 Irene Troy |
Digital camera jamming I need help from some of you digital experts. I was out shooting a group of coyotes playing using my fairly new Konica-Minolta 7D. I set the camera to rapid shot mode and began shooting as the animals raced around. About five minutes into shooting the camera simply stopped. I could not depress the shutter release and the red action light began blinking. I tried to shut the camera down with the idea of "rebooting" but the camera would not shut off. I finally removed the battery and this did reset the camera. But, within a few minutes the same thing occurred. I could shoot maybe 3 frames before the camera would stop. When I got back to my computer and tried to load the shots I received a message saying that many of the shots were corrupted. I have no idea what happened and this bothers me because, of-course, I now worry that this will happen again. Here is all the information that I have about the camera and the memory card: the card is a 3GB SanDisk Extreme III; I was shooting in auto mode – originally in RAW/JPEG and then just JPEG (with the idea that perhaps I was shooting too quickly to record in both modes); Konica-Minolta states shutter speed at 30-1/4000 second; 3-9fps (RAW & JPEG depending upon quality); I am not sure what other information is relevant, but if anyone needs more info, please let me know. Is it possible that this camera simply cannot handle this type shooting situation and should I use my film camera instead? I was shooting fairly rapidly – although I don’t think that I was exceeding the specs for the camera. Any ideas, help, suggestions will be very welcome!
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Jon Close |
I suspect that the camera quit and blinked the red action light because you had filled it's memory buffer. While the camera can shoot at up to 3 frames per second, it takes from 2-4 seconds for each image to be written from the buffer to the memory card. When you tried to shut down/reboot/removed the battery you interrupted this file writing process and corrupted the files. Do you have the most current firmware version? The review at http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/konicaminolta7d/page10.php states that the 1.1 update "has transformed the camera's continuous shooting capability now almost double the number of frames buffered and vastly improved the CF write speed (next full burst) compared to the old firmware."
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Irene Troy |
Jon, Thank you SO MUCH for your help! Your advice was right on the money. I updated the firmware and will try it out tomorrow. What you said and what I read on the link that you supplied made perfect sense - even to a novice digital user. Now I just have to get those coyote pups back again. Thanks again!
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Irene Troy |
Jon, just a followup to once again thank you for your assitance and to tell you that by doing as you suggested the problem has been resolved. I went out shooting at dusk and was able to use the rapid shot mode with no problem. The write speed has dramatically increased with a very short lag when shooting multiple shots at a fairly rapid rate. Thanks again.
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Michelle Ross |
Hi! I have the Maxxum 7D and have experience I think the same thing you have a time or two except I didn't lose my images as a result! I guess I don't quite understand this firmware update and how I can apply it to my camera? Can anyone explain?
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Jon Close |
At the Konica/Minolta website click on the Maxxum 7D product page, then select the "Software" page from the index on the left. (or use this direct link). There you can download Ver. 1.10 firmware upgrade (the link includes instructions for copying from your computer to the 7D).
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Irene Troy |
Hi Michelle, as Jon said the firmware update is on the KM website and the installation (in case you feel a little uncertain, as I did) is very easy to install onto your camera. You simply install it onto your memory card. A less than 5 minute chore - if you have high speed Internet access the download takes less than a minute and the install itself takes about 2 minutes. The update makes a HUGE difference as I discovered while shooting pics of wildlife this morning.
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