Digital cameras 101

[willvt1]

I just purchased a Pentax K100D and a SDHC Ultra II memory card.  When I inserted the card I am getting a memory card error message.  I checked compatability and it looks correct, and ideas?

[bdery]

Hi,

the problem is quite simple, the K100D does not support SDHC according to the spec sheets found on the web. The K100D super which should be released soon will adress this, and a couple of other features improvements.

If the retailer you saw said SDHC is supported, I'd return the card and purchase a regular SD card. In any case, the only purpose of SDHC is to allow largeer memory card volumes (more capacity), the cards are not better. They are actually slower and more expensive.

Many people consider that it's good practice to keep many, smaller capacity cards, than one large capacity card. If you loose it, or if it becomes defective, you loose everything. With multiple smaller capacity cards, you have options.

[willvt1]

Thank you very much for your reply!  I went out this morning and got a regular SD card and it worked fine.  I also like your approach of smaller cards, makes a lot of sense!  Appreciate the help!

[BobH]

I found this thread as I was searching the web, looking for information as to what could be the possible cause and hopefully an easy solution for the problem I have which is Memory card read error on my Pentax K100D.
I have been using my camera with no problems at all using a 512 SD card 80x
I bought a 1G card 150X, put that in and got the card read error. Now, no matter which card of the other three I have that I put in, I get the same message. All of the SD cards read in my compact digital including the 1G 150x that I thought may have triggered the fault code error.
Any one with experience or knowledge of how to overcome this please share with me if there is anything I can do other than sending the camera in for examination.
Thank you in advance, Bob

[ShutterbugGail]

Hi Bob and welcome to the Q&A Forum!

Sorry to hear about the problem you're experiencing with your camera.  And it does sound like it's a camera problem since you say the cards are working fine in a compact camera.

To be honest, I don't know what the solution is. It wouldn't hurt to try resetting your camera. But I'd call the camera company, even the memory card manufacturer, to see if they have a solution other than sending in the camera.

You may also want to ask around at the Pentax DSLR forum. Other users have noted problems with their memory cards and the same model camera. Someone there may be able to help:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1036

If you find a solution, or what caused the problem, please let us know.

[bdery]

Hi,

Gail's advice is very good, I will add a hypothesis for a simple solution.

Have you tried looking into the card compartment? Something might be blocking one of the connectors, possibly a small piece of plastic that could have fallen off a memory card, for instance. I've heard of one occurence when this happened and prevented acess to the memory card.

Good luck!