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A900 Reasons not to purchase

edwardkaraa

New member
During film days, I used to have a custom made camera that shot on 2 films simultaneously. That way I used to give the lab the first set of films, and if he screwed the processing, I would give him the second set. But sometimes, the lab screwed both sets, so I had to make a camera that shoots to 3 films simultaneously.

I heard Canon is working on the 1Ds4 to shoot to 4 cards, just in case.
 

fotografz

Well-known member
During film days, I used to have a custom made camera that shot on 2 films simultaneously. That way I used to give the lab the first set of films, and if he screwed the processing, I would give him the second set. But sometimes, the lab screwed both sets, so I had to make a camera that shoots to 3 films simultaneously.

I heard Canon is working on the 1Ds4 to shoot to 4 cards, just in case.
Yeah, a very funny and clownish comment ... unless you actually lost a wedding at the film lab ... or worse yet, a dead CF card. Then it's not even slightly funny ... especially not funny to the Bride.
 

edwardkaraa

New member
Yeah, a very funny and clownish comment ... unless you actually lost a wedding at the film lab ... or worse yet, a dead CF card. Then it's not even slightly funny ... especially not funny to the Bride.
Your comments are starting to be more appropriate at DPR. :thumbdown:
 

Eoin

Member
.....unless you actually lost a wedding at the film lab ... or worse yet, a dead CF card. Then it's not even slightly funny ... especially not funny to the Bride.
Leaving aside film, have you ever lost images that were not recoverable?.
Just wondering if it's fear or practical experience, if so was it hardware failure or user error?.
 
L

Light

Guest
Hi Everyone

I asked the origingal question about the ability of the A900 to record to both cards simultaneously. I fully appreciate the quality of the A900 but I think it is NOT a camera I will invest in. Backup of any description for professional wedding photographers must be grabbed with both hands.
I would rather end this post now and not cause ill feeling amongst members regarding specific cameras and the lack of features.

Lets concentrate on producing even GREATER images.

Regards

Light
 

fotografz

Well-known member
Leaving aside film, have you ever lost images that were not recoverable?.
Just wondering if it's fear or practical experience, if so was it hardware failure or user error?.
Yes. I have lost images to a faulty card more than once. One was a total loss of a 2 gig of unknown reason, the other due to a corrupt file and the card was partially recoverable. One of my shooting associates lost an entire 8 gig card of images for reasons we could not figure out. Lexar couldn't recover it either, and had no answers as to why the failure happened. It was all the images of the actual ceremony and was not repeatable.

This isn't a wedding forum, but the question was specific to wedding work and is a serious topic often discussed on wedding forums. Losing some vacation photos is one thing, losing someones wedding images is another IMO.

Barely a week goes by that some person doesn't ask for help on some wedding forum. In fact a technically astute wedding shooter named Bob Bernardo on the p.net wedding forum has made a side business of trying to recover lost weddings from corrupt cards, or user error. e-mail him if you would like an ear full on card failures. BTW, he uses 2 dual card Canons for his wedding work, if that tells you anything.

It doesn't just protect you from actual card failure, but also in the image processing chain afterwards. When returning from a wedding I set aside the back-up cards and download the others. Failure of a reader or a hard drive or any other hardware clitch, not to mention some stupid user processing error is protected against because I always have the key shots on a second card until I get the files onto multiple drives and the images on a gold archival DVD and in the hands of the client.

Someone did an in-depth study of what can happen and why ... including photos of some shoddy workmanship of so-called Brand names. I'll try to locate that article and post a link.

Then there is the issue of cheap counterfit cards flooding the market.
 

fotografz

Well-known member
Your comments are starting to be more appropriate at DPR. :thumbdown:
What did you expect sir? In an effort to be publicly clever, you made inappropriately snide, sarcastic and disingenuous remarks obviously ridiculing what is clearly a serious issue for some of us ... including the original poster of this thread. :thumbdown::thumbdown::thumbdown:

I did offer a solution supporting the A900 as part of the wedding kit, which at least was a positive approach supporting the brand ... an excellent but not perfect image maker for the specific application that the OP directly referred to.

There is a reason the top pro spec DSLR cameras have dual card abilities ... and now some of the newer pro-sumer cameras are including that ability. The companies are doing this for no reason what-so-ever?

You may not see the need, but some of us do. At least respect that preference without ridiculing it.
 

edwardkaraa

New member
Wow, I didn't even imagine that my post will be considered as clownish, snide, sarcastic and disingenuous.

I apologize for my totally tasteless and offensive post.

Next time I will think twice before trying to be funny ;)
 

fotografz

Well-known member
Wow, I didn't even imagine that my post will be considered as clownish, snide, sarcastic and disingenuous.

I apologize for my totally tasteless and offensive post.

Next time I will think twice before trying to be funny ;)
And I apologize for snapping at you ... I'm in a particularly focused mood on this subject since my second shooter lost some 5D images to a faulty reader for a wedding we shot Sunday. We recovered most of them, but the reader is history.
 

Eoin

Member
Marc, you sure seem to have had your share or been involved in cases where cards/readers seem to have been the issue. Loosing the ceremony is a nightmare situation I would not like to experience.

Like I said in my earlier post, of this is your bread & butter work, your reputation is on the line and you need all the protection you can get with redundancy. Be it 2nd camera or dual write function, one can't afford to be complacent.

But I still wonder what gives, I shoot a lot of images every month, cards and readers are and always have been Sandisk, all genuine and never had any issues from series 1 through to current 40mb series 4. I always just simply format them in camera and never delete images during shooting or after import.

Light, good luck with your choice, what ever you decide on. Don't worry about us here, we all genuinely do get along 100% of the time :ROTFL:
 

douglasf13

New member
FWIW, A900 shooters may want to stay away from the 133x (and slow) Transcend 16GB card. I used it with no issue on the A700, but every once in a while it locks up on the A900. I've heard of a couple of others have the same issue.
 

Terry

New member
When in Iceland last week I lost a full MS card. Not clear if it was user error or camera error but bought the software to recover the 213 images and did get them back.

Using CF and filled it. Was in a rush so switched to MS. Ran out of space on the MS. Changed CF and reformatted the new card. When I got back my two CF cards were good but the MS didn't have images. I can't be sure that the camera didn't do the format on the MS but it was really pretty strange. Glad I was able to recover everything. Glad I'm not a wedding shooter but life would be better for you guys if both cards were mirroring the images.

Just an FYI a fast CF card is much faster than the fastest MS card. I never fill the buffer with CF and with MS I have to wait after 5 quick shots.
 

jonoslack

Active member
Well done Edward - Marc - sometimes intended humour doesn't work, nice to see it resolved so nicely.

I was shooting a wedding in Holland a few weeks ago - all the ceremony shots were on a digital M. right at the end I was chimping and it came up with 'card read error' -scrolling back all I could see were the file names.

I had time to nip back to the hotel before the reception and had a cold shower whilst the images downloaded . . . they were all fine, but I don't want to go through that again.

You can't protect yourself against everything, and of course, if you have a camera fault it could be writing garbage to both cards:eek:. There isn't a perfect solution, but covering one's backside is a special requirement at weddings!
 

Braeside

New member
FWIW, A900 shooters may want to stay away from the 133x (and slow) Transcend 16GB card. I used it with no issue on the A700, but every once in a while it locks up on the A900. I've heard of a couple of others have the same issue.
I'd second that - changed to Kingston 266X 8GB and no further problems.
 

dhsimmonds

New member
I echo Jono's remarks as Marc and Edward you both contribute greatly to the enjoyment of this forum and long may that continue.:thumbs:

I am just pleased that I am not a wedding photographer........or even have to earn a living any more!:D

I have shot weddings, one last year in Cyprus and the another a couple of years ago in Gibraltar....both were relatives and I was asked to do it as a favour..........talk about stress!

In fact it was the Cyprus one that prompted me to research alternatives to my Leica R9/DMR.........I definitely needed AF by then as I couldn't MF quickly enough! My 5 Mpx D2 AF back up was quickly brought into action a few times I can tell you. So the A900 came quickly into my "stable" and I am so pleased that it did!

I take my hat off to you wedding photographers, it's a tough call.
 

douglasf13

New member
When in Iceland last week I lost a full MS card. Not clear if it was user error or camera error but bought the software to recover the 213 images and did get them back.

Using CF and filled it. Was in a rush so switched to MS. Ran out of space on the MS. Changed CF and reformatted the new card. When I got back my two CF cards were good but the MS didn't have images. I can't be sure that the camera didn't do the format on the MS but it was really pretty strange. Glad I was able to recover everything. Glad I'm not a wedding shooter but life would be better for you guys if both cards were mirroring the images.

Just an FYI a fast CF card is much faster than the fastest MS card. I never fill the buffer with CF and with MS I have to wait after 5 quick shots.
Yeah, not all MS cards are created equal in terms of speed:

http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7869
 

jonoslack

Active member
I take my hat off to you wedding photographers, it's a tough call.
Hi there
as you know, I'm not a 'real' photographer at all :ROTFL:
I've done 5 weddings in the last year, and I used to find them REALLY REALLY stressful . . . but after a while the exhibitionism needed plus the adrenalin takes over from the stress, and it starts to be a really fun experience.

I'm sure that Marc would agree - there aren't many things you can do which make you part of a really important part of someone's life (midwife perhaps). It's a privilege, and if it comes out good then it's really satisfying.

Here is a master at work (not me, but the pro at a wedding I went to recently)







all with 75 'cron
 

fotografz

Well-known member
"But I still wonder what gives, I shoot a lot of images every month, cards and readers are and always have been Sandisk, all genuine and never had any issues from series 1 through to current 40mb series 4. I always just simply format them in camera and never delete images during shooting or after import.


Depends on what you call "a lot" and under what kind of pressure. Eventualy the math can catch up with you. 10 years and tens of thousands of images where not one failure can happen can be pretty long odds against you that nothing will happen along the imaging path.

Basically, you never have any issues ... until you do.

Card failure is probably pretty rare if you buy top brands from a reputable retailer and treat them right. User error is most likely more common especially under pressure. Hardware failure can and does happen.

Some people swap smaller cards frequently to avoid having all the wedding images lost ... but swapping cards under pressure is one of the potential places for error. Having a dual card camera with two 16 gig Extreme IVs basically eliminates the eggs in one basket, and any need to change cards.

Then there is the cost of insurance if all else fails ;)
 
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