I received and older digital camera for Xmas. It’s about 4/5 years old and it uses the Compact Flash type memory. I bought a large capacity memory card to use in it and the camera can not format it in order to use it. I’m guessing it’s the same as older PC’s can’t format the newer large capacity hard drives.

My question… What is the format type used for compact flash, or is it the same for all digital cameras and if so what is that format?

I’ll format it from my PC using a card reader if I knew the format to use.
Or does every digital camera have its own inherent format?

 

I'm not saying it can't be done, but I have never heard of anyone formatting a compact flash card with their card reader. To my knowledge there is nothing "camera" specific about the formatting. However, many earlier cameras have firmware limitations in terms of how large of a compact flash card they can use. That being the case, formatting the card won't fix the camera's ability to use the card. If you're using a 1 GB card in a 4 year old camera, my bet is that's the issue. If you found a 256 MB or 128 MB card, most likely the camera would recognize it without formatting.

Again, not saying it can't be done. Someone else may come along with a method to do it.

 

You can find out what type of CF card you will need
http://www.ec.kingston.com/shop/mfrmod.asp

CF Type I ... Type II ... what's the difference?

Physically a CF Type II card looks like a CF Type I card in every dimension except thickness, CF Type II cards are 5mm thick whereas Type I cards are 3.3mm.





[SIZE=-1]CompactFlash Type II and I cards compared[/SIZE]


CompactFlash Type II devices can NOT be used in cameras that have the thinner Type I card slots. Pictured above you can see the height difference between Type I and II cards.

I know that they came out with a type II CF card that can process info faster

 

Some older cameras can read larger capacity cards with a firmware update. Check the manufacturer's site.

 

Thanks for the link to Kingston. Just found out my new digicam can take a maximum 1 GB card.

 

Here's another site to find out which CF card will work with your camera

http://www.sandisk.com/Compatibility...iceTypeID=1004

 

Can you just format it in the card reader? I have a PNY multicard cardreader and use that to transfer between camera and PC. I delete, via the cardreader, never in the camera, to much a pain vice just using standard windows sw.

 

Apparently the camera has a 256MB threshold so this seems to be the problem.

 

Your welcome you can get a full Gig of Digicaming now

 

I got a cool little Pentax Optio S6 (it's an S!) from one of my Santas and it has 6 MP. I'm a painter, not a photographer, but I like to shoot pix on my MINI roadtrips, for sure, especially of the meals I eat!

 

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER format your card in the reader!!!! All you are doing is asking for trouble. You can delete all the photos and have an empty card, but formatting the card in the reader can damage the card.

 

Why not, its just another disk drive. I delete, copy, and move files from it all the time. Never bother to use the camera to do it.

 

If you tak a look at this page, towards the bottom you will see the format options for 2Gb and 4Gb CF cards. They are formatted using FAT16 and FAT32. So formating the cards is not an issue. I agree with what was said before. See if there is a firmware update for the camera.