topic Re: Can I tell which memory card was used to record an image on my 5D III? in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

Can I tell which memory card was used to record an image on my 5D III?

WesternGuy — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 02:31:47 GMT

I have a 5D III that has been converted to capture infrared images with a 590nm filter. I want to know if it is possible to tell which memory card was used to capture the image, the CF card or the SD card. The reason I am asking is that some of my images are showing very fine vertical "lines/stripes" in the images and others are not. These images were all taken with the same camera 5DIII and the same lens 24-105L IS.

I am trying to determine if the "cause" is a sensor problem or a problem with some of the meory cards that I have. I can post examples, if required and if someone will tell me what the process is for posting images.

Any insight that anyone would care to share will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

WesternGuy

Re: Can I tell which memory card was used to record an image on my 5D III?

jrhoffman75 — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 02:40:22 GMT

I'm confused. Can't you put each card in a card reader and see which one contains the images?

Re: Can I tell which memory card was used to record an image on my 5D III?

WesternGuy — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 02:44:36 GMT

Yes, but this situation is "after the fact" so to speak. The images have been processed and the "knowledge" of which memory card they may have been made with is long gone.

WesternGuy

Re: Can I tell which memory card was used to record an image on my 5D III?

jrhoffman75 — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 02:46:11 GMT

If you downloaded and reformatted cards I don't know of any way (unless you haven't recorded new images - then you could try file recovery software.

Re: Can I tell which memory card was used to record an image on my 5D III?

WesternGuy — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 07:22:48 GMT

John, thanks for the reply. It supports what I thought. I was hoping in Lightroom in the Library module under the Metadata section that there might be somehting that would tell me if an image was recorded on the CF card or the SD card in the camera.

I am trying to establish the origin of the "striping" I mentioned in my original post. Most of the time on the converted 5D III, I try and ensure that it is recording to the CF card, but every once in a while, things get mixed up and I end up recording on the SD card. I have gone through my IR images for the past year or so and some show the "striping" and some don't. It would be nice to know which type of card the image was recorded on when the image was captured, so I can see if it is the type of card that is making the difference. If I can't, then I will have to find some other way to resolve this.

WesternGuy

Re: Can I tell which memory card was used to record an image on my 5D III?

Waddizzle — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 12:50:03 GMT

Remove the SD card, and it will always use the CF card.

Re: Can I tell which memory card was used to record an image on my 5D III?

RobertTheFat — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 13:27:02 GMT

@Waddizzle wrote:
Remove the SD card, and it will always use the CF card.

Even if the camera is off when you remove the card! And even if you put the SD card back in before turning the camera back on!! (And BTW it works the same way in the other direction, i.e. if it's the CF card that you remove.) I've complained about that behavior several times to no avail. Canon apparently thinks it makes sense for it to work that way, and I think they're nuts.

Re: Can I tell which memory card was used to record an image on my 5D III?

jrhoffman75 — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 13:31:13 GMT

OP is looking to get info on past shoots.

Re: Can I tell which memory card was used to record an image on my 5D III?

Waddizzle — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 14:00:04 GMT

@jrhoffman75 wrote:
OP is looking to get info on past shoots.

I understand. I think you've already called it correctly. There's no way to tell. Removing the SD card should help isolate whether or not the noise issues are card related, though.

Re: Can I tell which memory card was used to record an image on my 5D III?

Waddizzle — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 14:05:56 GMT

@RobertTheFat wrote:
@Waddizzle wrote:
Remove the SD card, and it will always use the CF card.
Even if the camera is off when you remove the card! And even if you put the SD card back in before turning the camera back on!! (And BTW it works the same way in the other direction, i.e. if it's the CF card that you remove.) I've complained about that behavior several times to no avail. Canon apparently thinks it makes sense for it to work that way, and I think they're nuts.

In a way, it does make sense. You want the camera to pick up right where it left of, and continue using the re-inserted card. But, how is the camera to know that you re-inserted the same card? How is it to know that even though you've re-inserted the same card, that the card has not been modified in some way?

Yeah, Canon punted. They force the user to tell the camera what to do. To let the camera figure it out would require extra coding [memory space] in the firmware, which the camera may not have available.

Re: Can I tell which memory card was used to record an image on my 5D III?

RobertTheFat — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 14:12:32 GMT

@jrhoffman75 wrote:
OP is looking to get info on past shoots.

The (admittedly subsidiary) point is that the way the camera shuffles its card slots offers no help in doing that.

But to your point: Even though getting useful info on past shoots may be futile, it shouldn't matter much. Either the striping problem was a one-time fluke, in which case it can be ignored, or it wasn't, in which case it should be possible to test whether its ocurrence is related to which card slot is in use. Even though the camera doesn't record that datum in the Exif data (although one supposes that it could), it's not particularly hard to keep track of it manually.

Re: Can I tell which memory card was used to record an image on my 5D III?

RobertTheFat — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 14:35:45 GMT

@Waddizzle wrote:
@RobertTheFat wrote:
@Waddizzle wrote:
Remove the SD card, and it will always use the CF card.
Even if the camera is off when you remove the card! And even if you put the SD card back in before turning the camera back on!! (And BTW it works the same way in the other direction, i.e. if it's the CF card that you remove.) I've complained about that behavior several times to no avail. Canon apparently thinks it makes sense for it to work that way, and I think they're nuts.
In a way, it does make sense. You want the camera to pick up right where it left of, and continue using the re-inserted card. But, how is the camera to know that you re-inserted the same card? How is it to know that even though you've re-inserted the same card, that the card has not been modified in some way?

What difference does either of those questions make? The only thing the camera cares about is the sequence number, and it just bulls ahead with that across any slot change. The only thing it has to be concerned about is not re-using a file name that's already on the card, and that's as likely to happen on the first slot change as on the second.

Re: Can I tell which memory card was used to record an image on my 5D III?

jrhoffman75 — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 14:56:13 GMT

The 1D series (at least Mark IIN and Mark IV) work exactly like Bob would like to see. For some reason Canon sees fit to have the "lower" product lines work differently.

Re: Can I tell which memory card was used to record an image on my 5D III?

RobertTheFat — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 15:13:43 GMT

@jrhoffman75 wrote:
The 1D series (at least Mark IIN and Mark IV) work exactly like Bob would like to see. For some reason Canon sees fit to have the "lower" product lines work differently.

I'm not sure the situations are totally comparable. IIRC, the 1D series had two CF slots (primarily for redundancy), rather than one of each type (primarily for compatibility) like the 5D3 and the 7D2. But either way, I think the 1D's behavior is the preferable one.

Re: Can I tell which memory card was used to record an image on my 5D III?

jrhoffman75 — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 15:19:46 GMT

At least through Mark IV it was CF and SD. I read early on the concept was that the SD card would be for small JPEGs so a runner could take a card from photog and get it to a computer for quick upload to web, newspaper etc. The days before WiFi. A new SD card would be installed and shooting continue. CF card would be for RAW or large JPEG for later processing.

Makes sense that it wouldn't be good for storage scheme to change when card was removed.

Re: Can I tell which memory card was used to record an image on my 5D III?

WesternGuy — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 15:33:22 GMT

Waddizzle, thanks for the idea! Duh, why didn't I think of that, but I guess this is what happens when you are too close to the problem.

This may not give me information on past shoots, but it is an experiment that I can use to attempt to isolate the culprit, if indeed it is the memory cards that are causing the problem. It may even isolate THE card, so I will shoot a series of images with the CF card out and simply repeat with the SD cards. Thanks again.

To those of you who noted what Canon does or does not do, all I can say in my years of shooting both film and digital is that Canon does whatever it wants and whether or not it has any bearing on what users want seems to be irrelevant. I too would like to have the data telling me which card was used to capture a particular set of images. The CF cards would appear to have serial numbers on them - don't know about the SD cards, but I am going to assume they have some form of identification on them. Why digital cameras can't read this information and report it as part of the EXIF data, I don't know.

WesternGuy