Multi Card Reader

Shirleyr

Shirleyr

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Shirley
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I had a multi card reader for a present, so used it for all my cards which are compact flash SanDisk for my 50d and 7d camera's. I had noticed the card was a bit tight going into it but didn't anything of it. I have 3 cards all 8gbs and not one of them will fit back into both cameras. The reader, damage the fine little teeth so rendering the cards useless.
A most expensive present. Thanks goodness I had a gift voucher as another present;)
 
Hmmm! I have only ever heard of Compact Flash (CF) cards damaging the pins in a reader or camera, not vice versa (this type of damage only ever being due to slight misalignment by the user and then 'forcing' the cards into place. The card construction is quite rigid so I cannot yet understand why or how the reader can have damaged them???

I have always found the cards slide with slight resistance into the slot and then require the little extra pressure to push them into place. AFAIK in the socket there is one pin a tad longer than the rest and always thought this a "locator pin" that likely also served for electronic reasons as "first point of contact".

I hope you can resolve the situation AOK.
 
Puzzled about, "The reader, damage the fine little teeth so rendering the cards useless." as CF cards do not have visible pins, rather slots for the camera or reader pins to fit into. :thinking:
 
Shirley,

Please forgive the daft questions:-
Have you examined the CF cards holes/slots, are they clear and unobstructed?
Are you sure you are trying to put them in the camera the right way round? NB the cards are keyed to fit one way but will go in a tad the wrong way round and I have read in the past of some folk forcing them in ;)
Do the pins in the reader look all straight i.e. not bent or in any way damaged?

As I said daft questions especially the second one, that as an experienced user I am sure you know the right way round............................but to use the expression 'stranger things happen at sea....'
 
I'm the stupid one in pushing one card into the new car reader and looking at the teeth of all the them with a torch and a magnifying glass all the damage is in the middle and some of the little gaps have been forced so they are not all the same size. Running my finger along it there is a rough bit on all of them.
I'm ordered a new one from Amazon and I only hope I haven't damaged both
gramps said:
Puzzled about, "The reader, damage the fine little teeth so rendering the cards useless." as CF cards do not have visible pins, rather slots for the camera or reader pins to fit into. :thinking:
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That's sums it up.

Box Brownie said:
Shirley,

Please forgive the daft questions:-
Have you examined the CF cards holes/slots, are they clear and unobstructed? No
Are you sure you are trying to put them in the camera the right way round? NB the cards are keyed to fit one way but will go in a tad the wrong way round and I have read in the past of some folk forcing them in ;)
Do the pins in the reader look all straight i.e. not bent or in any way damaged? Damaged

As I said daft questions especially the second one, that as an experienced user I am sure you know the right way round............................but to use the expression 'stranger things happen at sea....'
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cameras. What an expensive that will be, possibly £3000, can't think about that.
I'll end chucking myself in the sea, well, perhaps not its freezing. Don't put thoughts in my mind.
 
There was a chap just getting out of the sea down at Exmouth this afternoon. Reckoned it was positively warm compared to March! Goes for a sea dip every day apparently. No wetsuit...
 
Very kind Gramps, I'll pop on to conservation to speak with you. Yet again, someone on Talk Photography steps in to help when things are a bit tough.:ty:
 
Hmmm I had a duff Sandisk CF card that took out my camera, it was fine whilst in the camera, but I took it out to change it and
that was it
 
Well, I won't know until tomorrow. Can you say what happened when you put the card back into the camera, was there a error message or what. All my three cards won't fit either slot on the camera.
 
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Shirleyr said:
I'm the stupid one in pushing one card into the new car reader and looking at the teeth of all the them with a torch and a magnifying glass all the damage is in the middle and some of the little gaps have been forced so they are not all the same size. Running my finger along it there is a rough bit on all of them.
I'm ordered a new one from Amazon and I only hope I haven't damaged both

That's sums it up.


cameras. What an expensive that will be, possibly £3000, can't think about that.
I'll end chucking myself in the sea, well, perhaps not its freezing. Don't put thoughts in my mind.
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If the camera part does need replacing there is a chap that does it at a reasonable price, will try and find some information just in case.
 
If the card reader in the 7d has been damaged its a relatively cheap repair from that link I gave you.
 
Hope it isn't too expensive a repair Shirley, it does sound like you have possibly forced the cards into the camera slot back to front.
 
I can't quiet get my head round what you have actually damaged Shirley ,are the pins in the card reader bent ,or the pins in the camera's, or is there something wrong with the cards .
If it's the cards surely you can't have damaged them all ?

What make/brand is the card reader btw
 
Got the new card this morning and the result is, the old cards which were damaged by the card reader have themselves damaged both the 50d and the 7d. The new card just would not slot in and that card has been damaged which is now finished. So, I'll have to send the 7d to be fix, one camera at a time. The pins in the cameras have been damaged by the cards.
 
Something like this happened to me in the past. CF cards are a curse, having lots of little holes which must align perfectly, which is a recipe for mechanical failure sooner or later. If your camera only uses CF cards, I recommend you use a camera connection USB cable.
I have dual cards in my D810, an SD and a CF (each 32GB). The CF is set to act as a back-up. I rarely remove the CF card from my D810, to avoid wear and tear on the pins, but I do routinely remove the SD card into a card reader.
Shirleyr said:
The pins in the cameras have been damaged by the cards.
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Sorry to hear that you have damaged the cameras, but you've learned a hard lesson to double-check carefully when some bit won't move or slide as designed.
 
Shirleyr said:
Got the new card this morning and the result is, the old cards which were damaged by the card reader have themselves damaged both the 50d and the 7d. The new card just would not slot in and that card has been damaged which is now finished. So, I'll have to send the 7d to be fix, one camera at a time. The pins in the cameras have been damaged by the cards.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about this, hope you get the cameras fixed soon.
 
BrynBoru said:
Something like this happened to me in the past. CF cards are a curse, having lots of little holes which must align perfectly, which is a recipe for mechanical failure sooner or later. If your camera only uses CF cards, I recommend you use a camera connection USB cable.
I have dual cards in my D810, an SD and a CF (each 32GB). The CF is set to act as a back-up. I rarely remove the CF card from my D810, to avoid wear and tear on the pins, but I do routinely remove the SD card into a card reader.

Sorry to hear that you have damaged the cameras, but you've learned a hard lesson to double-check carefully when some bit won't move or slide as designed.
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I've never had this trouble ever but when the camera is return and a card goes in, never will I take it out again, the little holes are only made out of plastic, I'm very surprised it hasn't happened before, I live and learn, pity its aways at a cost. Thanks for your reply.
 
Shirleyr said:
Got the new card this morning and the result is, the old cards which were damaged by the card reader have themselves damaged both the 50d and the 7d. The new card just would not slot in and that card has been damaged which is now finished. So, I'll have to send the 7d to be fix, one camera at a time. The pins in the cameras have been damaged by the cards.
Click to expand...

Thought that might be the case, that chap on the link I gave you has been around for ages, know at least one person here had an IR conversion done and were pleased with the result
 
CF cards because of their multi pinhole construction do rely, IMO more than the contact type like SD, on the careful alignment in the receiver slot PLUS not forcing it in if anything more than slight resistance is felt!

Personally I have found different cameras cf slots have varied a bit some have been snug in alignment others a tad 'freer' but and this maybe a mitigating factor for those that have managed to bend pins. I feel for the point of resistance as the card reaches the pins and to ensure they insert well I push at the midline of the card I.e. not near a corner which might introduce a twisting/misaligned force that could result in bent pins.

So, sorry to hear that the new card has also been damaged by the camera but would it not have been a good idea to shine a torch into the camera slot and see what state the pins were in? The cf cards may be more delicate but to have managed to damage another suggests more force was used than needed...........and you may have them loss of that new card by looking at the slot pins before trying to insert it.

FWIW I have a Sandisk multi reader and the CF slot IMO does require careful use to align the card nice & straight before full insertion.

I do hope you can find a least cost solution and you are back taking pictures very soon.
 
All in hand to send camera 7d to Funky Electronics on the 3rd Jan. There is a form to fill in and lots of questions if you bought on ebay, mine was bought new from Wex photography and have the original box. I have a Lumix Panasonic I bought back in 2006 FZ18, its light and has a little 4gb card which slots into the laptop, at least I can carry on with the mad hatters tea party over at the 52's. So with that its not the end of the world just a hick up and if I'm really bored Spring Cleaning my little house and then the garden.OMG where do I start.:ty:all.
 
Sorry to hear that it's confirmed that the cameras have been damaged :(
Cards posted today so should be with you sometime next week, Bank Holidays permitting :)
 
gramps said:
Sorry to hear that it's confirmed that the cameras have been damaged :(
Cards posted today so should be with you sometime next week, Bank Holidays permitting :)
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Those cards will be very precious to me, I'll keep them safe until my cameras are repaired. Thank you so much.
 
The card reader you bought that's done the damage is it a cheap Chinese one ? or is it a c.fast reader ? which is a different type of card entirely .we really need to know to stop anyone else buying one
 
I simply don't know, its at the bottom of my bin, I'm extremly tired and fed up.
 
Sounds like a rather expensive lesson in not forcing cards into slots, either in a reader, or in a camera.
What a kind gesture from @gramps helping you out. :woot:
 
Shirleyr said:
I'm really bored Spring Cleaning my little house and then the garden.OMG where do I start.
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Forget that, spring cleaning is for spring and when spring comes do it in the summer, then delay until autumn, then winter.
 
Shirleyr said:
Well, I won't know until tomorrow. Can you say what happened when you put the card back into the camera, was there a error message or what. All my three cards won't fit either slot on the camera.
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Sorry if that was aimed at me.
I got the card free with the camera and didn't use it immediately, as I had other CF cards.
When I did it fitted in the slot easily and seemed to record the pictures ok, took it out and put it the card reader and.......................nothing
So tried it back in the camera and nothing again,
Put one of the other cards in the camera and that didn't work either. was totally miffed as the camera was just over a month old :(
Looked closely at the card and you could see one of the slots was damaged, but the pins in the camera looked fine.
Went back to Park cameras, where I had bought it and luckily they gave me a brand new camera under the warranty, even though they could have sent it back for repair (y)
Not sure if I still have the card as I don't use them in my [resent bodies, they both take SD cards, but if I can find it I'll take a picture and show you the fault.
Strangely this is the only card I ever had problems with and I have also had Sandisk SD cards break up, all bought from reliable sources, so I never use them these days
 
Gremlin said:
Sorry if that was aimed at me.
I got the card free with the camera and didn't use it immediately, as I had other CF cards.
When I did it fitted in the slot easily and seemed to record the pictures ok, took it out and put it the card reader and.......................nothing
So tried it back in the camera and nothing again,
Put one of the other cards in the camera and that didn't work either. was totally miffed as the camera was just over a month old :(
Looked closely at the card and you could see one of the slots was damaged, but the pins in the camera looked fine.
Went back to Park cameras, where I had bought it and luckily they gave me a brand new camera under the warranty, even though they could have sent it back for repair (y)
Not sure if I still have the card as I don't use them in my [resent bodies, they both take SD cards, but if I can find it I'll take a picture and show you the fault.
Strangely this is the only card I ever had problems with and I have also had Sandisk SD cards break up, all bought from reliable sources, so I never use them these days
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Thanks for the reply, I bought my camera from Wex back in 2011, so I could send it back there but they then send it to the manufactuers which would take ages, so I've got a tel number for the Funky Electronics and will ring him first thing on Tuesday just to make sure he is still up and running, and then get it sent by recorded delivery and hope for the best. Then I have the 50d which is also damaged, one at a time. There are a few posts suggesting I forced the card, there was no force but it does need a little push but forcing would suggest pushing hard which I never do. There just would be all these bank holidays.
 
Shirleyr said:
Thanks for the reply, I bought my camera from Wex back in 2011, so I could send it back there but they then send it to the manufactuers which would take ages, so I've got a tel number for the Funky Electronics and will ring him first thing on Tuesday just to make sure he is still up and running, and then get it sent by recorded delivery and hope for the best. Then I have the 50d which is also damaged, one at a time. There are a few posts suggesting I forced the card, there was no force but it does need a little push but forcing would suggest pushing hard which I never do. There just would be all these bank holidays.
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Recorded delivery only carries insurance up to 50 quid for loss or damage, you will need Special Delivery next day by one o'clock which goes up to 500 as standard. If Funky are not trading you can send it to Canon at Elstree, they are very prompt and have a fixed price for many repairs, think my 40d was about £160 to replace the main circuit board.
 
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Update; spoke the young man and it seems this is a common fault with all cameras, I'm off the post office to get a special grey bag for sending it in and just write out the details on a piece of paper (no printer) take the battery out, pack it in its box and all in all things are looking up.
 
Sam is the man with Funky Electronics, wow, was I lucky in being recommended to this firm, thanks to @tijuana taxi for giving the link and to @gramps for 3 memory cards.
Service and spare parts, special postage £50 total, small tip added. I slipped the card in pressed the shutter and it was the better photo of the carpet I've ever took:), it'll be a long time before I take that card out.
Some people say posh camera. I saved up for years and years for the combination with the lens and they means everything to me. Learnt that there are some great people about, thanks for helping its meant everything to me.:)
 
Shirleyr said:
Sam is the man with Funky Electronics, wow, was I lucky in being recommended to this firm, thanks to @tijuana taxi for giving the link and to @gramps for 3 memory cards.
Service and spare parts, special postage £50 total, small tip added. I slipped the card in pressed the shutter and it was the better photo of the carpet I've ever took:), it'll be a long time before I take that card out.
Some people say posh camera. I saved up for years and years for the combination with the lens and they means everything to me. Learnt that there are some great people about, thanks for helping its meant everything to me.:)
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That's great news Shirley, sure you will have many more years of great photos from your camera.

Really can't complain at the repair cost, firms like that deserve to succeed, good publicity never hurts on places like this forum.
 
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