Has anyone encountered the dreaded "CHA" error yet? There is nothing wrong with my card, Sandisk Extreme IV 4GB, as I have tried other cards. It started out when I wanted to delete pictures the camera claimed there were none, although there were about 10. Then it kept getting worse with the CHA error coming up here and there (turning the camera on and off sometimes cleared it), now it is continuous and the camera is inoperable. The CF light stays on continuously and sometimes I cannot even turn the camera off. Have to pull the battery to reset it. Then it goes right back to the CHA error. I have tried brand new cards and same story. I think it is time to take it in for service. I have read on the net similar complaints. This is not a comforting story. A $3,000.00 camera with known issues already? Please help in any way you can. thank you.

Is that the only card you have? Have you tried with another one?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Francisco
Recovering Nikonian in Illinois
My Nikon D700 Blog

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Did you ever get this figured out? I have just over 500 frames on mine and just took it out "in the wild" for the first time today and received a CHA error.

I powered down then back on and it cleared. Using a Kingston 16GB 133x card (new).

>Did you ever get this figured out? I have just over 500
>frames on mine and just took it out "in the wild"
>for the first time today and received a CHA error.
>
>I powered down then back on and it cleared. Using a Kingston
>16GB 133x card (new).


Just got my D700 and bought a couple kingston 133x 16GB cards and got the CHA error a few times while shooting.....I powered down and back up and it cleared it.....Have not shot enough to know whether its an issue......

same cards, new camera, same error... hope that it is the Kingston's and not the D700. i don't think there are any bent pins but have not looked yet.

Had exact same problem with D200 about a year ago. It was a bent/broken pin in the card slot camera side bank of pins. Had to send to Nikon. They repaired/replaced.

Sorry, but likely same thing. Good luck.

another day in the wild and more CHA errors. missed a few shots because of this. using the same card. no bent pins.

also noticing that every shot with bright lighting is over exposed.

-- every shot with bright lighting is over exposed--

In what mode are you shooting?

I received my beautiful D700 Thursday and spent the weekend shooting a sailing regatta. It worked fine at first -- I was really impressed and happy -- then started in with the "CHA" errors. I turned it off and on and it worked it again. Took another shot and the CHA came back. I went in to my laptop, downloaded the photos and all seemed fine. But a few shots in and the CHA started again. Luckily we had our D80 along and I shot with that, no problems. I'm going to try with another card today but am very frustrated after having spent so much on the camera and lens. The card is a "Digital Film Professional Media Storage Ultra High Speed 8GB CF" card, which I suspect might be the problem. The vendor talked me into purchasing this along with the package and I shouldn't have caved.

I kind of had the same problem. I bought a 8 gig extreme IV for my D300... it worked fine at first and then it gave me the CHA... then i tried it on my friends canon and it worked fine... so when i got my d700 i tried it but no luck. had to buy another one.

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Sounds like a card problem. I only use Lexar cards and have never had an issue.

Hedley
Originally from Merthyr Tydfil, Wales -- now in Arkansas

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You probably already know this but........are you formatting the cards in the camera before each new shoot?

Formatting (or deleting images) on your computer is a bad idea as it can format them "slightly" differently. It's a common problem for novices to take a bunch of photos then delete all but their favorites. Then they take a bunch of new photos and delete all but their favorites again. After a while the memory card becomes "fragmented" and you'll start getting corrupt files.

I've never had this problem, and I think it's because I download all my files and then format the card before using it again.

Over on the video side, people are having the same issues with their Sony XDCAM cameras using Sony's SxS Express Media cards.

Anyway, like I said you probably already knew all about this, but just in case I thought I'd share.

BTW, (I'm getting older so I like to share stories....) This is also very similar to burning CD-R's. Back in the day you could burn the disc but not finalize it. That would enable you to add more and more files over time to the same disc. Once it was full, you then finalize it and it couldn't be recorded to again. But some people would forget to finalize and take their disc to another computer. The other computer would just see a bunch of corrupt files. This is because each individual CD burner burns the disc slightly differently than another CD burner. Maybe it's a slight misalignment of the laser....dunno. But this is the same issue with formatting using your computer versus the camera. The computer can format the card (or delete files from the card) and leave the data in a state that's slightly different than what the camera is expecting. I'm no expert, but this is how I have come to understand it.

---------
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Hi,

I've had my D700 since they came out on July 25th 2008. In all this time I've never experienced the CHA error. Nor have I had it on any of my Nikon DSLRs. I use only SanDisk cards, mostly Extreme III cards.

Enjoy!

Randy

I also have an Extreme III 16g card and have never seen this error.

Larry Miller, Annapolis, MD
D700/D800
http://www.pbase.com/lmmiller9
http://lmmillerphotography.smugmug.com/

>I also have an Extreme III 16g card and have never seen this
>error.

I use Lexar cards and have not had a problem with over 3000 shutter actuations. My standard practice is to download files from a card once it is almost full, and I reformat the card in the camera before starting over again. I do delete some of my shots before downloading, but have not seen the error. Sorry to hear so many are having problems with this error. So far my camera has operated without a hitch.

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I have had my d700 since Nov 08 and have never experienced a CHA error. I mostly use SanDisk Extreme IV cards and also have one Lexar 133X card, and no issues.

Bob Baldassano
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camera"

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Thanks all for your replies. I've now purchased a Sandisk Extreme IV 8gb and hope for the best. I will try reformatting every time I start a new batch of photos. Strange -- I've been using a Nikon D70 then a D80 for years, never reformatted after downloading and never had this problem. I do love the D700 so far!

Could the CHA problem be caused by the larger capacity CF cards? I use 4gb Kingston and Sandisk cards and never a problem. I've got a 8gb card but never had the need to use it so I'm wondering if the high capacity cards are at fault. BTW, I format all my cards in camera.
Mark Stephan
NAVY

I have 2 of those using with my D700 and they work great. I did have a 16 GB Sandisk Extreme IV in the beginning, but after a few days the CHA-CHA-CHA messages came dancing by. The shop took it back and replaced them with the 8's. They said "it should work in the D700" although officially they are (still) not supported by Nikon - the result of a phone call to them. I still think it was a dodgy card...

"Strange -- I've been using a Nikon D70 then a D80 for years, never reformatted after downloading and never had this problem. I do love the D700 so far!"


Ahhh, the cat is out of the bag! If you delete images from your CF flash card inside your camera or in your computer, but do NOT reformat it, your camera creates a new folder with images. After a while, the camera will keep adding folders to the point it cannot add anymore or write more data.

I actually came across this problem when a student submitted her CF card loaded with hundreds of JPEG images for a photo workshop I was giving. She said she could not find her images! Using a CF card reader and opening it in Photo Mechanic, surprisingly something like 30 folders immediately pooped up on screen. Her images were buried in the last folder.

A good habit to get into and the best solution, is after completing a download, immediately reformat your CF card inside the camera. Reformatting does not actually wipe the card, but tells the cam's computer it can write over the existing data.

For the record, I've had my D700 since June 2009, which has some 30,000 actuations. I've never seen this error message. I use only 4GB Sandisk Extreme III cards, which have an excellent read/write speed.

Hope this helps.
Frederic in Montréal

Nothing ventured... nothing gained!
http://www.RemarkableImages.ca

The D700 is apparently only compatible with Type I CF cards. The Type II does work at times but will eventually result in errors.

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"The D700 is apparently only compatible with Type I CF cards. The Type II does work at times but will eventually result in errors."

You can't even get a Type II CF card into the D700 slot because the slot is designed for the 3.3mm thick Type I form factor. Type II cards are 5mm thick. Most current CF cards sold for Digital SLR use are Type I.

Type II slots are compatible with microdrives. You can also use CF, MS and SD adapters in a Type II slot.

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Howard Carson, Managing Editor
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Happen to me first time with a new Silicon Power 16GB 200x.

after 400 pictures CHA shows up, power off-power on, clears but it shows again randonmly.. it's the only card that shows this beahvior..
The same 16GB card on the D2H does not show any, neither on the d200...
more complex machines.. more sensitive.. the D700/D3 probably need the Right shoes to walk happy.


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You know guys, it's possible it may not be the card at all. I got a CHA error once and it turned out to be the switch that locked the aperture ring on one of my D lenses that was accidentially switched to the unlocked position. The CHA code disappeared once I flipped the switch back to its normal locked position.

D LaBrecque

I just found this thread. I'd like to inform everybody that if you contact the SanDisk for this CHA error, they will exchange the faulty one with a new one.

"You know guys, it's possible it may not be the card at all. I got a CHA error once and it turned out to be the switch that locked the aperture ring on one of my D lenses that was accidentally switched to the unlocked position. The CHA code disappeared once I flipped the switch back to its normal locked position."

Yep!
Same thing happened to me with an AF-S 300 f4

FWIW
I have 10 Sandisk 4GB Extreme III, never had a problem, (10,000 + Images)
and 2 X Sandisk 16GB Extreme's, working OK
Regards,
Gary

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Just to add information to the brew.

I use the following cards:

Sandisk Ultra 30MB/s 8GB

Lexar 300x 16GB

Transcend 400x 32GB

I have never had a "CHA" error. I do always format the cards in my D700 before use. I take the cards out of the camera to transfer the images.

Kind regards

G

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