Is there an idiot proof memory card setting for an Idiot Nikon user?

[AngieBaby]

I know this is probably THE DUMBEST question but to explain that I have at least 3 times now not been paying attention and / or shooting more than I thought and ran out of memory on my card and it starts the rotation back at the beginning of the card overwriting the first pictures on the card. SO is there a setting that I can tell my Nikon D300 to stop at the end or something like this???? I mean the camera has a feature that you can set to not let you shoot if the card is not in the camera at all so I hoped there would be another setting that I am not finding.

I'm actually pretty embarrassed to put this question out there but I'm desparate. I don't necessarily want to shoot with too big of a card in case something happens to it that all of my images are not on one card.

[Todd Lambert]

Hmm.. I'm actually embarrassed to admit that I didn't even know this was possible to do! I can't fathom why this functionality would ever be needed by anyone. I shoot Canon primarily, and Canons don't work like this at all. I didn't think Nikon did either, but I'm subscribing to the thread to find out.

By the way, there's no dumb questions and certainly not one that is as important as overwriting data.

[RKDauph]

My Nikons just quit taking pictures. Hmmmm

[mdparthum]

That's weird, my D300 and D300s just read Full and I have to replace the card.

[AngieBaby]

ok, this is giving me hope.... I think....

[Nikonfan]

Originally Posted by mdparthum

That's weird, my D300 and D300s just read Full and I have to replace the card.

+1, My D300 and every Nikon I have owned just reads full and won't let you continue. So there must be a setting that needs to be changed (thought i don't recall such a setting).

It sounds like you already know this, but for those that don't... The setting you referenced that allows you to take pictures without a memory card... always leave that off. It's only there for store demo's. The last thing you want is to take a picture to find out it didn't get put on a memory card.

[shnitz]

Is it a D300s with dual card slots? I can't find any setting on my D200, but I assume on a D300s it would be where you choose how the camera wants to handle dual cards. My digital Nikons as well (D40, D80, D90, D200, plus when I used my roommate's D300) all just stopped shooting when the card was full. How large of a card do you have? If you look in the hot deals and special promotions subforum, you may just want a larger card as well. 16GB UDMA cards are $50.

[AngieBaby]

Originally Posted by shnitz

Is it a D300s with dual card slots? I can't find any setting on my D200, but I assume on a D300s it would be where you choose how the camera wants to handle dual cards. My digital Nikons as well (D40, D80, D90, D200, plus when I used my roommate's D300) all just stopped shooting when the card was full. How large of a card do you have? If you look in the hot deals and special promotions subforum, you may just want a larger card as well. 16GB UDMA cards are $50.

It is D300 (no s) & it was an 8GB card. I am gonna get a 16GB card to give myself some more room. I have seen the setting to turn off shooting when no card is installed so I would think it would be in that area in the menu but I haven't seen anything yet.

[mdparthum]

I was just thinking that maybe the camera rolled over 9999 and started placing images in a new folder. That would account for you thinking the images were erased and replaced with the newer images. Just a thought.

[AngieBaby]

Originally Posted by mdparthum

I was just thinking that maybe the camera rolled over 9999 and started placing images in a new folder. That would account for you thinking the images were erased and replaced with the newer images. Just a thought.

Well I have rolled over that count but it did it before on a previous rollover shoot. I think I'm going to have to play with it on a smaller card to intentionally take it to the end and see what happens. Maybe it's the card I used but I can't say which card I was used on both occasions except that it was the 8GB.

[Bob_S]

There is a setting that locks the camera if no card is installed. Could be that it also locks the camera when the card is full?

PS - My D300 never does that. It always reads Ful and stops taking pics.

[Dobick]

I have never heard of this happening ever?

I would love to hear what is happening here, so please when you find out let us know

[Rson]

What is the naming schema on your D300? Set it for sequential and you will never overwrite. it creates folders that store 9999 images, when the folder gets full it creates another folder.

[AngieBaby]

Originally Posted by Dobick

I have never heard of this happening ever?

I would love to hear what is happening here, so please when you find out let us know

After everyones comments, I'm kinda wondering if it's a bunk card. I know it's one of my 8GBs so I'm gonna have to fill both of them up and see what happens.

[AngieBaby]

Ok as of today I have exhausted all 4 of my memory cards to the end and they all say FULL and do not allow me to shoot. So the cards are ok. I looked back at my last shoot incident that had the frames rolling over and it does seem to be right after the 9999 count so that may be the only explanation I have for that, but it happened before and I'm not sure about that older situation.

I'm gonna put it to rest for now and try to keep my eye open for it again.

I kinda wonder about if I should rename my pictures going forward? Will the numbers repeat? Am I going to have a duplicate numbering system thing happening?