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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-06-2015, 05:25 AM
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It's an excellent idea, very useful to be able to quickly review photos on a big screen. While the FLU card does seem to have issues I will still use it for some situations.I would never use it as my main card though, the RAW files are always going to slot one.
I do think Pentax should be putting a lot more effort in to these issues. They should also be working with the manufacturer to add more functionality. I would love to see the composite and interval shooting enabled.
The other thing I would remark upon is how little you can find with a search of the net. I imagine there are a lot of FLU cards out in the wild as they were given away free for some time. There is very little out there, much less than I would anticipate if they were as bad as my experience. Maybe there's a problem with a few K3's causing the card issue or maybe there's just a few dodgy cards. I can't believe the rest of them are sat in a drawer somewhere never being used. Maybe that's why Pentax aren't recognising an issue, there's just too few returns?
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-05-2015, 01:46 PM
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After yesterday's success I set out today to break it again... and succeeded.
DO NOT FORMAT THE FLU CARD IN THE CAMERA!
I managed to break it again by doing that. After reformating on the PC with the SD Format tool its all good again.
If you want to get rid of your photos from the card delete them (there is an option to delete all in the camera menu), don't format as I've always done.
As for trusting the FLU card to take pictures at a wedding, I have no problem. It has never lost photos or become inaccessible. Its flakiness relates only to WiFi performance.
As it is only a measly 16GB and I shoot RAW I don't tend to use it except for when I'm shooting with WiFi,then I set to RAW+ and use it for JPG so i can view them on my laptop and make adjustments as needed.
Its never lost a photo even when its gone flaky on WiFi.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-05-2015, 01:20 AM
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I absolutely agree. Pentax needs to provide a lot more support and information for the FLU card and should not be bundling it to first time users. There seems to be a very fundamental and likely simple problem causing many of the issues with the card. It could be at least repairable by adding a low level format to the K3 menu. The only advice from Pentax it's to format in slot one, an obvious admission of the problems but not a solution. It had worked for me previously but not after the last firmware update.
I do also agree that using it in a pc card slot is a probable issue. I think it has caused me problems in the past and possibly this time with the firmware update.
The most annoying thing is that Pentax could tell us about the formatting tool, it would at least stop us having to search for it.
I think a lot of issues result from putting the card into an external reader to download photographs. I think you need to ensure it has run through it's series of beeps before opening it and also before removing it. I've noticed my K3 does not switch of until the beeps complete if the FLU card is installed. I don't think that was always the case.
I do not understand why formatting helps wireless performance. It doesn't effect the firmware directly. Anyone understand why it does have this impact?
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-04-2015, 06:55 AM
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My thanks go out to K-3-lover! My new hero :-)
I just did a full format with write using the format tool above.
Once completed I inserted my FLU Card into slot 2 and turned on the camera to see what happened. No format on the camera in either slot or reinstall of firmware, just fired up and to my surprise, heard the beeps start up right away. That hasn't happened in ages. If I got a beep sequence at all it was a long time starting and rarely completed correctly.
I went to the wireless settings on my Surface Pro and there was my FLU SSID... I didn't get excited, I've been here before! I hit connect expecting the same as before but what do I know, straight in. I still was aware that it had got this far previously only to play up when Chrome tried to connect. This time Chrome went right in looking OK!
I've tried to destruct test this, connecting and disconnecting from several devices, turning off Live View and making changes to menu settings (ALWAYS killed it in the past) but still worked perfectly as soon as I hit Live View again! I#ve deleted images and changed my storage format on the fly... still working. I've turned the camera on and off several times, still came right back up without a problem.
The SD Card Association Format Tool appears to wave a magic wand over the FLU Card.It now seems tobe working better than it ever has previously. I still expect the flakiness to appear again at some point, but when it does, its straight back in my Surface for a a full format with this tool.
Thanks again to K-3-lover for posting it.
---------- Post added 02-04-15 at 02:27 PM ----------
I understand where you are coming from rburgoss.
The FLU Card does not give a simple and reliable connection. It is difficult for anyone who isn't happy around technology to use it when there is a good chance it will need an intervention or two every now and then. I would love to see the issues resolved and improved support made available.
That said, I actually love it when it works!
I do some astrophotography and it is a great help for that. I can operate my camera with ease and can review the results immediately, all of which is difficult otherwise.I often demonstrate astronomy and astrophotography and that is so much simpler when you can show the images on a larger screen right there during the session. It would be so much better if there was further functionality to use it in interval and composite modes.
I have also found the range quite impressive for the size of the device. I can actually sit indoors while my camera is outside in the cold.
The FLU Card doesn't appear to impact upon the battery noticeably unless its actually connected and then it doesn't appear much different to using Live View on the camera, I've certainly not noticed anything major yet.
There are many things I do not like about its reliability but it is actually not bad when it comes to control. A bit of time and effort from Ricoh and the developer would not go amiss here but the basic premise is good. I'm not bothered about sending pics to social networks but would love to be able to trigger interval/composite modes over WiFi.
My friend with a Nikon was stunned by what it can do. He has built in WiFi but it offers no control at all, its just for transferring images. There's potential here for a really good brand benefit.
Come on Ricoh, put some work into FLU, it could be really good.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-04-2015, 05:55 AM
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I am currenly on my second FLU Card. The first one appeared to have been used previously as it had a few pictures on it obviously taken in someone's house to try it!
It worked for about five uses only before failing to connect to anything. It would beep away and turn grey but there was no WiFi signal, nothing could see it. After a very long wasted lunch hour in my local Pentax dealer's shop they agreed it didn't seem to work and replaced it. I left them attempting to restore the pictures to it as the were very interested in seeing who was playing with it before me!
While the new card worked i was still flaky and unreliable. It would drop the signal on a regular basis and often refuse to connect at all. I gave in using it until I saw the first firmware update. After installing the first update the card functioned much better than it ever had before.I did find that sometimes I would have to take it out and put it in once or twice before it would work but once it did it would be flawless for ages... unless I removed it for any reason, then I'd have to sometimes format it in slot one before it would work again but it always did work eventually.
Then I made a huge mistake. I updated the firmware to the current version. Since then it has become totally unstable. It will beep and flash the symbol. You can find the FLU Card SSID but then the issues start, sometimes it won't connect: as soon as I select the SSID the Flu Card appeaars to reset the connection and starts the initiation cycle again. Every now and then it will connect but as soon as you try to open Chrome it resets again. I've tried lots ofdifferent devices, cleared caches and reformated in slot 1 and on my PC all to no avail. I've redownloaded the firmware and reinstalled using different machines to eliminate an issue with the file/PC but no joy.
I'm trying now with the tool above. If that doesn't fix it I'm going to need to wipe the flash and install the last version, anyone experienced that or even have the original firmware?
I'm only glad I didn't pay for the FLU card as it was free with the camera. I'd be really disappointed if this pain had cost me money!
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Forum: Weekly Photo Challenges
08-31-2014, 02:31 PM
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Here's my attempt this week. A photograph I took last weekend a few hundred yards from home.
It is a Triangulation or "Trig" point. For anyone who doesn't know, they are used by cartographers for surveying when making accurate maps. Angles are measured between two other trig points (hence triangulation). With just a couple of accurately measured points to begin, you can map a whole country very quickly. They are now rendered redundant by the advent of GPS though I do still find them somehow romantic as an indication of the ingenuity of an age now passed.
The sky behind is criss-crossed by vapour trails creating triangles, seemingly emphasising its use... or at least I thought so when I took the shot!
Shot on my K3 with 18-135mm Pentax WR lens set at 48mm, f10, 1/500s ISO 100.
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Forum: Weekly Photo Challenges
08-31-2014, 02:07 PM
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My heartfelt thanks for the HM Arjay Bee. Thank you too Noelcmn. Very pleasing to read your comments on this, my first ever contribution to the forum, let alone the competition :-)
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Forum: Weekly Photo Challenges
08-25-2014, 11:43 AM
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Shot on my K3 with 18-135mmWR lens at 135mm, f8 and 180th/s with lighting from below and slightly behind (Pentax AF540 FGZ2). This gives the orchid a very surreal glow. I like the effect and have a number of examples. Prefer it with white orchids where the dark shadows contrast with the glowing white highlights. My first contribution, hope its on topic.
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