Minolta Dimage 7i memory ??

boulderNardo

This post is for my dad who owns a Minolta Dimage 7i. Couldn't find the required info anywhere online. I just bought him a SanDisk Extreme III 4GB CF card - but it doesn't seem to work in the camera. Nowhere on the website nor the users manual does it say there's a limit on CF size. Even if that was the case, I would think the camera would simply ignore the extra size it cannot work with... But all the camera say is something like 'cannot use memory card'. I thought formatting might be an issue, so I manually formatted it in my CF reader, to no avail.

Any other first hand info on big cards in the Dimage 7i? Is the size causing problems, or is it the fact that it's an 'Extreme III'?

Thanks,
Bernardo

ziggy53

boulderNardo wrote:

This post is for my dad who owns a Minolta Dimage 7i. Couldn't find the required info anywhere online. I just bought him a SanDisk Extreme III 4GB CF card - but it doesn't seem to work in the camera. Nowhere on the website nor the users manual does it say there's a limit on CF size. Even if that was the case, I would think the camera would simply ignore the extra size it cannot work with... But all the camera say is something like 'cannot use memory card'. I thought formatting might be an issue, so I manually formatted it in my CF reader, to no avail.

Any other first hand info on big cards in the Dimage 7i? Is the size causing problems, or is it the fact that it's an 'Extreme III'?

Thanks,
Bernardo

According to the User Manual I located:

http://ca.konicaminolta.com/support/manuals/digital_cameras/dimage-7/dimage_7i/DI_7I_UK.pdf

... the largest supported device, that they mention, is 1 GB. They do mention that if you see a "card-not-recognized" message, you should not try to format the card in the camera.

I suggest you try a 1GB card. I doubt that the manufacturer type matters too much for that camera.

Remember, this camera is from 2002, and big memory cards were not available. (I mean, we probably thought that 1 GB was pretty big back then.)

z_28

Ziggy is perfectly right.
4 GB card is WAY TO BIG !

2002 made 7i ?
In late 2006 Canon 1D Mk.IIn (at the time fastest dSLR in the World)
did not accepted cards bigger than 2 GB !!!
Later firmware upgrade fixed this glitch.

Few 1 GB cards or even 512 MB may works as champs with your 7i.

boulderNardo

Darn, thanks for the info ... Yes, the user manual "mentioned" 1GB, but it didn't explicitly mention it as the biggest compatible CF card.

Besides - as an embedded software engineer myself, I would have thought that whatever memory the camera cant read, it would just ignore. That is how I have implemented several of my own devices. Guess I was wrong.

The comment about the 1D worries me now - I just bought a used 20D (on its way) and bought the same 4GB card for myself ... worried now that it won't work in the 20D either.

thanks for the heads up!
b

ziggy53

The Canon 20D has been tested with a large base of 4GB cards:

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-7303

It does look like 2GB might work in the Minolta 7i, but the 1GB appears the safest size to use.

The problem is that the 7i does not recognize FAT32, which is required with over 2GB.

http://www.sandisk.com/Compatibility/Device(8231)-Konica%20Minolta-DiMAGE_7Hi.aspx

boulderNardo

ziggy53 wrote:

The problem is that the 7i does not recognize FAT32, which is required with over 2GB.

Awwww! Thaaaaaanks! That explains it all ...
With a small hack I formated the CF card to FAT16 which only supports 2Gb, and the card is immediately recognized in the Dimage 7i. Obviously not worth to keep the card in this case, but at least my confusion is gone. Thanks