Nikon releases service advisory about D4s not working with some Lexar CF cards

Nikon has just released a service advisory about apparent issues with Lexar CF cards when used with the new D4s. The issue was first reported by Nikon Rumors on Facebook a couple of days ago, after they received an email by a concerned reader who had troubles with some of his Lexar CF cards in his Nikon D4s. While the original report mentions a 400x 32GB card and a 600x 64GB card, Nikon's official service advisory mentions 400x and 1000x Lexar CF cards. Apparently, what happens is that the cards affected will be reported as defective by the Nikon D4s.

If you're having the same trouble or are curious to find out whether your card could potentially cause trouble, all you have to do is look for the serial number on the bottom of the card. If your card's serial number features either of the sequences '8BAFBE' or '8DCB61,' then your card belongs to one of the batches affected and should be replaced. Nikon advises that D4s users encountering these issues or owning cards out of either batch should contact Lexar's customer support to get their CF cards replaced.

While this isn't as serious an issue as the whole D600 debacle -- in fact, this appears to be more of an issue on Lexar's side of things -- it's another bump in the road for Nikon and issues with their cameras. The D4s is a camera mainly used by professionals, and while most photographers will always carry a whole bunch of memory cards with them (in addition to a backup body), it can be more than just a nuisance if a memory card fails -- or straight-up doesn't work when you need it to. In the worst case, you lose precious time during a shoot, or even a couple of images that you could've sold otherwise. So if your memory card's serial number ends on either of the two sequences mentioned above, better have them replaced, even if they're not acting up (yet.)

(via dpreview)