Panasonic Lumix vs. SD cards...

Hi!

I'm stuck with a weird problem

Until recently we've used a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1-EG - nice camera, does
nice pictures, but one problem became obvious right from the beginning: For
whatever reason I could not download pictures from the card (Sandisk Ultra
II 512MB) with my card reader (Belkin). I kept getting the very same
winXPSP2 error message: "card not formatted". Different trials formatting
the SD card in the camera / under windoze / using FAT / using FAT32 did not
help.

Other cards, however (e.g. an identical Sandisk Ultra with picturs of my
small Casio RV52, 1-4GB Sandisk Extreme CF's from my Olympus EVOLT-500
etc.pp.) are processed by the same card reader without any problem!

For different reasons, we got a new camera now - a Panasonic Lumix
DMC-FZ8-EG. And to (probably) avoid the a.m. problems, I ordered an original
Panasonic SD card along with the camera (2GB, RP-SDV02GE1A, no HD/HC!).
And - what shall I say: Same §$&§$ again... "... not formatted".

The folks at Panasonic's support hotline "cannot comprehend the problem".

I'm just curious as to why this should happen with two different of their
cameras, using two different types & brands of SD cards. Maybe anything
wrong on the computer end / windows?

Any ideas or hints or similar experiences??
Thanks a lot in advance!!

cheers,
Markus

On Sun, 11 Nov 2007 01:12:39 +0100, "Markus Grein" <smartie RemoveThis @smartienet.de>
wrote:

>Hi!
>
>I'm stuck with a weird problem
>
>Until recently we've used a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1-EG - nice camera, does
>nice pictures, but one problem became obvious right from the beginning: For
>whatever reason I could not download pictures from the card (Sandisk Ultra
>II 512MB) with my card reader (Belkin). I kept getting the very same
>winXPSP2 error message: "card not formatted". Different trials formatting
>the SD card in the camera / under windoze / using FAT / using FAT32 did not
>help.
>
>Other cards, however (e.g. an identical Sandisk Ultra with picturs of my
>small Casio RV52, 1-4GB Sandisk Extreme CF's from my Olympus EVOLT-500
>etc.pp.) are processed by the same card reader without any problem!
>
>For different reasons, we got a new camera now - a Panasonic Lumix
>DMC-FZ8-EG. And to (probably) avoid the a.m. problems, I ordered an original
>Panasonic SD card along with the camera (2GB, RP-SDV02GE1A, no HD/HC!).
>And - what shall I say: Same §$&§$ again... "... not formatted".
>
>The folks at Panasonic's support hotline "cannot comprehend the problem".
>
>I'm just curious as to why this should happen with two different of their
>cameras, using two different types & brands of SD cards. Maybe anything
>wrong on the computer end / windows?
>
>Any ideas or hints or similar experiences??
>Thanks a lot in advance!!
>
>cheers,
>Markus
>
>

Not all card readers work with all cards. I bought a cheapie $16 no-name
21-in-One special from Wally World last year and it works just fine on all my
cards. Though I've not tried it on SDHC cards over 4GB yet.

Time and time again I am proven how little that name-brand and price means that
you that get what you pay for. In these days it mostly means that you're just
getting taken for a fool.