Class 10 SDXC Memory Card

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Zee09

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I have three modern cameras and they all started taking some low quality pictures:)
All are dialed in correctly and used to take great pictures.
Is it possible I got a bad batch of memory cards- purchased the same time?
What is the life of these cards? thanks!
 
Probably not anything to do with the cards, unless they are too slow to accept bursts and the camera is somehow degrading the quality to 'keep up' with the writes. Doubt that though. Digital storage is entirely different than analog storage. I can copy an .mp3 (or flac or wav or raw), or .jpg hundreds of times and the hundredth copy will be identical to the original, whereas an analog recording would degrade significantly after the first dub and depend on the media quality.

Would be surprised if the card was the problem, but it's not impossible.
 
The only thing that I can think of that makes any sense to me is that the cameras can sense that the cards are too slow for the file size you are using and they automatically lower the resolution of the snaps to account for that (which is similar to what PeterPolyol was suggesting). I remember from my time designing parts for large servers that they would ask anything put into one of its slots exactly what it was and even ask for a unique ID #, I suppose that even consumer stuff like cameras could be smart enough to do something like that now (this was also part of the HDMI spec for audio/video now that I think about it more).

Do you have any cards that were working well before that you could try in your cameras now to see if the pics look better?
 
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Yes I do. I even lowered the resolution and played around with the options.
My newer cards are all one brand. I have one other brand and was thinking of picking up another one on Amazon.

It's to the point I was about ready to toss the cameras. I take great care of them and that is why I thought about the cards. Thanks, I'll dig up a card that worked great prior and see what happens. I'll update here in case it helps somebody else.
 
Do some online research about What class cards your cameras can support

Or check manuals if you have them

Transfer speeds might get messed up if the camera cant support the cards speed
 
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I hadn't bought an SD cards in a long time, but picked up my first SD card only camera I've owned in a while not too long ago(all of my others are either CF or CF+SD), a Nikon D600.

I initially made the mistake of putting Class 4 cards in it, and with two class 4 cards I ran into serious issues with filling the buffer when shooting a sustained ~1 frame per second. That's JPEG fine + RAW, with each file type going to a separate card.

I bought a pair of Class 10 Sandisk 64gb cards(Extreme Pro) and the camera gladly keeps up with my shooting speed.

With that said, I've never seen a camera reduce its quality setting to match the card speed.

All of that aside, though, I'm VERY particular about where I buy storage media. Counterfeit CF cards aren't really an issue anymore, but they are common on SD cards. Counterfeit cards often don't live up to their speed claim or don't have the data integrity of actual high end cards from reputable makers. I pretty much only buy from B&H photo, although I would trust Adorama equally.
 
What exactly is the issue with the pictures? Out of focus, low resolution, weird colors, over or under exposed, etc? Post some examples if you can.

Been around digital cameras since a 1MP Olympus and never heard of a camera that reduces quality for the speed of the card. Typically they will write slower, have a lower buffer, or become slow rather than sacrifice quality.

What you may want to do is check for a firmware update and reset it to factory settings and go from there. It's most likely that some setting got changed or corrupted.
 
Originally Posted By: Zee09
I have three modern cameras and they all started taking some low quality pictures:)
what exactly does low quality mean?
 
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