SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

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Firat Konuslu

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SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostTue Feb 05, 2019 9:43 pm

Hi everyone. While almost everybody moved already to the new fella, the pocket 4K, I still use the old one BMPCC and experiencing some problems.

Actually since 2 years there have been no problems in that regard, but having formatted the sd card once in camera (I tried both of the two formats exfat and hfs+) the sd card started to work only in pocket camera, nowhere else. Neither in Windows 7, nor in a Mac. The Camera records, plays back, but no other device detects the card. No other camera either. I tried with a Nikon and Canon, also in a zoom h4n. I would suspect from a corrupted card but if it would be so, the pocket would also reject the card, but it isn´t. It is a sandisk extreme pro 128gb card.

I formatted the card many times, the result did not change.
What do you suggest?
If I would somehow able to reach the card in another device I would format it there, but this is not the case.
I am not sure what to do, demanding your helps.

Thanks in advance.
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Firat Konuslu

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostFri Feb 08, 2019 9:23 pm

No suggestions? Isn't it wierd at least?
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Firat Konuslu

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostFri Feb 08, 2019 9:47 pm

For additional information, the camera does not recognize other SD cards that are formatted with fat32.
So I have bunch of sd cards working only with the bmpcc, on the other hand, sd cards not working with the bmpcc.

Very well. My experience with the bmpcc is terrible so far.
I was somehow excited from the new pocket 4k, but my experience makes me questioning any other potential forthcoming engagement with blackmagic.
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Chris Shivers

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostFri Feb 08, 2019 10:38 pm

Check to see if the card is recognize by the disk management
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Ryan Humphrey

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostFri Feb 08, 2019 10:56 pm

It's an outside and unlikely chance, but have you checked if there is any damage to the pins/contacts? If something has damaged the contacts in the camera it may be damaging the cards that you put in. I had that happen once with a USB plug that was damaging the contacts of drives that got plugged in.
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Firat Konuslu

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostSun Feb 10, 2019 10:25 pm

Chris Shivers wrote:Check to see if the card is recognize by the disk management


No it is not. But as said. Pocket records plays back but winows or a mac does not recognize the cards. Somehow the formatting of pocket made the cards only functioning in the camera.
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Firat Konuslu

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostSun Feb 10, 2019 10:31 pm

Ryan Humphrey wrote:It's an outside and unlikely chance, but have you checked if there is any damage to the pins/contacts? If something has damaged the contacts in the camera it may be damaging the cards that you put in. I had that happen once with a USB plug that was damaging the contacts of drives that got plugged in.


But if somehow the cards would be broken as you guessed wouldn’t they be not working in the camera also? The only thing that makes me think about this problem is this simple fact. I would have already thrown those cards into the trash can if they wouldnt work in the camera, but they do. Isn’t this a clue for an undamaged card? This has been a kind of mystery to me, and I want to solve it. I have been somehow obsessed with this problem and want at least a meaningful explanation.
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Firat Konuslu

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostMon Feb 11, 2019 9:42 am

Australian Image wrote:
Firat Konuslu wrote:So I have bunch of sd cards working only with the bmpcc, on the other hand, sd cards not working with the bmpcc.


Now there's a clue.

I was somehow excited from the new pocket 4k, but my experience makes me questioning any other potential forthcoming engagement with blackmagic.


Blackmagic is already taken, you'll need to find another consort.



Sorry, I am not a native speaker, some of my expressions might be awkward for you. But I think I still deserve more than sarcastic answers.
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Firat Konuslu

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostMon Feb 11, 2019 1:47 pm

Australian Image wrote:While your English expression may not be perfect, your thoughts are quite clear.

You indicate that some SD cards work in the camera and others don't. So why would that lead you to immediately believe that the camera is at fault? You also note that the cards work in the camera but not in a PC/Mac, again suggesting that it's the camera at fault.

If some memory cards work in a device and others do not, it's a clear indication that the cards are the problem. If some memory cards work in a device and not in a PC/Mac, then it's an indication that the PC/Mac has a problem with the cards.

In both cases you appear to have a problem with the memory cards, not the camera. But rather than accepting that fact, you suggest that Blackmagic is the problem and you're not going to touch their products again.


OK, you may be right about the cards, I am not saying anything against it.

But the problem started after I formatted the cards in camera. Isn't this at least a problem that relates it with the camera a bit? How can I trust any other card to format in the camera menu? I want therefore to know what the problem might be, before I test any other SD card.

Should I never format a card for example?
I tried another card that is formatted in Windows as exFat, but the camera does not recognize it this time. Now, I am afraid to format this card from the camera menu (to make it work in camera), which will probably make the card unreachable from windows and/or MacOs.
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Robert Niessner

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostMon Feb 11, 2019 2:47 pm

This tool should be able to re-format the SD card on your computer:
https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/

This is the official tool of the SD Association.

After that you should reformat the SD card in the camera to exFAT.

Can you tell us which type of card reader you are using?
Saying "Thx for help!" is not a crime.
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Firat Konuslu

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostMon Feb 11, 2019 2:53 pm

Robert Niessner wrote:This tool should be able to re-format the SD card on your computer:
https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/

This is the official tool of the SD Association.



Thank you

But the problem is the computer does not detect the card at all. I would already do a reformatting in my computer and at least rescue the cards, if the computer would detect the cards.

This is the weirdest part actually. I, at the beginning thought that the cards were totally damaged, as I can't reach them in disk managment (disk utility in Mac) but having seen the card working in the camera, I started to think that something should be wrong here. But what?
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Sandeep Gill

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostMon Feb 11, 2019 3:42 pm

Three things:

1/ Have you tried using a different computer other than the Mac? I'd try at least two other computers with one of them being a PC.

2/ I'd also try with different card readers. That would at least give you peace of mind that it isn't just your Mac at fault.

3/ If it is recognised by one of the other computers, re-format there. Then format in the camera and go back to that computer. If it's not recognised than it probably is the camera at fault. If it is recognised, it's likely to be the card.
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Robert Niessner

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostMon Feb 11, 2019 3:43 pm

Firat Konuslu wrote:Thank you

But the problem is the computer does not detect the card at all. I would already do a reformatting in my computer and at least rescue the cards, if the computer would detect the cards.


I know that your computer does not recognize the cards anymore. Hence the reason I have recommended that tool to give it a try because it is able to recognize SD cards which are not seen for several reasons by your system.
Saying "Thx for help!" is not a crime.
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Robert Niessner
LAUFBILDkommission
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Blackmagic Camera Blog (German):
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Read the blog in English via Google Translate:
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Robert Niessner

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostMon Feb 11, 2019 3:46 pm

Sandeep Gill wrote:Three things:

1/ Have you tried using a different computer other than the Mac? I'd try at least two other computers with one of them being a PC.

2/ I'd also try with different card readers. That would at least give you peace of mind that it isn't just your Mac at fault.


In his original post he has stated that he has tried to read the card on a mac and a Win 7 PC.
Saying "Thx for help!" is not a crime.
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Robert Niessner
LAUFBILDkommission
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Blackmagic Camera Blog (German):
http://laufbildkommission.wordpress.com

Read the blog in English via Google Translate:
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Ryan Humphrey

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostMon Feb 11, 2019 3:58 pm

Firat Konuslu wrote:
Ryan Humphrey wrote:It's an outside and unlikely chance, but have you checked if there is any damage to the pins/contacts? If something has damaged the contacts in the camera it may be damaging the cards that you put in. I had that happen once with a USB plug that was damaging the contacts of drives that got plugged in.


But if somehow the cards would be broken as you guessed wouldn’t they be not working in the camera also?


If one of the camera contacts is bending things out of their proper shape they would not read on something else because the contact is no longer where it should be. But it still might read on the camera because they are out of alignment in the same way. Like I said it's unlikely, but something I have seen before.
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Firat Konuslu

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostTue Feb 12, 2019 7:53 am

Robert Niessner wrote:
Firat Konuslu wrote:Thank you

But the problem is the computer does not detect the card at all. I would already do a reformatting in my computer and at least rescue the cards, if the computer would detect the cards.


I know that your computer does not recognize the cards anymore. Hence the reason I have recommended that tool to give it a try because it is able to recognize SD cards which are not seen for several reasons by your system.


Tried it didn't work. Sorry.

It would be great only if we had the chance to use the pocket's usb connection to file transfering not only for firmware update.
Last edited by Firat Konuslu on Tue Feb 12, 2019 7:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Firat Konuslu

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostTue Feb 12, 2019 7:54 am

Sandeep Gill wrote:Three things:

1/ Have you tried using a different computer other than the Mac? I'd try at least two other computers with one of them being a PC.

2/ I'd also try with different card readers. That would at least give you peace of mind that it isn't just your Mac at fault.

3/ If it is recognised by one of the other computers, re-format there. Then format in the camera and go back to that computer. If it's not recognised than it probably is the camera at fault. If it is recognised, it's likely to be the card.


Will try. Thank you for your response.
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Firat Konuslu

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostTue Feb 12, 2019 7:56 am

Ryan Humphrey wrote:
Firat Konuslu wrote:
Ryan Humphrey wrote:It's an outside and unlikely chance, but have you checked if there is any damage to the pins/contacts? If something has damaged the contacts in the camera it may be damaging the cards that you put in. I had that happen once with a USB plug that was damaging the contacts of drives that got plugged in.


But if somehow the cards would be broken as you guessed wouldn’t they be not working in the camera also?


If one of the camera contacts is bending things out of their proper shape they would not read on something else because the contact is no longer where it should be. But it still might read on the camera because they are out of alignment in the same way. Like I said it's unlikely, but something I have seen before.


This seems to be the only meaningful explanation so far, although there is a low possibility.
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Firat Konuslu

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostWed Feb 27, 2019 10:35 am

I am back with new clues and information.

I bought a new sandisk extreme pro 128gb card. It is exFat formatted. The camera does not recognize it. All other devices do. But the camera is able to recognize any other card that is formatted once in the camera. (See the edit below, there is additional information.)

The only meaningful explanation for this is that this is actually a software failure. It seems not an hardware failure because the camera is able to read the cards when you format them in camera.

What are your opinions? I contacted BM support center, after long days they answered that the cards might be broken. But it seems they are not. It seems that, I don't know why but, the camera's formatting spoils the cards.


edit: To try I reformmated another sd card in Windows to exFat (default allocation size). The card is readable by the camera also. But the same format settings do not make my new card readable by the camera. It is really complicated.


So as I am sure that the Camera's hardware is not broken, the problem might be summarized as follows:

Why my pocket does recognize some of the cards and the others not? What do I need to do to make my newly bought "sandisk extreme pro 128gb SDXC UHS-I 170 mb/s card" work with my camera?


As the problem seems to be the camera software somehow, is there a way like factory reseting the camera. :)
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Robert Niessner

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostWed Feb 27, 2019 11:21 am

Your conclusion that it must be somehow the camera software does not make any sense. If that would be the case, then this would be a widespread phenomenon, which it isn't afaik.

I'd say the only explanation for that kind of behavior must be a problem with the hardware.

You said that the problem is a SanDisk Extreme Pro 128GB. First thing is there is a known problem with newer SD cards from SanDisk not being recognized in the old Pocket. The old cards from 2014 do work, newer cards from 2017 and later do not work with the PCC.

My next question is - are you sure you got a genuine SanDisk card? Because there are a lot of counterfeit cards on eBay and Amazon Marketplace. Where did you buy your cards?
Saying "Thx for help!" is not a crime.
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Robert Niessner
LAUFBILDkommission
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Blackmagic Camera Blog (German):
http://laufbildkommission.wordpress.com

Read the blog in English via Google Translate:
http://tinyurl.com/pjf6a3m
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Firat Konuslu

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostWed Feb 27, 2019 2:13 pm

Robert Niessner wrote:Your conclusion that it must be somehow the camera software does not make any sense. If that would be the case, then this would be a widespread phenomenon, which it isn't afaik.

I'd say the only explanation for that kind of behavior must be a problem with the hardware.

You said that the problem is a SanDisk Extreme Pro 128GB. First thing is there is a known problem with newer SD cards from SanDisk not being recognized in the old Pocket. The old cards from 2014 do work, newer cards from 2017 and later do not work with the PCC.

My next question is - are you sure you got a genuine SanDisk card? Because there are a lot of counterfeit cards on eBay and Amazon Marketplace. Where did you buy your cards?



Bought from Amazon.de, the seller was Sandisk, it was delivered by Amazon.

The answer the support team provided, is somehow similar with yours, the new cards of sandisk do not work with the pocket, but the engineers are working for it, they do not guarantee that they will be able to solve it and so on...

But the problem with the old cards continue. So, I have a camera and bunch of SD cards started after in camera-formatting to work only in Pocket nowhere else, and SD cards working everywhere besides Pocket.

Very well done Blackmagic.
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Robert Niessner

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostWed Feb 27, 2019 4:21 pm

Firat Konuslu wrote:Bought from Amazon.de, the seller was Sandisk, it was delivered by Amazon.

The answer the support team provided, is somehow similar with yours, the new cards of sandisk do not work with the pocket, but the engineers are working for it, they do not guarantee that they will be able to solve it and so on...

But the problem with the old cards continue. So, I have a camera and bunch of SD cards started after in camera-formatting to work only in Pocket nowhere else, and SD cards working everywhere besides Pocket.

Very well done Blackmagic.


I am not sure why you are blaming Blackmagic. SanDisk was the company who changed their own hardware specs. And your problem with the cards not being recognized either in camera or card reader is so specific to your case that I don't understand why you are thinking it has something to do with the camera software.

As I said - the probability is high that you are facing a strange hardware problem. But to find out what is going on you need a systematic approach. The first step would be to test the cards with a second BMPCC which is known to work.

And it is hard to help you without being physically there to see what is going on.
Saying "Thx for help!" is not a crime.
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Robert Niessner
LAUFBILDkommission
Graz / Austria
--------------------------------
Blackmagic Camera Blog (German):
http://laufbildkommission.wordpress.com

Read the blog in English via Google Translate:
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Firat Konuslu

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostWed Feb 27, 2019 8:52 pm

Robert Niessner wrote:
Firat Konuslu wrote:Bought from Amazon.de, the seller was Sandisk, it was delivered by Amazon.

The answer the support team provided, is somehow similar with yours, the new cards of sandisk do not work with the pocket, but the engineers are working for it, they do not guarantee that they will be able to solve it and so on...

But the problem with the old cards continue. So, I have a camera and bunch of SD cards started after in camera-formatting to work only in Pocket nowhere else, and SD cards working everywhere besides Pocket.

Very well done Blackmagic.


I am not sure why you are blaming Blackmagic. SanDisk was the company who changed their own hardware specs. And your problem with the cards not being recognized either in camera or card reader is so specific to your case that I don't understand why you are thinking it has something to do with the camera software.

As I said - the probability is high that you are facing a strange hardware problem. But to find out what is going on you need a systematic approach. The first step would be to test the cards with a second BMPCC which is known to work.

And it is hard to help you without being physically there to see what is going on.


You might be right, let’s see what happens. do you know a technical service in Germany to make the camera checked?
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Firat Konuslu

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostFri Mar 08, 2019 10:10 am

Ok finally the is problem solved. I tried the card with a new card reader, in another PC and were able to format the card, as a result I can reach the card both in pocket and my PC. But I think I will never format a card in Pocket again.
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Swissified

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostFri Mar 08, 2019 10:45 am

Robert Niessner wrote:This tool should be able to re-format the SD card on your computer:
https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/


Thanks for that link Robert.
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Swissified

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostFri Mar 08, 2019 10:52 am

Firat Konuslu wrote:Ok finally the is problem solved. I tried the card with a new card reader, in another PC and were able to format the card, as a result I can reach the card both in pocket and my PC. But I think I will never format a card in Pocket again.


I would always format it in camera. It seems this is not a BMD issue but one of a bad card reader. It sometimes takes ages to isolate all the possibilities to get to the root of these issues. I sometimes am amazed that anything works, there are so many possibilities for conflict or incompatibilities.

I have only ever had 2 or three cards not function between Mac and an assortment of cameras. I just threw them away and bought a new card. I also have had issues with cheap card reades. Currently using a Lexar Prof. dual slot reader.
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Chris Whitten

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostFri Mar 08, 2019 11:13 am

I've sold my BMPCC now, but I always formatted in camera, and always HFS+, as I'm a Mac user.
If I ever had a problem, which was once or twice in many years, it was the card reader at fault.
Effectively, using the same 3 x Sandisk SD cards and the same iMac I never had a single problem recognising the cards between Pocket and computer in at least five years.
Chris Whitten
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Swissified

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Re: SD Card Detected By Pocket Only

PostFri Mar 08, 2019 11:48 am

The last time I had an issue was with Sandisk so I switched to other makes. Lexar, Samsung, Hama or Angelbird. None of those have given me issues in the last 3 or 4 years.

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