Can an SD card cause wrong-color blotches in photos, and should I reformat it?
Asked 4/12/2011
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2 answers
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I started seeing blotches of incorrect color in images from my old camera, especially when zooming in on macro shots. I then bought a new camera, reused the same SD card, and now I’m seeing the same issue there too. The old camera now seems fine when used with my daughter’s memory card.
Could the SD card be causing this? I’ve also read that SD cards should be reformatted occasionally, but I’ve never reformatted this one. Would reformatting help, or is it more likely that I need to replace the card?
Originally by Carol. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Carol
15y ago
2 Answers
5
From chuqui over at photos.stackexchange.com on How often should I format my memory card?:
I format my card every time I stick it in my camera and start a shoot.
I do this for a couple of reasons.
First, it means every time I start a shoot, I don't accidentally leave the previous shoot on it (and it also means I don't delete it until I start the next shoot, by which time those images are safely on various backup disks; gives me an emergency backup on the card until I'm sure I've got multiple copies elsewhere).
Second, I use multiple camera bodies, and I know people who've had corruption issues with cards formatted by the computer (which I never do) or by one body and used in another because the bodies interact with the card slightly differently. By formatting every time, I know the formatting is what the camera wants and is expecting.
Third, formatting at the start of the shoot will (or should!) catch a card that is starting to fail. At the least, it'll catch some early failure modes in the card -- and in two cases for me so far, it has. So if the card hits an error during format, I know to immediately retire it. I'd rather find out I have a card error at the START of the shoot that midway into it, or worse, when I'm trying to read the images out later.
Note: any time I get a card error, I retire that card. Cards are cheap. Dead cards that eat my only copy of an image is expensive. And formatting a card every time means that every time I shoot gives me a blank slate in a known state that hasn't reported an error. Which means many fewer potential problems later. And FWIW, I basically never run into corrupted cards, lost images or problems during a shoot or during a post-shoot import.
Even if it means the card will wear out sooner, I don't care. I want reliable cards, not ancient ones. I'll happily replace them rather than try to recover images from them....
Originally by Jared Harley. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Jared Harley
15y ago
0
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An SD card generally does not change image quality while the camera is capturing the photo. If a card is faulty, it usually causes corrupted files, partial saves, or unreadable images rather than optical-looking color blotches.
That said, your test results do make the card suspicious: the problem appears in two cameras with the same card, while the old camera seems fine with a different card. So the most practical next step is to test further.
Try this:
- Back up everything on the card first.
- Format the card in the camera you plan to use, not on the computer.
- Take some new test shots.
- If the problem remains, try a different SD card.
If a different card fixes it, replace the old card. If the issue continues even after formatting and with another card, the cause is likely elsewhere in the camera or viewing workflow.
As a general habit, formatting the card in-camera before a new shoot is a good practice once your images are safely backed up.
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