Broken memory slot!

hello every one, I have recently broken the din pins in my canaon rebel. And

was wondering if it is totaly unuseable. Or how much this would cost to fix.

is this a common thing? has this been posted I looked but couls find nothing

on it.

 

any help would be great. Rob M

It's not common. It can be fixed by Canon, but it won't be cheap. A wild guess would be $200.

Are the pins actually broken, or just bent? How many?

 

This might not be of help, but that happened to a card reader of mine. I was able to open it for better access to the pins and then straighten the pin out fairly good with needle-nose pliers. Then I straightened and aligned it by pushing a CF card in and out carefully a couple of times.

 

Depending on how accessible the pins are, and how handy you are it might be worth a try. I'd contact Canon first to see how much it would cost if they fixed it.

Robert,

 

Canon can fix it for you. Bob is correct (as nearly always), it will probably cost around $200-300, which seems to be Canon's universal estimate.

 

You could possibly fix it with a needle-nose pliers, assuming that the pin is just bent. You say "broken" which suggests the pin either snapped, which I have seen happen, or it has popped back into the PCB, and would need a soldered repair. Unless it is just bent, I don't suggest you try it yourself unless you have EXTENSIVE electronics repair experience. Even if it is just bent, you might break or pop the pin through the PCB by trying to un-bend it. I highly recommend you send it to Canon, unless you were already in the market for a new camera.

 

If it is the 300d or 350d, buying a used 350d might be cheaper than repairing it.

Robert,

 

Don't bother with the needle-nose pliers. You'll never get them in the slot. I just took a quick look at the layout of the CF-card slot in my 350d, and the hole is way to deep and narrow for pliers. You would have to disassemble the camera, or use tweezers.

 

Ignore my comment about popping the pin into the pcb, it appears the CF-card contacts are set in plastic. You must have bent or snapped a pin. If it is just bent, tweezers may be an option.

Same thing happened to me here in Mexico, the estimate was $350 from Canon Mexico. The

pins were broken not bent.

It's a relatively expensive repair because of the labor involved. The camera has to be taken apart, the connector unsoldered from the circuit board (lots of pins) and replaced with a new one.

 

Bent pins can be straightened externally (though it's not easy) but if a pin is broken, you're out of luck.

 

$200+ is a good estimate of any small repair needing parts. I think Canon's minimum charge for doing anything at all is around $125 these days, though for that they usually also do a cleaning and you get a 3 month warranty.

Unfortunately this appears to be an all too common problem with the Canon Digital Rebel. If you search on ebay you can find at least one repair place (LeZot) that will repair the camera for a fixed price of $125. Of course you have to pay for shipping/insurance to and from also.

 

I have always been extremely careful with cameras and electronic equipment yet my Canon Digital Rebel's memory slot broke. One pin in the corner is bent flat. I sent it to LeZot Cameras in Vermont. I'm hoping to have it back sometime late next week. Once I put the memory card in, I'm not planning on removing it - ever. (They replace the pins with Canon parts so they are just as susceptible to breakage.) I'll just download through the USB cable. I have a Canon Powershot 70 camera with two slots - never had this problem using the same memory cards. The two memory cards I have show no damage. Why the Rebel pin bent I have no idea - except poor design or cheap parts. I don't plan on ever buying another Canon camera. The Rebel cost almost $1,000 - it should last for 30 years not 3 years without repair.

I'd guess I must have inserted and removed memory cards many thousands of times on an EOS D30, 10D and 20D. I've never bent a pin or had any other problems. I know many other photographers with similar experiences and I don't personally know any who have had problems in this regard.

 

If you keep the cards clean (so the holes don't get clogged up with dirt) and you take reasonable care inserting the card (don't force it), damaged is highly unlikely.

 

Anyone can get unlucky I guess, but to extrapolate from that that there is a design issue is leaping to an unfounded conclusion. It's possible that the Rebel uses a different socket from the 10D/20D/30D etc., but it's more likely that Canon buys just one type as uses it in all their cameras.

 

The Digital Rebel is the most popular DSLR on the planet, so you'd probably expect to see more complaints about problems than you do about, say, the Pentax 100D.

I think this issue is universal to the CF cards and can happen to any card holder (in camera or off-camera). Another reason for manufacturers to start switching to the SD card slots like a lot of small P&S cameras.

 

I think a better idea would be the microSD, but it may be too small for some apps. The SD seems like a perfect solution.

 

-- V