Memory card prongs are bent?

[rwilliams]

My ex husband screwed up my last camera by jamming a memory card down and bending two of the prongs in the reader. Since then, I've bought a new, better camera, but would like to use my old camera as a back up. Anyone ever had this happen? We don't have a single camera repair shop in my city and am not really sure what to do with it. Do I need to mail it to Canon to work on it?

 

[lambertpix]

Luckily, I never had this happen with a camera, but I had this problem once with a cheap card reader. I was able to use a long, skinny letter opener or screwdriver IIRC to reach in and nudge the bent pin back into line, but the pin alignment was really touchy from that point on. This *might* be good enough for you as a backup solution, especially if you don't have to change cards frequently. My guess is that you'll find the cost of repair to be a large fraction of the value of your camera if you decide to send it in.

 

[ShaneF]

Not sure what to tell you except before you jam anything in it take the battery out. Good luck!!

 

[petrochemist]

I think it's a relatively common problem for CF cards. Try phoning a few repair shops as the card holder might be easy for them to change.
I've known of 2 CF readers where a repair has been attempted by bending the pins back, in one the owner was able to bend the pins straight and get it working, with the other the pin snapped off while trying to correct it.

I'm glad none of my cameras use CF. SD seems much more robust, I've only had them fail when trodden on, and even then it's usually posible to read the data off the remains of the card.

 

[Braineack]

MY dad actually did this to his rebel xt. I was going to fix it, but then he just bought a D5100 instead (after returning the T3i he bought first).

 

[The_Traveler]

This kind of thing was a problem with the D70 where the pins actually could get pushed back through the board.
I had a D70 like that and so once I actually got a card seated I left it in place and downloaded through the cord-to-camera method.

 

[Big Mike]

It's not an unheard of problem, and as posted already, some people have managed to bend the pin(s) back into position.

If that's not a option for you, or if you try and screw it up worse...just go to Canon's site and navigate to the photography equipment service section. You'll be instructed on how & where to send your camera in for service.