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Canon 5D & Lexar Compact Flash incompatibilities

RBrogenRBrogen Registered Users Posts: 1,518 Major grins
edited January 4, 2009 in Cameras
Hi All,

I just found out, "almost the hard way" that there is a continuing issue of compatibility between Canon EOS cameras and the supposed high-end Lexar Professional UDMA Compact Flash cards which causes the loss of all of your photos on the card.

A few days ago I bought 3 new Lexar Professional UDMA 16GB compact flash cards in preparation for getting my new 5D MKII. I stuck one of the cards in my 5D and had taken some photos on day 1 without any noticeable issue. Day 2 came around and I took a few more shots and my wife even took a few shots of the kids playing in the snow and me cleaning said snow off of my truck. I came inside and my wife showed me some of the pics in preview on the camera. I went to download and process them and all of the pictures from Day 2 were missing but all from Day 1 were still intact. I was puzzled to say the least because you just don't delete batches of images from the card, it's either one at a time or all of them at once.

Fast forward to today when I took about 300 shots at the hockey game. I got back home and ALL of them appeared to be gone!!!!! I hit the net and after a few minutes I came across information from 2005 indicating that both Canon and Lexar were made aware of an issue with the Lexar firmware in the cards and that they were releasing an update. This issue was triggered when using Lexar in a Canon EOS shooting RAW + JPG format. So far, I've been unable to find this update. After a few deep breaths and thoughts of going postal on Lexar, I downloaded RescuePro buy SanDisk and thought this would be a long shot but why not. Fortunately, it actually did find the missing files and restored them.

Has anyone else experienced this issue?

Best,
Randy
Randy Brogen, CPP
www.brogen.com

Member: PPA , PPANE, PPAM & NAPP

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    Art ScottArt Scott Registered Users Posts: 8,959 Major grins
    edited January 4, 2009
    Only when I did not first format the cards in the camera they were going to be used in.................................................ne_nau.gif now I format all my new cards as soon as I get them to the camera to do so........................still I would call Lexar and see whatthey have to say.......these being the high end cards and they did not com with a file containing Image Rescue 2 in it??? Myabe they stopped putting that on the high end cards for some reason............
    "Genuine Fractals was, is and will always be the best solution for enlarging digital photos." ....Vincent Versace ... ... COPYRIGHT YOUR WORK ONLINE ... ... My Website

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    RBrogenRBrogen Registered Users Posts: 1,518 Major grins
    edited January 4, 2009
    Art Scott wrote:
    Only when I did not first format the cards in the camera they were going to be used in.................................................ne_nau.gif now I format all my new cards as soon as I get them to the camera to do so........................still I would call Lexar and see whatthey have to say.......these being the high end cards and they did not com with a file containing Image Rescue 2 in it??? Myabe they stopped putting that on the high end cards for some reason............

    Thanks for replying Art. I did not pre-format the cards so I wonder if that would help. After checking on the back of one of the flyers that came with the cards it has a reference to a download site for image rescue 3. I will definitely be calling Lexar tomorrow .... it's going to be tough gaining any confidence in this product after the near disaster from my shoot today.
    Randy Brogen, CPP
    www.brogen.com

    Member: PPA , PPANE, PPAM & NAPP
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    ziggy53ziggy53 Super Moderators Posts: 23,852 moderator
    edited January 4, 2009
    Rob G. tested the Canon 5D MKII with the Lexar Pro 300X in both 16GB and 8GB and did not report any problems.

    http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/camera_multi_page.asp?cid=6007-9784
    ziggy53
    Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
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    Tee WhyTee Why Registered Users Posts: 2,390 Major grins
    edited January 4, 2009
    Over at POTN, a forum for Canon, it's reported fairly frequently. Had the same issue on a different Lexar and Canon body myself, even after I checked with Lexar's site to make sure the card was ok.

    Also has another buddy have a problem with those gold Lexar pro cards on her 5D as well, where she lost images.

    Needless to say, I don't recommend any Canon shooters to use Lexar. I'm sure there are many Canon users who have not had problems with Lexar though, but I don't feel comfortable using it with Canons.
    My Gallery
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    RBrogenRBrogen Registered Users Posts: 1,518 Major grins
    edited January 4, 2009
    ziggy53 wrote:
    Rob G. tested the Canon 5D MKII with the Lexar Pro 300X in both 16GB and 8GB and did not report any problems.

    http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/camera_multi_page.asp?cid=6007-9784

    Hi Ziggy...do you know if he was shooting RAW + JPG format? That seems to be the underlying trigger.
    Randy Brogen, CPP
    www.brogen.com

    Member: PPA , PPANE, PPAM & NAPP
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    RBrogenRBrogen Registered Users Posts: 1,518 Major grins
    edited January 4, 2009
    Tee Why wrote:
    Over at POTN, a forum for Canon, it's reported fairly frequently. Had the same issue on a different Lexar and Canon body myself, even after I checked with Lexar's site to make sure the card was ok.

    Also has another buddy have a problem with those gold Lexar pro cards on her 5D as well, where she lost images.

    Needless to say, I don't recommend any Canon shooters to use Lexar. I'm sure there are many Canon users who have not had problems with Lexar though, but I don't feel comfortable using it with Canons.

    Tee Why. I think I'm with you on this as well. I can't count on this thing to work at the most fundamental level. I do not understand how Lexar can expect to keep customers when their product compromises the very integrity of the data that our clients trust us to protect, especially after charging ~$200 for each card. I will be returning all of the cards promptly.
    Randy Brogen, CPP
    www.brogen.com

    Member: PPA , PPANE, PPAM & NAPP
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    ziggy53ziggy53 Super Moderators Posts: 23,852 moderator
    edited January 4, 2009
    I found a very similar post:

    http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1032&message=30259365
    ziggy53
    Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
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