Fuji X100 Very Slow Startup

Crsnydertx

Top Veteran
Location
Houston, TX
Name
Chuck
According to the manual, the Camera should start up in ~2.2 seconds; however, I find that mine takes 8-10 seconds! Obviously an eternity when a photo op comes along. Any idea why I may be experiencing this? Settings? SD card? Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
Armando, thanks. I was thinking card as well. I'm using a Patriot 16 GB Class 10 card at present. I'll try something else and/or format that card in-camera. I always use a card reader to move photos to my computers (iMac and Dell laptop) and iPad, never the camera cord.
 
If you upload to a Mac, or particularly an iPad, they write some sort of file to the card that seems to confuse the hell out of the Fuji's (ANY Fuji). Reformat in the camera after all uploads and it should clear ir up.

-Ray
 
Armando and Julien: It's the card, and it's likely that I didn't format it before installing it in the X100. I just tried my 1GB card I use for firmware updates (used this week to upgrade to 1.21) and startup is normal. Just for the record, I'll report back after formatting the 16 GB card. Thanks again!
 
Ray, thanks. If the iPad is doing it, that could be a little problematic. When traveling or just in a hurry, I use the iPad for first-pass processing but keep the originals on the card for later download to a real computer. If the iPad upload process writes info back to the card - perhaps a flag indicating which files have already been uploaded - and that's slowing things down, I may need to consider a Plan B for preserving photos until I get home. Oh, we'll, it's not the end of the world... :)
 
Okay, formatting the card did the trick! I've never had a camera where formatting solved a performance issue, so I have some bad habits there.

I'm also anxious to see whether use of the iPad is a factor per Ray's comment. Hope to know that soon.

Thanks again for all y'all's help! (Texas English...sorry)
 
Ray, thanks. If the iPad is doing it, that could be a little problematic. When traveling or just in a hurry, I use the iPad for first-pass processing but keep the originals on the card for later download to a real computer. If the iPad upload process writes info back to the card - perhaps a flag indicating which files have already been uploaded - and that's slowing things down, I may need to consider a Plan B for preserving photos until I get home. Oh, we'll, it's not the end of the world... :)

Just flick the write protect switch on the card before connecting to a Mac or iPad, this prevents these hidden files being written. You just have to remember to switch it back before putting it back in the camera.
 
Apparently, if you transfer the files off the card into the computer by using one of Adobe's programs, the software writes something into the card. It supposedly doesn't happen if you use LR to off load the photos from the card. But it happens when using Camera Raw. Or something like that. So I read.

On a computer, I always off load the photos by just copying and pasting from the SD card into a photo directory that I create. I tried importing directly into LR one time, and didn't work well for me.

I have yet to try to off load photos from a SD card into the iPad.
 
Okay, formatting the card did the trick! I've never had a camera where formatting solved a performance issue, so I have some bad habits there.

It's actually stated in the manual, as well.

It's a non-issue, though, as you can either simply format the card each time to put it back in the camera, or write-lock the card while inserting it elsewhere (if you don't want to reformat it and want to keep its contents). Just don't forget to unlock it before putting it back into the camera.

Alternatively, leave the card in the camera and use the USB cable that was included with the camera to transfer your pics.
 
Okay. I decided NOT to lock the SD card when uploading to the iPad. Uploaded a few dozen photos...and the startup delay is back.. Now I know. Next time I'll lock the card. And I'll also get another card or two so I can rotate them. Maybe 16 GB isn't such a good idea...
 
Okay. I decided NOT to lock the SD card when uploading to the iPad. Uploaded a few dozen photos...and the startup delay is back.. Now I know. Next time I'll lock the card. And I'll also get another card or two so I can rotate them. Maybe 16 GB isn't such a good idea...

I only ever use 8G, and after reading here from time to time that reformatting after an upload is a good idea, that is what I do, regardless of which camera is in use. It only takes a couple of seconds when you first pop the card in.
 
It's never been an issue for me because its always been my habit to upload files after shooting and then reformat the card right away anyhow. I don't really want both uploaded and new files on the same card - that's just guaranTEED to confuse my addled brain when it comes time to upload next. So, it was alarming the first time it happened with my X100 (I thought I'd killed the whole camera), but I quickly got used to that first startup taking 10-20 seconds before the camera was fully awake and engaged, then reformat, then good to go until the next upload.

But it is a Fuji thing. Happens with the X100, X10, and now X-Pro 1. I've never seen it happen with any non-Fuji...

-Ray
 
Sue, sounds like a good approach. My failure to format is tied to my current "double upload" approach: iPad then iMac. If I can become more confident in the use of cloud computing, perhaps I can do it all only once. I'm not there yet...
 
My x100 has never had this problem, before or after any firmware updates. I started formatting each time I inserted the sd card only because of what I read here, however I find that if I don't format, the camera functions just as well. Wonder why?:confused:
 
Sue, sounds like a good approach. My failure to format is tied to my current "double upload" approach: iPad then iMac. If I can become more confident in the use of cloud computing, perhaps I can do it all only once. I'm not there yet...

The nice thing about the iPad is that it takes full resolution when you upload... so regardless of which you upload to, you can just transfer from one to the other later. If you're out and about and run out of space on your card (I'm still stuck in the film days where you had to conserve every shot and make it count so I never run out of space) you can dump the contents to your iPad (especially if its a new one) and then transfer later when you get home.

I was doing that double thing when I was using both the iMac and the MBP for my stuff (I am using iPhoto again to manage/store, and PS for editing) but eventually found it enough of a pain to stop. I keep my iPhoto Library on an external drive and will eventually move that to a network drive so it wont matter which computer I am on (just have to acquire the network drive which I think is going to be a 3TB Time Capsule.)

I'd recommend making a decision about where the upload is going to take place, and then copying what you want to the other device. Works for me, YMMV
 
My x100 has never had this problem, before or after any firmware updates. I started formatting each time I inserted the sd card only because of what I read here, however I find that if I don't format, the camera functions just as well. Wonder why?:confused:

As far as I understand it, this only happens with Apple devices. If you use Windows or Linux you are fine (at least never had a problem with mine).
 
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