My First Card Failure and Lost Clip Disaster!

Changing cards while the camera is on is normal and acceptable operation. Should NOT be a problem.

Following up on an earlier post: I generally put he write-protect switch "ON" whenever I stick the card in a computer, and set it to "OFF" right before re-formatting. This means I exercise the switch frequently, and have set it firmly on every card I own. I've never seen the problems discussed here, in heavy useof two cameras over six months.

To the people having problems: is it possible you've NEVER touched the write-protect switch on the cards that failed? Or do so only rarely? We have one person who's tied the reported behavior to the switch. Perhaps, coming from the factory, or going in and out of cases, etc, the switches can get into a flaky state.... I'd suggest to everyone that they make a positive switch to "OFF" (maybe cycle it a few times) before stickin' the card in the camera!
 
3. Almost always change cards on the run with power on.

The manual says it's okay but something I would avoid. It's akin to pulling the card out of a reader before ejecting it. The card is like an internal hard drive I wouldn't change one with the computer on.

Further more the cards can be damaged by strong magnetic fields, keep them as far away from cell phones as possible.
 
I don't use the write-protect because deleting files is volitional. I suppose if it were flipped it *could* cause probs.

I do see a common denominator in changing cards on the fly. The manual says not to, and there has to be a reason why.

@TrevorWard -- Do you change cards on the fly? If so, that would be three for three and help us identify the problem. I've had card check errors, but I've never lost anything. I've never changed cards on the fly. I use Transcend 16gb cards.
 
I can't say I change cards on the fly.

the camera is new. I've only used it to shoot some test footage and some b-roll for another project. I've used my cards at least once, to make sure they worked. I had shot about an hour of footage on this one card. I had turned the camera off a few times in the evening. I had not touched the card. then in the middle of a dance, I get my error.

I've contacted Panasonic and they are going to see if they can recover the card. The guy I spoke with seemed a bit worried that the camera still displays CHECK CARD when I put this card into the camera.
 
What does it update, is it worth getting?

June 29th, 2009 - Version 1.20

1. Support SDHC "Class 10" Memory Card.
* Following message is displayed on the LCD monitor or view finder and cannot be recorded to SDHC "CLASS 10" memory card in PH mode or HA mode with previous software.
Message : "CANNOT RECORD PH MODE AND HA MODE INTO THIS CARD."
2. Update software for Macintosh has been added.
 
This is a small (but sadly, very real) concern for me. This might happen once in a hundred weddings, but the fact that it can happen is something I will have to prepare for. I always shoot the ceremony with at least two cameras, so in the event of a disaster like bazza's I will pretty much be covered. Still, I am thinking about getting the Matrix MXO Mini, maybe hook it up to the 150 and record straight from the camera to the laptop for the ceremony.

Anybody else doing a workflow like this?

BTW, no problem with my 8 & 16gb Transcends so far (fingers crossed).
 
I am thinking about getting the Matrix MXO Mini, maybe hook it up to the 150 and record straight from the camera to the laptop for the ceremony.

Anybody else doing a workflow like this?

It has crossed my mind, i just like the flexibility to move when needed without being teather to my laptop... some other people are looking for a nanoFlash recorder, i say it looks interesting (at a price of almost a second HMC150) here's a link http://www.convergent-design.com/CD_Products_nanoFlash.htm
 
Yeah, I've been looking into a HDC-SD20 ($500) as a fourth cam. We could run it static at every wedding (unadvertised) and use it if it did well. If we had a camera failure, we would still have three working cams and not void our contract. Plus it would give a fourth perspective and benefit the other weddings.
 
I actually did have my static HV20 c/w wide angle attachment running so it's not the end of the world. Unfortunately the miserable vicar was very anti and I had to hide it on the floor at the front. So just when I really need it for a change I have a shot looking up their noses.

I can never trust it again though. In future I shall be using my new Sandisk Extreme III cards and a very carefully placed static camera for every ceremony.
 
Today I had a Kingston 8gb class 6 card fail to format. I took it out and tried again and it wouldn't format. I took it out again and moved the write protect switch on and off and was able to format. No problems after that.

The only other failure I had was twice an Adata card stopped rolling but the footage was ok.
 
my 8gb transcend **** the bed today. plugged into computer and not a thing shows up, and on some instances it crashes explorer. put it into cam, "check card". also, the card now gets extremely hot when i plug it into the computer. 15 minutes of extremely important footage gone...
 
...and over time, believe me, you don't want to be tethered to anything. Weddings are crazy enough.

I agree, it would only work for a static camera during the ceremony - or if you have a camera assistant who would follow you with the laptop everywhere. Now that would look impressive! Oh! And a sound guy with a boom! Oh! and a makeup artist for the bride! Oh! and a........

Glad you had a backup bazza!
 
Oh man, Joey! That sucks.

I found out today that there are data recovery services for SD cards. Possible cure.

This is four people with defective Transcend cards. This is no longer coincidence.
 
I have downloaded and tried several recovery programmes. Only CardRecovery identified the missing file but still can't repair it. I've tried several repair tools including Panasonic's one without success. Transcend haven't responded to my plea for help and Transcend sucks now as far as I'm concerned. I'm going to send the card to a specialist recovery company as the only hope.
 
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