Sony A7C Glitch with my new A7C - Writing to card. Please wait...

[JayCB]

Hi A7C shooters,

My A7C arrived this week, and i've had a chance to take it underwater 4 times this past weekend. On dives 1 and 3, the camera worked flawlessly. Unfortunately, half way through dives 2 and 4, I experienced some very odd behavior I'll describe below. Was wondering if anyone has experienced this before.

Dive 2:
Screen started to freeze when i'd press the AF-ON button (I have my camera configured for back button focus). Screen would freeze for 5-10 seconds or so every time I'd hit the focus button. I tried several times with the same result. Turned off/on camera. Same result. Eventually, the screen went black. Turned it off/on, still black. Only after getting the camera out of the housing and removing the battery, then reinstalling, did all functionality return to normal.

After Dive2, I replaced the SD card with a brand new one and reformatted, then took about 75 shots around my house with various settings I use underwater with no issues.

Dive 4:
Today, half way through the dive, the screen went black. I pressed the menu button and menu displayed. Pressed menu again, and a message came on screen 'Writing to card. Please wait.'. This message remained on screen and wouldn't go away. I tried restarting the camera several times, but the message would still display. After getting the camera out of the housing and removing the battery, then reinstalling, all functionality returned to normal.

I used 2 different Lexar Pro 128GB SDXC 250 MB/s 1667x cards on dives 2 & 4.

I'm wondering if i received a bad A7C copy, the SD cards aren't compatible, or i have inadvertently configured some setting that might cause this.

Any suggestions from the group would be appreciated

-J

 

[JayCB]

I should also mention that i used custom settings on M1 & M2 for all shooting. M1 is set for flash photos with iso=100 and auto-review=2secs. M2 is set for ambient photos with iso=auto and auto-review=off. I did switch back and forth between M1 and M2 often during the photo session. I also am set to use RAW (uncompressed) + JPEG

 

[Tim Mayo]

I have no experience shooting underwater I'm afraid. What housing are you using? Is maybe the EVF sensor getting misted up and turning off the viewfinder? Or do you have this set to manual? You shouldn't really be seeing a "writing to card" message unless you are shooting lots of bursts. Do you have a none Lexar card that you could try?

 

[JayCB]

I'm using a nauticam housing, so i have both an EVF and I can see the back screen. I had the camera set to `auto', with the 'C' button customized to toggle between EVF and Screen. I have changed this setting to Manual since, as part of the configuration changes to test. I also changed from RAW uncompressed + JPEG to just RAW uncompressed. I don't shoot bursts, so shouldn't be clearing a large buffer. If the issue continues, my next move is to swap out the card for a different brand. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[JayCB]

BTW. Does anyone have a recommendation for SD card make and model that pairs best with the A7C?

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

BTW. Does anyone have a recommendation for SD card make and model that pairs best with the A7C?

I don't have an A7C, but how about SanDisk? They have a 170mb/s SanDisk Extreme Pro for only $33 (128gb) on Amazon now. Does your camera need 250mb/s? because if not, maybe a slower card might actually work better?

 

[JayCB]

I don't have an A7C, but how about SanDisk? They have a 170mb/s SanDisk Extreme Pro for only $33 (128gb) on Amazon now. Does your camera need 250mb/s? because if not, maybe a slower card might actually work better?

The fastest I'd ever be shooting might be 1 frame/s, which would write about 50mb/s i believe. A 170mb/s card should keep up with clearing the buffer at that rate, no?

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

The fastest I'd ever be shooting might be 1 frame/s, which would write about 50mb/s i believe. A 170mb/s card should keep up with clearing the buffer at that rate, no?

I'm sure. And honestly, if the same problem happens again, maybe the camera is a lemon?

 

[JayCB]

Could be. I wanted to try a couple of things first before sending it back to confirm if it's the camera, or the product in general. If it's the product, or compatibility with a specific SD card, returning it for a new one that behaves the same won't be productive

 

[JayCB]

Issue appears to be resolved. I made two configuration changes.
1. Changed File Format=RAW (uncompressed) + JPEG to File Format=RAW (uncompressed).
2. Changed Finder/Monitor=Auto to Finder/Monitor=Manual

Since making these two changes, I have taken ~500 underwater shots with no camera lockup.

 

[Tim Mayo]

Good to hear!