Broken CF Pin inside EOS-1D... please help!

[charles_brown1]

A CompactFlash (CF) pin was bent... in a borrowed EOS-1D. It was

folded over flat. Seeing this, I used delicate dental tools to

straighten the pin. It broke. In that moment, I aged five years.

 

Now I need help in what to do, and what the potential consequences

and costs will be once it is done.

 

I do not know if the pin was bent before the camera came into my

possesion, but since I undertook to straighten it, and now it is

broke, my position is that it is my responsibility to see that the

camera is correctly repaired, or replaced. Yikes, trying to do

someone a favor looks like it's going to cost me several hundred to

several thousand dollars. I am very depressed right now.

 

Here are a few specific questions:

 

1. Can CF pin terminals being successfully repaired?

2. Is the entire pin bank plug replaced?

3. Does that require soldering to an internal PC board?

4. What else is involved with such a repair on an EOS-1D?

 

Really, my main concern is question 5 below:

 

5. Does the heat from soldering, or the process of opening up the

camera that deeply, or any other process of repairing this part of

the camera, end up causing other problems with fried chips,

intermittant camera or image processing malfunction, etc,... even

when the repair is performed by an authorized Canon repair facility?

 

(I ask question 5 because so many times a repaired product is never

quite the same again as the original assembly, and wasn't sure if

this is the case with pro digital SLRs)

 

I did do a search on Google main as well as Photo.net. Amazingly, it

seems that not too many people seem to have trouble with their CF

slots. No hits, but one, where Craig Bridge stated the following:

 

"Craig Bridge , nov 18, 2002; 06:36 p.m.

Hal, some of us (nerds, schemers, electrical engineer types) actually

have access to specifications that describe what CF pins do what and

can make a pretty accurate diagnosis of what might happen based on

what pin is broken.

Daryl, what pin broke? Pin 1 is on the opposite corner from the

narrow key which is offset from the centerline toward pin 50. Pins 1

to 25 are on one side opposing pins 26 to 50 respectively.

 

Pins that are duplicated (break one and noise margins go down

affecting reliability): 1,50=GND 13,38=VCC Pins that might not

matter: 24=WriteProtect 33=-VS1 typically GND 40=-VS2 typically left

open"

 

In the next message, Craig continues:

 

"Craig Bridge , nov 18, 2002; 06:52 p.m.

Depending on the size of the CF card, the high order address lines

won't matter (what size CF card is it?). If the D60 or the CF card is

an 8bit access system, data bits 8-15 won't matter (pins

27..31,47..49)."

 

I do not entirely understand Craig's description of pin location, but

from what I can deduce, the pin that broke is either 1, 25, 26, or

50. It is a corner pin on the "wide" alignment slot side of the

card. If the EOS-1D is upright, with the camera back facing you, and

the CF door swung open, the bent (now broken) pin would be on the

uppermost right hand position. It was initially folded away from the

other pins, pointing upward toward the top of the camera.

 

The CF cards I have are all IBM 1 GB Microdrives, and one Lexar USB

enabled 512 MB. It was the Lexar 512 MB card that met a little

resistance upon insertion, which makes me think that I should

shoulder the blame for both the bending and the breaking of the pin.

 

Either way, I desperately need advice as to what to do, and what all

may be done to the camera in the hands of a repair facility.

 

Charles Brown

[tri_tran3]

Luckily, the pin inside my Canon G2 didn't break. I somehow bent it although I seldomly taking my CF in and out. You should call Canon and send it in asap. I sent my in last week and waiting for it to return. Hopefully I don't have to pay for it since my warranty just recently expired(it happened a week after the warranty expired, perfect timing?). Good luck.

[bob_bell]

You either repair it or replace it. Its pretty easy to find those parts from electronics places online, just google for it. If you insist on repairing it yourself, use a 25watt soldering iron and a clip on heat sink. I do a lot of electronics, even make my own LCD screens from components and the transferred heat is the problem.

<p>

The part is going to look like this and is either soldered into place or has some sort of tape cable connecting to it. if you feel lucky, take the camera apart, look at the model number of the cf header, and how it is attached. You might be able to just replace a part and you are good as new.

<p>

Then again, bring it up with the owner and talk to canon about repairing it, it cant be to much.

<p>

<a href="http://products3.3m.com/catalog/us/en001/utilities_telecom/telecom_oem/node_GSZFM1BVGLbe/root_GST1T4S9TCgv/vroot_MWF1RCPQM7ge/gvel_4HHMGR97C1gl/theme_us_teleoem_3_0/command_AbcPageHandler/output_html">LINK</a>

[gerry_szarek]

Charles, if it was working before with the pin bent over, you obviously don't need the pin. Most connector specifications have spares mainly because it's easier to pick the biggest connector you can find, ie somebody allready designed it for you, this is especially true with regards to computer equipment.

 

Gerry

[jay_.]

A colleague of mine bent over one of the pins on his Nikon Coolpix 5000 and he and I operated on it successfully in his dental office with a modified perio probe but evidently it had shorted out another pin when it bent over because the camera was still DOA. Fortunately it was under warranty and Nikon replaced it with a refurb.

[charles_brown1]

Thanks for the answers so far. The first two were within minutes of my post, and, if nothing else, helped calm me down, since it was Sunday night, and calling Canon was not possible at that time.

 

Yes, the camera still seems to "work." However, I'm admittedly not the best judge at this point in how well it is working. For example, the poster I quoted earlier, Craig B., wrote in 2002 that even if pins 1 and 50 were redundant grounds, in some cases, there might be noise introduced into the image that otherwise might not be there if both grounds were in use.

 

I'm only a film guy... so I'm not a qualified judge of digital noise. The Canon rep I spoke to this morning described "noise" as being visible when the image is loaded into a computer monitor, and there is errant pixilizaton color that doesn't quite match the color in it's immediate surroundings. In film, isn't that called texture? Since not every dot in a field of color have the same hue, how do I know when it's noise, or when its "memorex"? (metaphor from late '70s TV commercial)

 

The Canon rep (first name = "Mike") said that all of the CF pins serve a distinct purpose, but he also said that there are only two places in the USA that have any information about pin-outs and their function... the factory service centers. He said he himself did not have that information. Therefore, I wonder how it is that he came to the conclusion that all of pins had distinct functions? He admitted then that he wasn't sure, and suggested that I contact the factory service center.

 

Now for a bit of Canon round-robin:

 

I first looked on Canon's website, which suggested that I call the 800-828-4040 Technical support. That's how I reached "Mike," above, who told me to call Factory Service. I called the California Factory Service Center, whose message said they weren't open until 9 PST. So I called the New Jersey Eastern Regional Factory Service Center, but instead got transferred to a Canon operator in Virgina, who said the New Jersey center was open, but the technicians won't talk to customers, and I need to contact Technical Support, at 800-828-4040... which puts me right back to square one, with no new information about the pins.

 

I still plan on having this camera repaired, but if it truely is functioning the same as before, then it is likely the pin was already bent before I got it. In that case, the question of when to send the camera for repair comes into play. An upcoming photo event looms ahead in April, and I've already proven that I need more face time with this piece before I can pretend to shoot it for the owner, and that can't be done with the camera in the mail and in the shop for two weeks.

 

Where can I get more information on specific pin out function for the EOS-1D?

 

Especially for use with the IBM 1GB Microdrives and the Lexar 512 MB compactflash card?

 

Thanks in advance for any information or reading referals that you can provide.

[mike_kim]

Yikes, I'm sorry to hear about your mishaps. Try following URL:

http://www.transcend.com.tw/English/FlashCard/docs/1GCF45.pdf

I've looked at the schematics (I have a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering), you will probably need to replace the connector. All of the pins have dedicated functions associated them. Floating connection may cause serious damage to body and CF card during communication.

 

If you are Canon professional, then Canon may be able to offer you overnight service.

 

-Mike

[chris_david]

Unless, Canon says the pin is unused on all types of CF cards (very unlikely), it needs to get fixed. Even if it is one of several ground or common voltage pins, having it missing may affect noise and/or reliability. If you owned the camera, you might want to risk ignoring it, but since it's borrowed I think it needs to be returned to factory specs.

 

The entire connector needs to be removed and replaced (unsoldered and a new one soldered in place). I would certainly hope that Canon can do this without adversely anything.

[adam_eberbach]

If it was my camera and I had determined that it was one of multiple power or ground pins I would not touch it. The interface to the CF card is digital. "Jitter" and all those reasons people buy expensive S/PDIF cables notwithstanding, if it works then it works - if you can write images with the camera and read them back you really don't have a problem. If the missing pin is a redundant ground you would probably see it and its neighbor soldered to the same pad on the PCB and the same arrangement inside your CF cards, on the female side of the connector.

 

You will almost certainly not be able to replace the connector yourself because it will attach to the PCB with multiple pins, all of which need to be heated at the same time to successfully remove the connector. The pads to which it is soldered will be extremely delicate and imperfect heating would certainly result in one tearing off when you go to remove the connector, believing that all the solder is melted. Even if it is not surface mount you would find that you can't completely remove the solder from the individual pins because their pitch is too fine to get a vacuum gun in there. If the camera is servicable at all it will have to be done by someone with excatly the right solder rework equipment and a lot of skill - I would bet that Canon would replace the PCB assembly, not repair the board.

[jpb]

Charles,

 

I, too, am sorry to hear of your mishap. If I were you, since I�d borrowed the camera (and the responsibility with it), I would send the camera to Canon and incur the cost of repair. I really do doubt that you will be forced to replace the entire camera; pins, by definition, are exposed and fragile, and so they are usually installed in some sort of modular way.

 

As you said, you do not have previous digital experience, which means you have absolutely no idea how a digital camera works, and therefore, in my opinion, it would be ludicrous to attempt a self-repair (though, admittedly, tempting nonetheless). Does anyone really expect that the owner would respond with, �well sure, I�m glad you bought a soldering iron so you, the person who broke my extremely expensive camera, could open it up to fix it?�

 

It might be true that some pins have exclusive functions, but I figure, with the amount of functions a camera like that has, fifty pins is not that much to cover them all. So, somewhere in there, there�s probably a function that�s been affected.

 

I wouldn't be sneaky about this, it's too big a burden.

 

It might be fairly expensive (I�m guessing in the hundreds, not the thousands) but by taking responsibly and doing it right, you will not only get the camera fixed and back to its owner, but your integrity will remain intact, as well (and maybe, just maybe, he or she will let you borrow it again).

 

:)

jb

[barmijo]

Have you asked the owner of the camera what he/she want's done?

[paris_hitler]

I just broke a pin on my 30d.

with a Lexar 2gb card... 133x.

I was appauled at canons response... telling me that I placed the card in backwards... I have more of a chance sticking it up my ass then putting it in reverse...

 

All aside... the CF pin connecter needed to be replaced... a device not covered by canon service warrenty...

 

But I searched out a qualified photo technician...

 

and he replaced it in 3 days for about 200 bucks..

 

as opposed to canons 4- 8 week $467 effort...