sluggunner Posted August 15, 2007 Report Share Posted August 15, 2007 I purchased a Leaf River digital scouting camera from someone on this forum YEARS AGO. I can't remember who it was though since it was so long ago. Well the short of it is that it was the BEST MONEY I EVER SPENT!! I have taken hundreds of unbelievable awesome photos with it and still have as much fun with it now as I did the first time I put it out. My problem is this and I hope someone can help me out as I suspect I have just messed up one of the settings or something. The last two times I have swapped out the CF card, the camera said sonething like 56 events, or 23 events etc... Both times when I get home and put the CF card in my card reader, there are no NEW images on the card, only the few old ones that I have not deleted. So it seems the camera is counting events, but not taking the actual photos. When I am at my camera site in the woods there is some sort of icon flashing in the read out screen I think it looks like a camera blinking on and off, but it is too small for me to see what it really is. (I know, I need to get some glasses, but that's another story.) I never remember seeing this icon thing blinking before and I don't know how to turn it off. Do any of you have a Leaf River camera and do you know if there is a mode on that thing that only counts events but does not take actual photos?? I know it is not the CF cards as the lack of actual photos has happened on two different CF cards. Any tips or advice you could give me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted August 15, 2007 Report Share Posted August 15, 2007 Save what pics you want off the cards and reformat them. My guess is that the camera is recording triggers but unable to write to the cards for some reason, maybe they are full, or maybe they are corrupted either way, reformatting them should solve that problem. Only other thing I could think of with the blinking icon part is that maybe something is up with the camera and it needs reset. Pull the batteries temporarily for a couple minutes and then put them back in. Could possibly also be low batteries for the camera. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sluggunner Posted August 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 OK, thanks for the tip. I'll try re-formating the CF cards. I know the batteries are good as they are new and both the camera battery indicator and the sensor battery indicator shows full power on the batteries. Maybe I'll just pull the camera and bring it home and fiddle with it here until I get it working right again and then put it back out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingfisherfd2 Posted August 16, 2007 Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 not sure about the trail cams, but my digital camera needs the date/time stamp reset after batteries are changed out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted August 16, 2007 Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 not sure about the trail cams, but my digital camera needs the date/time stamp reset after batteries are changed out. Welcome to the forums kingfisher. Sounds like your camera has a dead internal battery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LifeNRA Posted August 16, 2007 Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 Save what pics you want off the cards and reformat them. My guess is that the camera is recording triggers but unable to write to the cards for some reason, maybe they are full, or maybe they are corrupted either way, reformatting them should solve that problem. Only other thing I could think of with the blinking icon part is that maybe something is up with the camera and it needs reset. Pull the batteries temporarily for a couple minutes and then put them back in. Could possibly also be low batteries for the camera. That sounds like the problem right there, but make sure you use only the camera for re-formatting them! Not a card reader. All camera media cards will not last forever, depending on use they should be replaced at the first chance of trouble. I have a few xD cards that now need to be replaced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TreeWalker Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 ......All camera media cards will not last forever, depending on use they should be replaced at the first chance of trouble. I have a few xD cards that now need to be replaced. That is interesting, because I ran into this for the first time yesterday......I retrieved my cards yesterday, and plugged them into my tower to see what I had for pics......one card had several JPG files, that the computer would not recognize, along with 28 saved images.......another had one unrecognizeable jpg file and no images recorded even though there had been over 90 triggers. Makes sense that it may be time to update to new cards, they've seen a ton of use......kinda sucks, I forgot to mark which ones they were, LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sluggunner Posted August 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 I never knew that CF cards had a lifespan to them I just assumed they could be used over and over again as long as you kept deleting the photos from them thus clearing more memory space. Well, I would rather it be a problem with the cards than with the camera as they are much cheeper to replace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VermontHunter Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 A little info on FLASH MEMORY... Flash Memory Flash memory is a non-volatile memory device that retains its data when the power is removed. The device is similar to EPROM ( Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) with the exception that it can be electrically erased, whereas an EPROM ( Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory ) must be exposed to ultra-violet light to erase. Flash memory does not need a constant power supply to retain its data and it offers extremely fast access times, low power consumption, and relative immunity to severe shock or vibration. These qualities combined with its compact size, make it perfect for portable devices like scanners digital cameras, cell phones, pagers, handhelds and printers. Flash chips have a lifespan limited to 100,000 write cycles, which means flash will never replace main memory in computers. So YES this type of media can and will fail ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 That sounds like the problem right there, but make sure you use only the camera for re-formatting them! Not a card reader. That may not be an option. Been kind of tinkering with cams here and there over the last year or so with building homebrew cameras and seen some weird things. Some cards will read on some cams when they have images on them and not on other pretty well identical cams. I would reformat the card or cards on your computer first. Chances are it will reformat the card properly as where the camera might not be reading the card and might be unable to format it. I have had a time or two where cameras would not read or write to or even format cards at all, but the computer formatted them just fine, then the camera worked with the card just like it was supposed to. I never knew that CF cards had a lifespan to them I just assumed they could be used over and over again as long as you kept deleting the photos from them thus clearing more memory space. Memory cards need reformatted occasionally. Just like a computer needs to defrag occasionally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LifeNRA Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 That may not be an option. I don't know about building trail cams, but every digital camera I seen so far tells you to let the actual camera do the re-formatting. The two digitals here at the house, I checked both manuals. They say the same thing as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 I don't know about building trail cams, but every digital camera I seen so far tells you to let the actual camera do the re-formatting. The two digitals here at the house, I checked both manuals. They say the same thing as well. That may very well be John, but if the card is corrupted for whatever reason it may not reformat in the camera. Just talking from what I have seen first hand experience with trail cams and digital cams. I have dealt with a few digital cameras, have repaired a few too. Sometimes for whatever reason if a card will not read or write in the camera, you can reformat the card on a computer and it will then work and you can always reformat it in the camera later on after it is cleaned up if you want to or feel you have to. I know manuals may say otherwise, but sometimes a card may just not work in the camera and reformatting the card in the camera is then not an option. It does not hurt a thing to reformat a card on a computer and then reformat it in the camera. If the card wont read or write and reformat in the camera, what are you suggesting to do with it, throw it out? Pefect example I have a sony s-600 that I am going to be building in a trail cam. The cam takes memory stick pro duo cards. The card I had from my video camera is the same media. I thought I could use the card that already had some pics and clips on it in the other camera. Would not work, the camera even popped a message up saying it could not format the card. Reformatted the card on the computer after saving the pics and it worked fine. Another example, my leaf river cam is about 3.5 years old now, had a card that would not read in the camera. Tried reformatting it in the field at the camera and it still would not work. Ended up reformatting the card on the computer and took it back and it worked fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 Another thing I have seen is the contacts do get dirty on these cards if you do not carry them in cases. If possible carry the cards in cases. I have taken cards out of my pocket before and had cams act up and then blown on the contacts and they work. Not saying that is the problem, but maybe just a bit of a tip for the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LifeNRA Posted August 18, 2007 Report Share Posted August 18, 2007 what are you suggesting to do with it, throw it out? I guess! LOL! Oh, and BTW, use a pencil eraser on the contacts to clean them. Works great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sluggunner Posted August 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2007 All of this stuff is way way way over my head. I'll have to go on line to look up how to re-format a CF card on my computer. BOTH CF cards are giving me the same problem and both started acting up at the same time. I only have about 20 pictures I keep stored on the one card and about 30 on the other card. One is a 64mb card the other is a 125mb card and I have really not used them that much so I think I messed something up with them when I put them into my card reader that I have for the computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted August 18, 2007 Report Share Posted August 18, 2007 Rerformatting a card on your pc is simple. After putting the card in, go to my computer, then right click over the drive letter for that card, should say "removable drive ?" you will see an option for format. Click on format, then it will prompt you to go forward. Just make sure you save anything on the cards you want to keep before reformatting them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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