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08-15-2011, 08:09 PM   #1
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K200d corrupting images?

I've had this issue twice now in the past week or so when using the K200d. This most recent time (today) I had a fantastic bokeh panorama going of a cop car parked on the side of a street. When I went to review the images in the camera after it said something along the lines of "image cannot be displayed" for several of the pictures. No bokeh panorama, which kinda irritates me because it was a lot of work and I want to know what causes this. The first time it happened I was at the beach shooting some friends and lost about 30 images, each saying the same thing "image cannot be displayed."

It seems to only happen when I take several images in succession, JPEG and RAW dont matter it will still happen. Im not talking a ridiculous amount of images in high-burst mode (which is still only 3 fps) but just taking an image, recomposing and taking another, etc. It only takes about 3 of 4 images before it starts to happen. Than i have to wait for at least a couple minutes for the camera to restore to its old working self becoming essentially a brick until it resumes function.

Im going to try out another memory card tomorrow and see what happens

08-15-2011, 08:33 PM   #2
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The memory card would be my first guess. What brand is it and where did you purchase it?

I've heard stories of counterfeit memory cards being sold on eBay, though I can't say I know what to look for to indicate whether or not it's genuine.

As for brand, once upon a time I was getting a lot of customers at my lab reporting failures of Lexar compact flash and SD cards every other week (this includes the basic and professional lines). This was about five years ago and I can't say it's been a trend lately, but it's worth noting.

There's one other possibility that is an outside chance, but I'll mention it anyway. Another regular culprit for corrupted data on memory cards I've seen in person is trying to take photos when the camera is shutting down automatically because of a drained battery. I frequently see this with my point-and-shoot customers.

Essentially, the camera is shutting down due to lack of battery power and this means the data buffer doesn't have enough time to complete the writing process on the card. I've had customers repeatedly turn their cameras back on and try to get that "one last shot" before the camera shuts off again. Even with a drained battery one can usually get the camera to at least start up again before it powers down. Canon P&S cameras that have experienced this issue typically display the message requesting that the user format the card. Recovery software can sometimes get a few of the photos off the card, but there's inevitably a few (or a lot) of corrupted images. Formatting the card is the only way to clear up this problem and I've seen it happen in Nikons and Canons, among others.

While I do not think this is likely with your K200d, I thought I'd bring it up. Because the point-and-shoot cameras typically refuse to work with a corrupted card left unformatted, I would expect the same thing to happen with a DSLR. Then again, I've never actually seen this happen to a DSLR user! So, I don't really know what to expect.
08-15-2011, 08:38 PM   #3
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QuoteOriginally posted by LowVoltage Quote
The memory card would be my first guess. What brand is it and where did you purchase it?

I've heard stories of counterfeit memory cards being sold on eBay, though I can't say I know what to look for to indicate whether or not it's genuine.

As for brand, once upon a time I was getting a lot of customers at my lab reporting failures of Lexar compact flash and SD cards every other week (this includes the basic and professional lines). This was about five years ago and I can't say it's been a trend lately, but it's worth noting.

There's one other possibility that is an outside chance, but I'll mention it anyway. Another regular culprit for corrupted data on memory cards I've seen in person is trying to take photos when the camera is shutting down automatically because of a drained battery. I frequently see this with my point-and-shoot customers.

Essentially, the camera is shutting down due to lack of battery power and this means the data buffer doesn't have enough time to complete the writing process on the card. I've had customers repeatedly turn their cameras back on and try to get that "one last shot" before the camera shuts off again. Even with a drained battery one can usually get the camera to at least start up again before it powers down. Canon P&S cameras that have experienced this issue typically display the message requesting that the user format the card. Recovery software can sometimes get a few of the photos off the card, but there's inevitably a few (or a lot) of corrupted images. Formatting the card is the only way to clear up this problem and I've seen it happen in Nikons and Canons, among others.

While I do not think this is likely with your K200d, I thought I'd bring it up. Because the point-and-shoot cameras typically refuse to work with a corrupted card left unformatted, I would expect the same thing to happen with a DSLR. Then again, I've never actually seen this happen to a DSLR user! So, I don't really know what to expect.
The card works perfectly fine in the K-7, but the K200d is setup for manual focusing so thats why It's being used. Its a PNY class 10 8gb card. I've also got another PNY thats been great, performing better than my much more expensive sandisk.

Nope I put in fully charged AA batteries and the card was purchased at a brick and mortar store.
08-15-2011, 08:47 PM - 2 Likes   #4
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Are you still using firmware 1.0? Because a firmware upgrade was released to deal with memory card compatibility issues (which is what this sounds like to me).

I had identical symptoms under similar circumstances, and after repeated reformatting of the card didn't fix my problem, the firmware update did.

08-15-2011, 09:05 PM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by Impartial Quote
Are you still using firmware 1.0? Because a firmware upgrade was released to deal with memory card compatibility issues (which is what this sounds like to me).

I had identical symptoms under similar circumstances, and after repeated reformatting of the card didn't fix my problem, the firmware update did.
Son of a gun, that appeared to fix it entirely

I had absolutely no idea there was another firmware, so thank you very much! +1 to you sir
08-16-2011, 12:06 AM   #6
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Don't forget, the back of the K200D manual also has a useful section that explains what those error messages mean...viz...

"You are trying to play back an image in a format not supported by this camera. You may be able to play it back on another brand of camera or your computer."

Which most often happens when you use a card between different camera brands or models, because of differences in the way they structure the card filesystem (eg in my experience if you format your card in a Sony NEX and then drop it into a K-x).

The K-7, with a different firmware, may have had a different (better) ability to support larger capacity and newer SDHC cards, and may have modified the card filesystem accordingly. Then when the card went from the K-7 into the K200D, the K200D was still trying to talk to the card filesystem the old way. Or it just couldn't handle newer SDHC cards.
08-17-2011, 06:23 AM   #7
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Interesting - my daughter experienced this fault on her Kx with an 8GB Class 10 SD (Silicon Power) card and firmware 1.01 (I think), and it could be reproduced fairly easily shooting only JPEGs (just point and shoot without thinking - not quite high burst mode).

My K200D with latest firmware (1.01) behaved perfectly with the same card and shooting action - but shooting RAW (I always shoot RAW).

We switched her to RAW and her Kx behaved.

Is it related to the JPEG engine as well? Is there a more recent Kx firmware upgrade?

Cheers

08-17-2011, 07:25 AM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by MoiVous Quote
Interesting - my daughter experienced this fault on her Kx with an 8GB Class 10 SD (Silicon Power) card and firmware 1.01 (I think), and it could be reproduced fairly easily shooting only JPEGs (just point and shoot without thinking - not quite high burst mode).

My K200D with latest firmware (1.01) behaved perfectly with the same card and shooting action - but shooting RAW (I always shoot RAW).

We switched her to RAW and her Kx behaved.

Is it related to the JPEG engine as well? Is there a more recent Kx firmware upgrade?

Cheers
The latest for the K-x is 1.02. (KX is a film body )

QuoteQuote:
Version 1.02
  • Added support for SDXC memory cards.
    PLEASE NOTE: Transfer rate does not correspond to UHS speed class.
Digital Cameras and Accessories - Official PENTAX Imaging Web Site
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