I have a Nikon E5400, ver 1.3. I bought a 4GB Kingston CF card; the package said "formatted and ready to use". On inserting into camera, the message flashed that the card is not formatted. So I proceeded to format. The next message that flashes is "Out of Memory". Questions: 1) is the CF card defective? 2) is E5400 incapable of reading a 4GB CF card, should we use only CF cards <1GB? 3) Will a firmware version upgrade to v1.4 help? 4) Any other reason why this could happen?

i think those photos save in your camera built in memory. took the card out and turn on the camera . NOw press the play button and see the photos appeared in screen or not. If yes then you have to make the default storage location as your memory card.

The 5900 uses SD cards. The 4GB card you have is actually an SDHC card and will not work in the 5900. You'll have to stay with cards 2GB and smaller.

You need to format new cards in the camera before using.

So far as I am aware, the 5400 will support only up to 2GB cards. As to the firmware upgrade you mention, I don't recall that that has any bearing on the max. card capacity; but it's worth doing for the RAW format support (for me, at least). Cheers and good shooting. Davo, Tas. 

Check your manual to see if your camera accepts a card that large.

The Nikon Coolpix 4300 only supports the FAT16 filesystem, so it can only support a 2GB partition. To support 4GB you need a FAT32 filesystem.
Put the card in a CF writer and attached to a PC or Mac. Partition 2x2GB partitions, then format them as FAT16. Now put it into the Coolpix 4300 and it should work.

4GB requires FAT32. Camera firmware only supports FAT16. 4GB won't work because FAT16 has a 2GB maximum size limitation. 1GB CF card is Nikon's "approved" maximum for this camera.

Catch: 22 1GB -and lesser capacity- CF cards are no longer manufacturered or generally available in 2010. When the current CF card dies, the still working camera also becomes throwaway unless you can source a CF card 1GB or under. 2GB may work, but with 'issues' per caution below.

CAUTION: Anecdotal evidence suggests the final release -& current- firmware for cameras of this generation is also encumbered by with a maximum picture number limitation of 999, realistic at the time of original manufacture when 256MB was a the largest capacity CF card but completely nonsensical now.

Summary: This is my first NIkon Digital camera and also my last.

Apart from the noteriety of the ubiquitous broken Nikon plastic battery latch, a major design flaw Nikon refuse to acknowledge or accept liability to rectify -since self-repaired better than OEM, Nikon policy on firmware support is complete abandonment of product within an unacceptably short service window. ie: a deliberate poilicy of enforced obsolescence.

Suggested Problem Remedy: Do buy a new camera supporting SD Cards of current capacities. Don't buy anything branded Nikon.

You would have to get an SDHC to CF adapter which could be pricey and they are hard to come by.

You can put max 1GB cf card.

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Mille merci, dwafellman. Vouz m’avez sauvé un voyage á Office Depot pour retourner mon mémoire Flash.

imallan