaks. The problem comes when all of the contacts aren’t properly aligned.

manofhg Loc: Knoxville, TN

unclehosst wrote:

My Canon 5D MII will do this when I use NON-Canon batteries, regardless of charge level in the battery. Why? I don't know. To confirm this, I had a Sony point and shoot digital camera that did the same thing with generic batteries. I have changed the batteries but not the card and everything was well.

I'll have to check what batteries I am currently using. I have Canon and off brand that I have been using for years, but this is the first problems I've had.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

It's a bad card causing this problem. If it can be returned for a refund, great, otherwise just throw in the trash and move on. Consider using both your CF and SD cards in the camera and updating the settings to write the same files to both. Then, an issue with one bad card has the other card as a back-up.

manofhg Loc: Knoxville, TN

gvarner wrote:

A poorly mounted lens won’t always cause just light leaks. The problem comes when all of the contacts aren’t properly aligned.

True. I'll check that it is properly mounted.

dds48

I had a problem like this and it turned out to be the card reader. Try to download your pictures through a different media ie direct from the camera.