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Help please - SD card formats incompatible between Android phone and Panasonic Lumix FZ300
Mar 22, 2022 09:39:02   #
Robg
 
Planning ahead for an upcoming trip, I would like to use my Android phone (Google Pixel 2) to backup my photos to the cloud.

I was hoping to use my phone to read the SD card from my camera from where cloud backup would be easy.

But, when I put the SD card (SanDisk ExtremePro 128GB) into the phone, it says that the card is corrupted and needs to be reformatted.

When I do that and then put the SD card into the camera, the camera says the card is corrupted and needs to be formatted.

I've tried formatting on my Windows PC and that makes the phone happy, but the camera now says that the card was formatted elsewhere and needs to be reformatted.

Regardless of whether the card was formatted by the phone or the camera, I can read it fine on my PC, although the PC sometimes complains that there are issues with the card but that does not prevent my reading it.

I believe, but not with 100% certainty, that both the camera and the phone are using exFAT formatting.

Anybody have any ideas on what I can do here?

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Mar 22, 2022 09:46:06   #
CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City
 
Is it possible the issue is the 'size' of the card? Do you have any SD cards of a more modest size, say 32GB or smaller, that you can test the same process?

Is a wifi connection possible from the camera to phone? That's how I've connected my pocket-sized Canon G9X to my android phone in the past, with software from Canon. It would seem Panasonic would provide same now in 2022.

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Mar 22, 2022 10:39:36   #
burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC
 
Robg wrote:
Planning ahead for an upcoming trip, I would like to use my Android phone (Google Pixel 2) to backup my photos to the cloud.

I was hoping to use my phone to read the SD card from my camera from where cloud backup would be easy.

But, when I put the SD card (SanDisk ExtremePro 128GB) into the phone, it says that the card is corrupted and needs to be reformatted.

When I do that and then put the SD card into the camera, the camera says the card is corrupted and needs to be formatted.

I've tried formatting on my Windows PC and that makes the phone happy, but the camera now says that the card was formatted elsewhere and needs to be reformatted.

Regardless of whether the card was formatted by the phone or the camera, I can read it fine on my PC, although the PC sometimes complains that there are issues with the card but that does not prevent my reading it.

I believe, but not with 100% certainty, that both the camera and the phone are using exFAT formatting.

Anybody have any ideas on what I can do here?
Planning ahead for an upcoming trip, I would like ... (show quote)


Yes. Give up on that idea! Panasonic is notorious for adding components to the standard SD card formats that their cameras need to operate.

Every time I tell people about this, they say, "But Bill, SD is a standard. There are industry standards for formatting them." My answer is, "Sure. But the word FORMAT in a camera menu does NOT mean what you think it does! They are talking about HIGH LEVEL things such as database structures that keep track of the camera's functions, TEMPorary hidden files used by the camera's OS, etc. Those things are added AFTER the card is formatted in FAT32 or ExFAT.

That is why most camera manuals will tell you something to the effect of, "Always format the card in the exact physical device in which it will be used."

Sure, you can apply FAT32 or ExFAT formatting in a computer. But the camera may not "like" that. Another camera might not like it, either, if IT needs special features written to it during formatting.

Some cameras will look for the proper structures and add them if they aren't' there. Others will just tell you the card is corrupt, which really means, "You didn't format this card in this camera. Do it now!"

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Mar 22, 2022 18:32:40   #
Robg
 
CHG_CANON wrote:
Is it possible the issue is the 'size' of the card? Do you have any SD cards of a more modest size, say 32GB or smaller, that you can test the same process?

Is a wifi connection possible from the camera to phone? That's how I've connected my pocket-sized Canon G9X to my android phone in the past, with software from Canon. It would seem Panasonic would provide same now in 2022.

Both good suggestions. Thank you!

I tested with a 16 GB Ultra card and had no problems with that, so that was an excellent hypothesis on your part. Of course I don't know if its the smaller size or Extreme vs Ultra. There are several useful better features (capacity and speed) with the larger Extreme card as I like to shoot both video and still images.

The camera does have both WiFi and BlueTooth connectivity. And I can use either through the Panasonic Image app. I experimented with the app when I got the camera several years ago and was very unhappy with the speed. I have just tried it again using WiFi and speed is still a problem. Also, at least so far in my current tests, the Image app only uploads jpg files and not raw files. But probably worth a little more trial and error with the app.

But based on the above, my next step is to get a 32GB Extreme SanDisk and see if that works. They are quite cheap on Amazon.

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Mar 22, 2022 18:37:45   #
Robg
 
burkphoto wrote:
Yes. Give up on that idea! Panasonic is notorious for adding components to the standard SD card formats that their cameras need to operate.

"

Thank you for your help.

Per CHG_CANON's suggestion, I tried a smaller SD card, and that was visible on both the phone and the camera. But it is also a slower card (Ultra vs Extreme), so as I said in my response to him, I don't know it it's size or speed, but I ordered another SD card from Amazon to see if I can get a both a larger size and faster speed than the 16 GB Ultra card.

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Mar 23, 2022 15:36:33   #
Robg
 
Robg wrote:

But based on the above, my next step is to get a 32GB Extreme SanDisk and see if that works. They are quite cheap on Amazon.

Following up, the 32GB Extreme SanDisk arrived today (boy Amazon is quick!) and it works also. So the "Extreme" speed is not the issue, but the size is. Maybe I'll try a 64GB card, or maybe just go with what I now have.

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Mar 23, 2022 16:48:11   #
burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC
 
Robg wrote:
Following up, the 32GB Extreme SanDisk arrived today (boy Amazon is quick!) and it works also. So the "Extreme" speed is not the issue, but the size is. Maybe I'll try a 64GB card, or maybe just go with what I now have.


It is probably the underlying format in this case. I'll bet one of your devices is incompatible with SDXC cards (greater than 32GB and formatted as ExFAT). I have an old camera that won't take cards larger than 32GB, formatted as FAT32.

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