Could i have damaged my 40D?

[donaldamacmillan]

<p>Hi folks</p>

<p>I'm just having a minor, bordering on major panic at the moment. I was reformating a couple of memory cards this morning, in-between cards i thought i'd switched off my 40D but i hadn't .... I just wasn't paying proper attention (half asleep still, up too late last night, up too early this morning!), i had only thumbed the power switch from the main control dial setting to the 'on' setting, i hadn't switched-off my 40D .... So with my camera inadvertedly still on i actually changed memory cards! I know that doing this is a general no-no and i am kicking myself very hard and fretting much about 'have i damaged my camera'? </p>

<p>As far as i can tell both cards and the camera seem ok .... I've shot an image on both cards and then reformated each card again, remembering to switch-off properly this time! As i said, all seems well .... Could there be some harm done though that isn't apparent just yet? Could i have damaged something (card, camera, or both?) even though nothing is glaringly/alarmingly obvious yet? </p>

<p>Still kicking myself! <br>

Donaldo</p>

 

[JosvanEekelen]

<p>I never switch off the camera (5D/10D/G7) when changing cards and I have never experienced a problem with any camera/card. Does the manual give instructions to switch the camera off when changing cards?</p>

[morthcam]

<p>My understanding is that it's remotely possible you could have corrupted some of the files on the card in a worst-case scenario, but if so it would be immediately obvious when you tried to view the files. No way you could have damaged the camera.</p>

[robin_sibson1]

<p>I think it is generally good practice to switch the camera off before inserting or removing cards and batteries, and if you remove a card that is still being written to, then you will lose some images. That said, I occasionally forget to switch off, and have never had the slightest problem as a result.</p>

<p>However, I never switch off when changing lenses, which I do quite a lot. Again, this has never caused me any problem across a succession of EOS bodies starting with the EOS-1 in 1990, and more than twenty different lenses.</p>

<p>So, relax, you're fine, as Jos and Matt have already said.</p>

<p>The one time when you do need to be very careful to follow procedure to the letter is when updating firmware. Fortunately, that's a realtively infrequent task.</p>

[smooth_carrots]

<p>If I remember correctly, many older EOS DSLRs automatically switched off the camera when the CF door was opened. That may include the 40D. Like others have said, you're worrying unneccessarily.</p>

[matthijs]

Unless you were writing/formatting when opening the door I wouldn't worry about it.

 

In my experience (hundreds of card changes on three different EOS bodies) nothing is damaged.

 

Matthijs.

[Spearhead]

<p>I have never turned off my camera when changing the card, this includes the 10D, 40D, and 1DMk3. It is possible that you can lose some data if you pull the card while writing and maybe have to re-format, but that's about it.</p>

[PuppyDigs]

<p>The 40D turns off (to protect itself) when you open the CF door. So you can't hurt the camera but you can hose a file being written.</p>

[jim_h.2]

<p>We all have voted, no panic needed, as soon as you open the door and click the button to remove memory the camera flashes red light which is a shutdown protection safety , i have done it many times although your not suppose to, its the memory that is can fail or maybe loose a pic or a bunch but if you have the software to recover the lost ones which comes with the higher end memory its still no big deal. </p>