D800 write to card delay

[E_viking 30]

Sound good!

[alexflahive 0]

Anyone make any progress?

 

Also suffering this problem, sent off CF card for replacement but error started again within a day. Problem would go away for a bit and then return, could be first image taken or after a number.

 

Treat my CF cards very well, and never experienced this before.

 

Have sent D800 back under warrenty with card - but sceptically I don't expect a fault to be found with the camera.

[E_viking 30]

Did you try to use it with only 1 card?

I suspect that it is a classic interrupt issue, hence intermittent.

It could be that faster cards would help as well.

 

/Erik

[Rocha 0]

Everyone still having this issue? I got a D800 a few days ago and it didn't happen to me yet, I have been shooting with a single SD card (CF slot empty).

[E_viking 30]

I have not seen it so far.

CF: main & SD:2nd

 

I mostly just have the setting to use the 2nd if main is full.

Well, I do not think that I have used the 2nd so far.

 

/Erik

[Rocha 0]

Well, the problem happened once to me today. Camera hang for 15s after a shot using SD card only. I have a CF card coming, will replace and try with that next week.

[E_viking 30]

@ Rocha:

Good luck in reducing this issue! 15s that is one annoying timeout!

 

/Erik

[adamhanlon 0]

Hi all,

 

I thought the latest firmware had cured it, until yesterday!

 

It is still hanging. I am on contact with Nikon, and they are aware that people are experiencing issues, but as it is intermittent, struggling to pin the cause down. I'll keep everyone posted as I get more information from them.

 

Adam

[Rocha 0]

Thanks Adam, I had it only once so far, on the SD card.

[Sean Davey 0]

I have noticed a particularly long write speed on the D800 with time lapse photography. Is this normal for a camera to take 30 seconds to write after a 30 second exposure?... It pretty much seems to take a second to write each second of exposure. In normal light, it seems just fine... I bought the D800 very recently because I wanted an upgrade in mega pixels but I realized that I needed an exceptional lens to match this camera. The Zeiss 21mm has proved to be that lens. Very impressive indeed...

 

Sean

 

 

[Tom_Kline 141]

Sean,

It sounds like you have long-exposure noise reduction activated on your camera. Shoot long exposures manually - you should see a similar relationship. You can deactivate this feature via menus, but you will get long-exposure noise.

Tom

Is this normal for a camera to take 30 seconds to write after a 30 second exposure?... It pretty much seems to take a second to write each second of exposure.

Sean

 

 

[Alex_Mustard 0]

I have noticed a particularly long write speed on the D800 with time lapse photography. Is this normal for a camera to take 30 seconds to write after a 30 second exposure?... It pretty much seems to take a second to write each second of exposure. In normal light, it seems just fine... I bought the D800 very recently because I wanted an upgrade in mega pixels but I realized that I needed an exceptional lens to match this camera. The Zeiss 21mm has proved to be that lens. Very impressive indeed...

 

Sean

 

 

 

Your long exposure noise reduction is on.

[eikojnz 0]

I have had the same issue with my D800 since I got it in April 2013. I used the pop up with optical until it fried the little flash. ( don't think it was designed for 20k repeated fires.) now use elec sync which I much prefer and still have the prob. Only occasionally but always at an inapproproiate time.

Eiko

[diverdoug1 56]

I have had the same issue with my D800 since I got it in April 2013. I used the pop up with optical until it fried the little flash. ( don't think it was designed for 20k repeated fires.) now use elec sync which I much prefer and still have the prob. Only occasionally but always at an inapproproiate time.

Eiko

When you were having more of an issue with optical sync, it sounds like you may have just been exceeding the flash capacitor's capacity. it can take a few seconds to recover after multiple onboard flashes.

[Mark K 5]

simple problem easily solvable.. check your card's reading and writing speed in a computer..and shoot raw only. D800's file size is huge so a fast writing UDMA7 card is needed.

[Mark K 5]

Everyone still having this issue? I got a D800 a few days ago and it didn't happen to me yet, I have been shooting with a single SD card (CF slot empty).

The writing speed of a card is crucial to D800 that my single file can be as large as 60Mb. So I got around by using CF only trying to buy one with fastest writing speed. As a budget user I found the Transcend 400x UDMA 7 64Gb version....with measured writing speed approaching 70MB/s. As for SD card, you need to buy those listed as writing >90 but I cam quite sure there should be a delay.

[DocTock 6]

Any updates on this issue?

 

I just got back from my first trip with a D800 and experienced the "hourglass" on a very intermittent basis. Sometimes 2-3 times per dive, sometimes not at all.

The camera is a late 2013 build with all updated firmware.

Cards were Sandisk Extreme SDHC-1, 32GB purchased from B&H photo. One is listed as 80MB/s, the other 45MB/S.

It did not seem to matter which card was used - both demonstrated this issue.

[diverdoug1 56]

I use Lexar CF professional 1000x UDMA 64GB cards, and have never had a write speed issue. These cards have a write speed of 95MB/s. A disclaimer that it don't usually do long bursts of shots.

[adamhanlon 0]

Just to circle back on this.

 

The issue is not related to card write speeds, nor a buffering issue with bursts of shots. It seems to happen most frequently when the camera has not been used for a minute or two, and happens after taking a single shot. With my (and many other) D800s, it is unaffected by using faster (or slower) cards.

 

Nikon have still not come up with an answer, although I m still pressing them. Nikon engineers seem quite oblivious to issues with their cameras!

 

I have found that I don't have the problems if I do not have an SD card inserted.

 

Adam

[diverdoug1 56]

Adam, as I said, I have not had this problem ever with my D800, but interestingly enough, I only use CF cards and do not have an SD card installed.

[adamhanlon 0]

I think Nikon have addressed the issue with the firmware update issued today.

 

http://nikonrumors.com/2014/05/13/major-firmware-update-for-the-nikon-d800d800e-released.aspx/

 

I can't update mine to test it at the moment but they mention an issue about the card writing light staying illuminated.

[ChrigelKarrer 52]

Thanks for posting Adam!
Wewhere waiting a looong time for this update ...

 

Chris

[dava 0]

Has the new firmware update solved the problem

 

Dava

[nortoda1 13]

Has the new firmware update solved the problem

 

Dava

 

Not for me. I updated the firmware last month and went on 2 trips with the issue occuring numberout times. I only ever had 1 card in at any time, used a Sandisk CF extreme 32gb on trip 1 and SD extreme pro 64gb on trip 2. I was recording RAW + basic JPEG to the card. I am wondering is it the writing or RAW and JPEG simultaniously? Alternately, I saw on the web an issue in 2012 with D800s locking up when histograms and RGB info was being displayed. I did have the LCD displaying this info. Anyone else still having the issue?

[spencerjb22 4]

I updated the firmware and have had no issues since