There's more to media than speed

djkarn105

djkarn105

Well-known member
So, I just had a terrible experience. Fortunately no data was lost but the potential for it to happen is totally there. I was pulling an SD Card out of my GF1 and it got stuck. I jiggled and wriggle it for several minutes and when it finally came out THE CORNER RIPPED OFF. Horrified, I thought, I better check the slot on the GF1 so I went to get the cheapo transcend card I use in my Zoom. I take it out of the zoom and to my horror, the little lock button on the side has been pushed inside the card. I am not about to put that in anything.

_MG_2112.jpg_MG_2113.jpg

Now these are relatively cheap cards but I can't say that they really differ too much in construction from the nicer sandisk cards that I've seen. Can anyone reccomend some more robustly constructed SD cards? Ones made out of metal perhaps?

I WANT P2 Back!
 
I had the same lethal experience with my first GH1, and I consider it a latent design flaw of Panasonic's SD card mechanisms. Inside the camera, the SD card write-protect tab detector uses a mechanical latch that clicks into the gap on the side of the SD card. The dangerous thing is that if the write-protect tab is missing from an inserted SD card, the latch will not disengage from the SD card slot and it will be permanently trapped inside the camera. Attempting to forcibly remove the SD card from the camera may damage not only the card, but the camera as well. In my case, I had to send the GH1 to the factory for warranty repair, and they replaced the entire motherboard.
 
I find my panasonic gold series cards to be pretty well built, still plastic though. I read somewhere the new panny cards will be made of metal... scary seeing that, but I am sure something like that would be covered under the 3 year warranty (I would have not tried to force the card out and just sent off the camera at the end of the shoot... and finished the shoot with just the other slot. You could have coppied the data from that card to a card in the other slot or to a computer).

On a side note, I have a feeling that getting it repaired under warranty would be alot easier if it was a panasonic brand card that breaks in there... it is only one companies product that failed in that equation if that was the case. I would assume if you had a cheaper card break in the camera, it would probably be a result of a failure of the cheap card, and could possibly be refused service under warranty (I assume.... I am honestly guessing here, but part of the reason I feel better paying $10-20 more for the panny cards)
 
Last edited:
Oliver Rush said:
I would assume if you had a cheaper card break in the camera, it would probably be a result of a failure of the cheap card, and could possibly be refused service under warranty...
Click to expand...
Panasonic repaired my GH1 at no charge under warranty, and returned the off-brand SD card as well. No questions asked.
 
A few years back, I had a Corsair 133x SD card disintegrate on me into several pieces exposing the PCB. Decent quality Samsung flash inside, but the outer blue plastic housing is total junk: too thin, brittle, and poorly glued together. This incident shook my faith in SD durability ever since, but I am fortunate to have handled many SD cards since without any issues. This includes Lexar, SanDisk, A-Data, and Transcend. I often catch myself handling SD cards with more care than other flash media.

I totally understand why a P2-type packaging makes sense, however, recognize that branded proprietory flash is almost guaranteed to command price premiums often 5-7x the price of the standards-based flash. Panasonic P2 E-Series 64GB card is $695 vs. Lexar Pro 133x 64GB $121. The budget/entry segment may be sensitive to this disparity. Same goes for the Panasonic-made SDHC/XC cards priced 2.5-3.7x, unfortunately. If anyone knows a place where one can buy a Panasonic 64GB SDXC for only $10-20 more, do tell.
 
+100 to the "I want P2 back" comment.

The Hoodman Raw Steel cards look very interesting indeed; only thing I can't figure out is if they employ any advanced error correction tactics. Both the SanDisk Extreme and the Panasonic Gold advertise that.

Panasonic's also introducing a line of "pro" SDHC cards; they had a little bit on them at the NAB booth but they're supposed to release more details soon.
 
From BH product description of Hoodman:
The card is steel-plated with a hard plastic exterior.
Click to expand...
Can anyone attempt to guess what this means?

EDIT: Never mind. Found promo videos at Hoodman website that, sort of, explain this. It is not made of steel, it has a thin metal plate somewhere on the plastic housing. A metal label? It still bends, but is supposed to be more durable and water-resistant due to flash packaging on a SoC and epoxy-filled interior.
 
Last edited:
lpowell said:
Panasonic repaired my GH1 at no charge under warranty, and returned the off-brand SD card as well. No questions asked.
Click to expand...

Thats awesome. I would imagine lesser companies using that as the first reason to blame you and not fix it (not saying it is your fault at all). I love what I keep hearing about panasonic support (though i still hope I never have to use them) ;-)
 
I've had a piece of a Lexar pro card break off after pulling it out of the Af100. Although it didn't appear to affect the functioning of the card in any way. But I ended up getting
Sandisk pro extreme cards when I needed more because they are built a little tougher.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top