D70s advice please

[gareth h]

Guys, can anybody offer some advice please, although my camera has an empty memory card and is showing space for 500 odd images, as soon as I take one or two photos the display shows that the card is full and won't take anymore pics, bit frustrating as am on the hols at the moment.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Gareth

[jon-]

Obvious question, have you formatted it in the camera?

[gareth h]

Well it's been working for a couple of years, I don't remember doing anything but sliding it into the slot when I got it.

[jon-]

I don't know the D70, but there should be a "format card" option somewhere in your settings which will wipe the card and rebuild the allocation table.

[SGirl]

It is set to capture JPEG and not RAW, isn't it?

[chris.mapey]

Have you tried a different card?

It may be that the card is dying a death - CF card check the structure of the "cells" for data when writing, so it may be that on "first glance" the card had lots of space, but when writing an image the camera / card can only find a samll percentage of that to sucessfully write to...

or

Sounds like there is something else saved onto that card (not via the camera) - can you connect to a PC and explore the card to check?

My 2p worth

[Quaint]

jon- said:

I don't know the D70, but there should be a "format card" option somewhere in your settings which will wipe the card and rebuild the allocation table.

There is indeed - there's a "FORMAT" option in the tools menu. It will ask you to confirm and then re-format the card. It is important to note that anything on the card will be irretrievably lost if you do this.

If that doesn't work, and the card has been in use for some time the you may need a new one; I understand (though cannot verify!) that CF cards have a large, but limited lifespan in terms of the number of writes that can be performed.

[Simpo Two]

Quaint said:

There is indeed - there's a "FORMAT" option in the tools menu. It will ask you to confirm and then re-format the card. It is important to note that anything on the card will be irretrievably lost if you do this.

Actually no, but it does make them harder to find!

I suspect your card is full of not-really-deleted files. Formatting in camera should fix it (menu function). I do this after each wedding once the images are safely backed-up and processed.

[Furyous]

D70S format is a two button affair, not in the menu's,dont know if the non S is the same ?

The word Format is in red on the body.

[gareth h]

Thanks for the help, hopefully that will have sorted the problem.

[Quaint]

Simpo Two said:

Actually no, but it does make them harder to find!

Really? I never knew that - every day's a schoolday.

[gareth h]

Well the problem returned a couple of days later, didn't want to lose the pics on the card so didn't go through the format process again.
When I got home I put the card in a reader and was able to download the pictures which were stored in batches of 2 or 3 in different files there were also lots of empty files.
I formatted the card from my pc, but wondered whether this was normal or if there was a problem with the camera?
Thanks
G

[jon-]

Sounds like your card is on it's way out. Given they're around £20 now, replace ASAP to avoid photo loss.

[Simpo Two]

gareth h said:

When I got home I put the card in a reader and was able to download the pictures which were stored in batches of 2 or 3 in different files there were also lots of empty files.

Files or folders? The D200 automatically creates a new folder every 10,000 shots.

Edited by Simpo Two on Tuesday 11th August 12:57