GH3 GH3 Gave Me a Heart Attack Tonight

I

Ianscreations

Well-known member
I just got home from a wedding. I had a full-blown anxiety attack at a wedding I filmed tonight. I was packing up and decided to look at my final shot. I hit the "play" button. I saw some clips, but they were out of order from what I shot. However, the majority of them were a blue icon with a "?" on top that said "File Cannot Be Played."
I freaked out b/c all my footage seemed lost. I have never seen this happen before. I tried to play the blue files and they just skipped to the only clips that did play. Turned the camera off and then on again. Same thing.
I stressed the entire way home. I even stopped on my way home to check...same error.

When I got home, I put them in my Mac to upload and they are all there. I then put the card back in my camera to see the error message, but the files all loaded just fine. I wonder if taking the card in and out solved whatever problem was going on? I just did the Firmware update last night so I was worried this caused the issue.

Has anyone else seen anything like this? Man, I was about to breakdown. First Dance, Toasts, Bouquet...I thought it was all lost. Any idea what the issue was? I use Sandisk cards and they have been fine since I started using the GH3 in Dec. Weirdest thing but I hope it never happens again.
 
Always do one time Events with 2 cameras. No matter the budget ALWAYS have a second camera operator or second camera rolling. I've learned this from experience , having coverage is more important than a "greatest" shot.

Heck even having a wide shot and a medium shot of 2 hacked GH1 - GH2 to save your behind means everything.

I bought a brand new camera and the day of the shoot the camera stopped working, luckily I had a GH2 that saved me.
 
Ianscreations said:
When I got home, I put them in my Mac to upload and they are all there. I then put the card back in my camera to see the error message, but the files all loaded just fine. I wonder if taking the card in and out solved whatever problem was going on? I just did the Firmware update last night so I was worried this caused the issue.
Click to expand...

Get on some MAC forums and toss in the question on how to do a low level format on a card using a MAC. It's more complex than on a PC, all I have to do is uncheck "quick format" and it goes through the media card and gets rid of all the bits and pieces of files the in camera format doesn't. If you simply format in camera the left over bits of files will cause you eventual problems. Serious ones.

I know nothing about MACs but I have seen comments from GH owners who tried to do a simple low level format on media cards and then found out their camera would not recognize it. There's something extra you need to do.
 
Now that's scary...been there before. That's why I quit doing weddings...the stress will turn your hair grey and make you old fast. haha.
Yep, the advice of always shooting the significant events with TWO cameras is wise. Most wedding shooters I know have at least two cams focused on the ceremony and main events of the wedding.
Sleep well tonight. :)
 
As a rule of thumb I always format my cards in camera before any shoot. In 5 years of regular shooting I have never lost a single frame.
 
Good advice. Not to mention good cards. I had a old Nikon I was taking pictures with and they all disappeared. But when I put it in the computer they were still there. Never did firgure it out. I got ride of that card.
TheDingo said:
As a rule of thumb I always format my cards in camera before any shoot. In 5 years of regular shooting I have never lost a single frame.
Click to expand...
 
Jim Simon said:
On a side note, 'upload' means to transfer from a local computer to a remote computer over a network, such as the Internet. All you did was 'copy' the files.
Click to expand...

Jim, really....?

Anyway, the dictionary defines upload as "to transfer (software, data, character sets, etc.) from a smaller to a larger computer."

Since we can consider a digital camera a small computer, the poster's use of the term is quite acceptable IMHO.
 
TheDingo said:
As a rule of thumb I always format my cards in camera before any shoot. In 5 years of regular shooting I have never lost a single frame.
Click to expand...

Dingo, I agree. I do the same: format the cards in the camera before every shoot. What's weird about this entire situation is that I actually didn't loose footage. It seems more of some sort of error that I've never seen before for a select group (majority) of clips that somehow resolved itself. I hope no one else (including me) experiences this again. Very weird and SCARY I have another wedding tomorrow, so I am a bit concerned :(. I shot a graduation with it today and it was okay.

-Downsouth...great suggestion. From now on, I will keep my other GH3 set on a tripod with a wide lens just to record the "imporant" reception components. I always run backup during the ceremony, but now I'll use it to catch the important reception events.
Curious if anyone else formats with their Mac in addition to in-camera as mentioned by Bruce?
 
The problem with "never" is that the GH series does not offer a low level format option, the format it does is the "quick" format. All this does is change the first one or two characters of the filenames in the file allocation table on the card. It kind of "zero's out" the file allocation table and allows it to re-allocate sectors for re-use. As sectors are re-used not all of each previous file is overwritten, you have "bits 'n pieces" of video and images left all over the card.

Over time this "clutter" slows down writes and as the clutter gets more "mixed up" it can begin to cause sector access problems. SanDisk media will let you get by with this for quite awhile apparently but even that brand begins to "choke". Lesser quality media tends to develop problems much sooner. Eventually there is often data loss.

One of the worst cases I read about was a guy who had a Canon 7D, bought a new SanDisk CF card and never initially formatted it. The factory format was good, the camera installed the folder structure it needed and this guy proceeded to shoot stills and video on shoot after shoot, deleting what he didn't want to keep off the card but keeping stuff to "show" on the back of the camera. Did this for a few months then one day video he had just shot began disappearing off his media card.

I believe the 7D did have a low level format option, he just never used it. As a matter of fact he never formatted the ONE card he had until his data loss prompted him to seek help.
 
Bruce Foreman said:
The problem with "never" is that the GH series does not offer a low level format option, the format it does is the "quick" format.
Click to expand...

Bruce,

When I said never, it wasn't an injunction not to do it, rather I've never done it. I understand that some people feel the need to zero out hard drives when formatting on a computer, while others do a quick format. I don't know for a fact, but I think modern storage technology is more forgiving than the older type (remember the days when drives had to be optimized every so often to keep data continuous - these days those kinds of practices aren't needed on the modern Mac).

What I do try and avoid is deleting files "in the middle" so to speak. I will generally know if I want to keep a shot and if not, I delete it right away. I usually keep everything else and unless there is a desperate need for space, I don't otherwise delete. This keeps the data in a sort of linear way without the file directory having to find random bits of space to save data which in a way mimics the old optimizing procedure I spoke of earlier. When a card is full, it is offloaded and immediately re-formatted in camera.

I might try at some point to do a low level format on the Mac and than re-format in the camera, but I'll want to use that card for non critical work. It's just that the two SanDisk cards I've used since I've owned the GH2 have never, and I repeat, never let me down.

Of course there is always the first time.....:shocked:

The other point worth repeating is that updates to software or firmware should be absolutely avoided during or just prior to doing important work. Wait until the work is finished and then spend some time with the new version to make sure everything is working correctly.

Always appreciate and enjoy your comments.

Thanks.
 
Not only do you need two camera operators for a wedding, you need to divide up your cards..one card for each camera at bridal prep..one card for each camera at the ceremony, one card for each camera at the reception. During any break in the events, switch out the cards! Never put an entire wedding on a card. Break up your cards, even if they are not full. If something goes wrong, maybe you will loose one card but still have three or more viable ones.
 
greytail said:
Not only do you need two camera operators for a wedding, you need to divide up your cards..one card for each camera at bridal prep..one card for each camera at the ceremony, one card for each camera at the reception. During any break in the events, switch out the cards! Never put an entire wedding on a card. Break up your cards, even if they are not full. If something goes wrong, maybe you will loose one card but still have three or more viable ones.
Click to expand...

Now that's smart advice. :thumbsup:
 
Bruce Foreman said:
The problem with "never" is that the GH series does not offer a low level format option, the format it does is the "quick" format. All this does is change the first one or two characters of the filenames in the file allocation table on the card. It kind of "zero's out" the file allocation table and allows it to re-allocate sectors for re-use. As sectors are re-used not all of each previous file is overwritten, you have "bits 'n pieces" of video and images left all over the card.

Over time this "clutter" slows down writes and as the clutter gets more "mixed up" it can begin to cause sector access problems. SanDisk media will let you get by with this for quite awhile apparently but even that brand begins to "choke". Lesser quality media tends to develop problems much sooner. Eventually there is often data loss.

One of the worst cases I read about was a guy who had a Canon 7D, bought a new SanDisk CF card and never initially formatted it. The factory format was good, the camera installed the folder structure it needed and this guy proceeded to shoot stills and video on shoot after shoot, deleting what he didn't want to keep off the card but keeping stuff to "show" on the back of the camera. Did this for a few months then one day video he had just shot began disappearing off his media card.

I believe the 7D did have a low level format option, he just never used it. As a matter of fact he never formatted the ONE card he had until his data loss prompted him to seek help.
Click to expand...

bruce, I appreciate this information. I have not heard of doing this so I would not have known better. And even though some have had luck not performing this occasional format, I don't see the harm!
 
greytail said:
Not only do you need two camera operators for a wedding, you need to divide up your cards..one card for each camera at bridal prep..one card for each camera at the ceremony, one card for each camera at the reception. During any break in the events, switch out the cards! Never put an entire wedding on a card. Break up your cards, even if they are not full. If something goes wrong, maybe you will loose one card but still have three or more viable ones.
Click to expand...

i agree with your card allocation advice. In fact, I have been doing this since e days of tape :)
in terms of shooting every wedding with 2 camera operators....sometimes that is simply not feasible. However, I certainly can add a second unmanned camera to the receptions from now on
 
Ianscreations said:
bruce, I appreciate this information. I have not heard of doing this so I would not have known better. And even though some have had luck not performing this occasional format, I don't see the harm!
Click to expand...

I didn't hear of it either, until I followed a link to some forum where it was discussed in depth. A few who had experienced data loss with GH2's described their experiences. It was a MAC forum so there were warnings about using specific utilities in "low level" formatting to prevent the camera not being able to recognize the card afterward.

With a PC you just put the card in the reader and uncheck the "quick format" box before you start the format. It's simple. I do this every third card use or so. If all you do is the "quick" format the camera does the old data is not erased, that's why recovery programs work, it is still there unless part of the file is overwritten then "part" of it is still there.

You may not have an inkling of the potential problem but eventually it will happen and when it does it's usually bad.
 
My cards become more and more unstable on ML if not re-formatted before a shoot. So I do the same as others. I also bring extra cards, because cards too can fail.
 
Bruce Foreman said:
I didn't hear of it either, until I followed a link to some forum where it was discussed in depth. A few who had experienced data loss with GH2's described their experiences. It was a MAC forum so there were warnings about using specific utilities in "low level" formatting to prevent the camera not being able to recognize the card afterward.

With a PC you just put the card in the reader and uncheck the "quick format" box before you start the format. It's simple. I do this every third card use or so. If all you do is the "quick" format the camera does the old data is not erased, that's why recovery programs work, it is still there unless part of the file is overwritten then "part" of it is still there.

You may not have an inkling of the potential problem but eventually it will happen and when it does it's usually bad.
Click to expand...


I'm picking up my GH3 on Tuesday so thanks for the heads up. Would not even have thought of it. I did a google and found:

"Use the Disk Utility in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder to erase it. Ensure it's not being securely erased. If there isn't an entry in the Disk Utility for it when it's connected to the computer, you have more serious issues."

I also found offers of shareware that would do the job.

Can any Mac user confirm which is the best way to go? It would seem to me that disk utility should do the job but if so, why the shareware?

My other card based camera, Canon XA 10, has the option of both an "initialization" and a "complete initialization". I assume the latter is low level but that is an assumption.
 
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