Sent my A850 to Sony

[Mark K]

After six weeks of intimacy with this new toy. It is a great camera, with image quality far better than A700.
However shooting RAW+jpg needs a lot of card space, which for me my exiting 16Gb (Pretec 233x 16Gb plastic housng) plus an 8Gb MS back up is not enough for 1/2 day wedding shoot out.
However, the camera does not take Pretec 233x 32Gb with metal housing. This card works perfectly in my EOS system and all alpha mount cameras before a850.
I double check this card with other cards from my friends using the same card and I also checked this card on all available A850/A900 cameras, it does not work on them either.
Well both D700 and D300 do not take either Pretec 16Gb and 32 Gb CFs.
Local Pretec dealer simply ask me to update camera's firmware
Local Sony took my camera and cards for further study.
Anyone here has a clue?

[David Kilpatrick]

Yes, it happens. Some cards don't conform to the same protocols as some cameras and you will find mismatches. Kingston cards, an excellent brand for QC, are often incompatible with Minolta or Sony but I have a 266X 4GB which works well. Pretec I don't know much about. I use Transcend, SanDisk, Lexar mainly.

David

[01af]

I have six Pretec "Cheetah" 80× CF cards---four 2 GB and two 4 GB---, all metal housings, originally bought for use in the Dynax 7D. They all work just fine in the Sony A900; however they are too small for any serious work.

I can recommend the new SanDisk "Extreme" 60 MB/s series---the 32 GB size stores more than 700 frames in 24 MP Raw+JPEG format, and more than 3,000 in 24 MP JPEG-only format. I also have a SanDisk "Extreme IV" 45 MB/s CF card which is working just fine in the A900. When I bought it back in May 2009, the 16 GB size was just as much as the "Extreme" 60 MB/s in the 32 GB size is today ... oh well.

-- Olaf

[Mark K]

Sony replied me and simply cited that the card is not included in list they published so there is no hope.

David was right. After searching the web I finally came to understand that it is the card maker's fault rather than the camera makers'.

[agorabasta]

It's all completely the camera makers' 'fault'. They choose to include only a part of the CF interface specification in the cams in order just to save some costs.

But then again, they carefully inform you of the compatible brands.

[DonSchap]

I do not know if cost is important to you, but I have found that Calumet Photographiuc's ProSpec 16GB UDMA 305x speed card is a terrific fit for the a850.

My Transcend 32GB 133x and 16GB 133x wound up being a complete bust in the a850, but they work like a charm in the a700. Please do not ask me to explain it ... that is still quite confusing. Just wanted to share an option.

[David Kilpatrick]

I don't know why Trascend 133X should be a problem - they work in the A900. It is possible Transcend may use various sources. The Toshiba 133X module is really bad and can be found in all sorts of cards including Delkin, MyMemory (a UK brand) and others. But my Transcend 16GB cards are clearly not the Toshiba chip, they write much faster.

David

[agorabasta]

All Transcend 133x are made around 2-bit cell type flash. It may cause problems with simplified interfaces. It surely does with 32GB in a300, for example.
The Transcend 266x are almost twice as expensive, made with 'normal' single-bit cells, and should be fine in most cases.

[Mark K]

Got my a850 back, together PreTec 32Gb
Still have no clue why...why a850 (and all other a900) cannot handle this card. On my newly bought Transcend 8P card reader, 32Gb card is much faster than the 16Gb version...

[AlphaNut]

I do not know if cost is important to you, but I have found that Calumet Photographiuc's ProSpec 16GB UDMA 305x speed card is a terrific fit for the a850.

I bought a couple of the ProSpec 8GB and they're great in the my A850. I've never run out of buffer and they're cheaper than the major brands in the U.S..

[youpii]

I have a Transcend x133 16GB and Kingston x133 16G, no problems with my A900