GH3 Sometimes random blocks / disturbance in video clips...

S

Stab

Well-known member
I was just watching back some footage I shot a while back and in some clips there is something strange going on. Sometimes, at random moments, all of a sudden the image turns into a mess for just 1/4th of a second. Small blocks appear in some areas of the screen and then disappear again. It looks like some kind of disturbance in the signal or something. Or like the codec can't handle it anymore :D

Now I always charge my batteries before every shoot and format the SD cards on my computer (full format). I have seen this before, but usually it happens every 300 clips or so.
On this particular shoot, I saw it now in 2 clips right after each other.

I use the GH3 with a Speed Booster and (Nikon) adapted lenses. Never have any other problems and footage looks great otherwise.

What could cause this? Anyone has any idea?
 
Greg_E said:
Try formatting the cards in the camera.
Click to expand...

Will do next time, thanks. I've always thought it's better to do a 'full format' on the computer. The format in the camera takes only 2 seconds, so cannot be a real format which might lead to card corruption after a while. Thought I read that somewhere.
Anyone knows more about this?
 
Stab said:
Will do next time, thanks. I've always thought it's better to do a 'full format' on the computer. The format in the camera takes only 2 seconds, so cannot be a real format which might lead to card corruption after a while. Thought I read that somewhere.
Anyone knows more about this?
Click to expand...

This is an opinion and take for what it's worth. For me, this is an old wives' tale that is a hangover from early days of hard drive technology. If you feel happier doing a computer format then at least reformat in the camera afterwards. This puts the correct file structure on the card which makes the camera a happy camper.

I guess at some point an SD card can get "worn out" but I've never reached that point yet. And then it matters not whether you do something in the computer or in camera.

But always do a final format in camera.
 
It is more than just file structure. Some cameras use a different block size than a computer will assign during a default format. If the card is formatted for 4k blocks, and the camera is trying to save 32k blocks, you can have a buffer slowdown while the camera is dividing the data into 4k chunks. If you know the size needed, then you can custom specify this value in the computer and it should be fine.

The block size for Windows auto configure is determined by the size of the card, with 4k being the norm up to 32gb cards. Many cameras that I've used want 32k blocks, this is why I've quoted the numbers given.

If you really want to exercise the card format, use the official SD card formatter from the official specification body https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/

And then I would still follow up with in camera format.

This could be your problem, or it could be a corrupt section of your card causing issues, or you camera could be having some other kind of problem. Try to sort out exactly when it happens, and then try to reproduce across several cards. Could be as simple as overheating after xx minutes of recording.
 
Thanks Greg and Stoneinapond.

Yea I guess it has to do with the cluster / block size of the cards. That sounds logical to me. It doesn't look like overheating or anything actually.
From now on I will just format the card again in camera to make sure it is formatted in the way the GH3 likes it.
 
Besides the formatting suggestions, I have some thoughts. Whenever you encounter a clip with the problem, test it in the camera if you still have the clip in the sdcard (I suggest you check the clip in the computer before formatting the sdcard). The problem could be in the transfer from the sdcard to the computer or even in the hard drive.
 
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