CF Card can kill

Candace

Hi
My D300S no longer turns on if I have a card in the CF slot. It seems to work fine with only the SD card. Searching the web reveals some other forums with information about killer cards that cause any camera body to fry and need repair. I am leaving on a trip in 2 days and have no time to repair the D300S. I have a D200 and a stack of DF cards with which I can play russian roulette. so here are 2 questions and I hope someone on this forum can answer:
1. is there any reason I need the CF- can I just use the camera with the SD card only?
2. I will admit I removed a card while the camera was turned on- is it possible I shorted the camera and the cards are actually fine?
thanks
Candace

guitstik

Is the trip business or pleasure? I hardly ever use the CF card unless doing a client shoot and shooting RAW. If I'm doing my own portfolio shoot I strictly use the SD for convenience. When shooting stuff with the family for fun I use the "Eye-Fi" card and send everything straight to my phone for exporting to FB or E-mailing to friends.

Again I ask, business or pleasure? If for fun, use the D200 and send the D300s in for repair or just use the SD cards in the D300. Have you re-formatted all the CF cards to see if they operate properly? I Have stopped using PNY cards because I got a bad batch of both CF and SD. I used them once and have been unable to re-format any of them since in either the camera's or computer's. See if it re-formats.

Art Scott

Candace wrote: »

Hi
My D300S no longer turns on if I have a card in the CF slot. It seems to work fine with only the SD card. Searching the web reveals some other forums with information about killer cards that cause any camera body to fry and need repair. I am leaving on a trip in 2 days and have no time to repair the D300S. I have a D200 and a stack of DF cards with which I can play russian roulette. so here are 2 questions and I hope someone on this forum can answer:
1. is there any reason I need the CF- can I just use the camera with the SD card only?
2. I will admit I removed a card while the camera was turned on- is it possible I shorted the camera and the cards are actually fine?
thanks
Candace

1 - should be no reason that you cannot use the SD only...

2- normally the spike that can occur when removing a memory card willl damage the card and it is usually recoverable...... i personally have never read of an instance of the camera being damaged......

almost sound like you have bent cf contacts in the camera body that may be shorting out when a card is inserted...try looking into the cf slot to see if all the wires are nice ansd straight.

Good Luck.

ziggy53

I have not read that CF cards can kill a camera, although it's fairly easy to bend a pin of the CF socket inside the camera. I suppose that a bent pin can cause the body to fail to initialize.

Note: further searching revealed this thread:
http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=39904

If you are a member of NPS (Nikon Professional Services) it might be possible for Nikon to send you a loaner body in the time you have available. Otherwise, if it's an important trip, camera rental is an option.

For complete peace-of-mind, consider purchasing new CF cards for the trip (if you decide to use the D200 or a rental D300, etc.)

guitstik

Some times the simple isn't the most obvious, did you try to put the CF card in backwards. I've attempted this on occasion but thankfully never damaged anything because I don't force an object if it doesn't fit. Things like that usually happen tho when I am in a hurry. Art and Ziggy's post about bent pins made me think of that.

cab.in.boston

A friend has a D300s that also has a damaged CF slot. I think a card may have bent pins over and shorted something. In any event, he had it looked at to repair, but it would have been $2-300 or so, so he decided to just leave it broken. He's been using it with SD cards only with no problems. He just got a D800, though, so his CF-limited D300s is for sale, if you're interested. ;-)

Candace

guitstik wrote: »

Is the trip business or pleasure? I hardly ever use the CF card unless doing a client shoot and shooting RAW. If I'm doing my own portfolio shoot I strictly use the SD for convenience. When shooting stuff with the family for fun I use the "Eye-Fi" card and send everything straight to my phone for exporting to FB or E-mailing to friends.

Again I ask, business or pleasure? If for fun, use the D200 and send the D300s in for repair or just use the SD cards in the D300. Have you re-formatted all the CF cards to see if they operate properly? I Have stopped using PNY cards because I got a bad batch of both CF and SD. I used them once and have been unable to re-format any of them since in either the camera's or computer's. See if it re-formats.

thanks for the info. the trip is pleasure and photography is a minor part but I always like to have the camera with me. I prefer the D300s over the D200, just use it more. I will switch to the SD cards.

Candace

Art Scott wrote: »

1 - should be no reason that you cannot use the SD only...

2- normally the spike that can occur when removing a memory card willl damage the card and it is usually recoverable...... i personally have never read of an instance of the camera being damaged......

almost sound like you have bent cf contacts in the camera body that may be shorting out when a card is inserted...try looking into the cf slot to see if all the wires are nice ansd straight.

Good Luck.

Art- thanks and I am glad to hear it was not my own doing. I will look in and check the pins tonight.
Candace

Candace

cab.in.boston wrote: »

A friend has a D300s that also has a damaged CF slot. I think a card may have bent pins over and shorted something. In any event, he had it looked at to repair, but it would have been $2-300 or so, so he decided to just leave it broken. He's been using it with SD cards only with no problems. He just got a D800, though, so his CF-limited D300s is for sale, if you're interested. ;-)

I was thinking leaving the CF broken and using only the SD. Or is this the reason I need to upgrade yet again!

Candace

guitstik wrote: »

Some times the simple isn't the most obvious, did you try to put the CF card in backwards. I've attempted this on occasion but thankfully never damaged anything because I don't force an object if it doesn't fit. Things like that usually happen tho when I am in a hurry. Art and Ziggy's post about bent pins made me think of that.

if it was only that simple. the card was put in correctly. in fact I tried this with multiple cards.

cab.in.boston

Candace wrote: »

I was thinking leaving the CF broken and using only the SD. Or is this the reason I need to upgrade yet again!

That's exactly what he did - sorry if I wasn't clear. He had failures whenever he tried to use CF, so he just never did and used SD all the time, with no issues. You should be fine doing that.

(If you want to upgrade, feel free, but this shouldn't force you to. )

NeilL

The internal voltages should never cause a melt down type event, I shouldn't think. I wonder if it is really necessary to turn off the camera when inserting/removing CF cards. Might be an urban myth?!

This (in the Canon context):

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=626081

Neil