Wow, almost bent some CF pins in my D300 today

<p>I've never ever had a problem like this before. <br />I was shooting a runner's race today for a major national event outfit where they give you the media to put in your camera. Didn't think anything about it, just picked up the CF and tried to insert it into the slot in my D300. Oh boy. Rut roh. It would not seat. I thought perhaps that I had it reveresed some how...so I looked at it and tried it again. It still would not seat on the pins. So I pulled it back out and looked at the CF card and the dang CF card was actually bowed in the middle. Yes, the card itself was deformed! Never seen that before and I am SO GLAD I did not try to force it onto the pins. Averted major disaster.</p>

<p>Anyway, wondered if anyone else had ever had anything like this happen to them?</p>

No, but thanks for posting this cautionary tale.

<p>Wow, Wade,<br>

I'm glad that you didn't do any damage. Obviously, (I hope) you have learned your lesson, but I would never think of inserting an unknown card deep into my d300s body without thoroughly inspecting it first. And even then, if it gave me the slightest indication of resistance, I would stop and request a different card. Good shooting. </p>

<p>CF cards are pretty tough and major manufactures have stringent quality control. It would be hard to bend a CF card under normal circumstances. However, there are a lot of very troublesome counterfeit cards on the market from some unlikely sources like Amazom.com. <a href="http://www.nikonians.org/forums/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=329&topic_id=9327&mesg_id=9327&page=#9488">I have read that as many as 30% of ScanDisk branded memory cards on the market are fakes.</a></p>

<p> </p>

<p>As I live in SE Asia i am well aware of the fake or sub standard Sandisc cards. I have had 2 failures an one poor performer. I would never buy another. I use transcend and other makes which have been very reliable; though not the fastest; but I value reliability over speed.</p>

<p>this was a Sandisk 4GB... the only thing I could think is someone shut their car door on it... I cannot imagine what force it would take to bend one of those suckers.<br />I honestly thought I had reveresed it with the back facing inward... I never thought that one could get bent like that....just never imagined that could happen. At the time I was struggling with it, I even looked into the CF card holes to see if there were any pins broken off from a previous use.. .but not the case.</p>

<p>I gave the card back to the lead photographer after the race and he said he would destroy the card immediately and said was very thankful it had not damaged my camera. He had never seen this happen before either.</p>

<p>I have bent a couple of SD memory cards, but CF cards should be quite tough unless you put it in your back pocket and sit on it or something. Dirt inside those little holes could be an issue as well. I would definitely keep cards inside those little plastic containers.</p>

<p>Sandisk is a good brand. I hope yours is not a counterfeit one.</p>

<p>based on what the bow in the card looked like, in the back pocket is a distinct possibility.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>it's not mine... that's the point. it's a CF card the company I was shooting for required me to use. it had their ID on it for example.</p>

<p>It happened to me... I used to have a 8 GB Lexar on D700 and I purchased a 16 GB Lexar in order to replace the 8GB on camera because I do not like to change cards during the action... The card was purchased from a reputable dealer where I buy all my photographic gear. Unfortunately trying to install the new card a pin was seriously bented. Then I saw that a central hole of the card had a larger entry... I dunno if that was created by the bented pin or because that larger hole the pin was bented... The fact is that I had to send the camera to Nikon to replace the card compartment. Since that time I installed a 32GB card and when I'm not in a hurry I use a cable to download images not the card reader.... It was a bad situation...</p>

<p>As they say, you learn something new every day. I guess it is important to only use your own CF cards in your cameras. Any "public" company-own card can potentially have gone through plenty of abuse.</p>

<p>Mihai, do you mind sharing with us how much that card compartment replacement on the D700 cost?</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Mihai, do you mind sharing with us how much that card compartment replacement on the D700 cost?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Of course... but I'm not sure how relevant is for you since I'm living in Romania and usually the costs are very different. :-) Back in the fall of 2009 when it happen to me it was about 35 EUR to have it replaced - this if I remember right. Honestly it was not so much about the cost but to send the camera to the Nikon service in Bucharest and to wait till they sent it back it was not so good for me, even though Nikon service here is doing a great job and they solved quite fast my problem.</p>

<p>Thanks Mihai. Somehow I have the impression that changing the CF compartment costs around US$200 to $300, especially for a more expensive body such as the D700. 35 Euros seems quite inexpensive.</p>

<p>Well, apart of this cost, there is a 25 EUR tax just for sending the gear in service... they charge it always just to tell you what's wrong and what need to be replaced or fixed... So the final cost was about 60 EUR. Anyhow I'm not sure if they replaced the whole compartment or only the pins... since they does not handle to us the used parts I have no idea what exactly was necessary to be replaced but it was my guestimation that is the whole compartment. Anyhow $300 seems too much for this because is quite a cheap part. I paid recently about $230 for a general inspection, including cleaning for sensor and optical surfaces and as well including the replacement of every grip.... It was my three years anniversary gift for my beloved camera!<br>

Again, while the gear is expensive here in comparison with US, it is very possible the labor cost to be much cheaper, I dunno...</p>

<p>All CF cards have a metal "back" to them, and up 'til now I thought it was a heatsink for the chips inside. Now I'm thinking it's also there to stiffen the case and prevent it bending like the OP's card.</p>

<p>Anyway, I'm going to check my cards since I noticed on at least one the metal seems to be coming away from the plastic casing. Maybe a little injection of superglue is in order? And no, I'm not paranoid, they're just all out to get me!</p>

<p>For whatever reason Minolta chose to reverse the orientation 180 degrees from most other manufacturers so the Sony A100 (inherited from Minolta) insertion is different than the Olympus Evolt 300. I have learned to sloooowly insert the compact flash card even when I am sure it is oriented correctly due to scaring myself once when I was in a hurry. <br>

I normally am incapable of hurrying.</p>

<p>Some of the really cheap card readers lack the longer 'channels' that more expensive readers and the cameras themselves had, that help to avoid bending the pins.</p>

<p>I too check carefully on the camera, but I have had a CF card go in on an angle into the reader, and ended up having to replace one of my card readers. I was really bummed out. It cost me nearly $4 to get a new one from China. :(</p>

<p>Easy does it.</p>

<p>"It cost me nearly $4 to get a new one from China" - I see you go for the more expensive kit then. Showoff!</p>

<p>I have been trying to warn people about this sunce it happened to me 2006. Use the USB</p>

<p>use what? the usb to download? what happens when you shoot 4 separate cards? you still have to open up and remove and re-insert the card to read via usb... taking cards out is the only option for me.</p>