# Ahh I think I broke my camera



## BRABUS27 (Nov 25, 2007)

Help!
I shoot a D70s and one of the pins that read the CF card is bent, it will not read the CF card anymore. Is it repairable? If so, how much? Do I have to go to Nikon or can a camera store do it?


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## JIP (Nov 25, 2007)

I guess that depends on how much you trust you local store.  Persoanlly if it were me I would just send it to Nikon (I sent mine there) there serveice is realtively fast and if you can trust anyone you can trust them.


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## ann (Nov 25, 2007)

this happened with a camera that i had and my store(which i trust completely) sent it to back to Canon. 

it was nice having them be the "middle man"


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## JIP (Nov 25, 2007)

For me I say why bother with a middle man when you can send it Nikon direct?.


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## BRABUS27 (Nov 25, 2007)

Any ideas on how much a repair like this will cost? I live in So Cal and I see that Nikon has a technician in El Segundo, I can probably drop it off there?


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## Jbs (Nov 25, 2007)

you just need some pliers! 

send it to nikon, or have a camera store send it like mentioned before.


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## WolfSpring (Nov 25, 2007)

How bent is bent?  I work a lot of electronic repair and I use the blade of a pair of small fingernail clippers to unbend pins all the time, you can use a piece of credit card, or hard plastic to separate it from other pins incase you slip and pry it in place, use the card to get it straight and line it up with other pins.  That is if you are comfortable and/or you don't have warranty and/or you don't want to wait a few weeks for it to be repaired. Just my two cents.


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## JerryPH (Nov 25, 2007)

Have you looked at the opposite end of a CF card lately?

You'd had better be VERY close with it... or you will damage it again.

This kind of error originally starts because people are not careful.  Be GENTLE and never force it.  Once this happens, you may get lucky and fix it yourself, but it will bend again and it could cause a short.

Send it in... get it replaced, even if it costs $100 or $200.  Better that than a useless camera.

Be more gentle in the future.  It takes a lot of effort to bend a pin.


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## DSLR noob (Nov 26, 2007)

How on earth CAN you even bend a Pin? The CF card only goes in one way, has guides, and everything has to be lined up to slide in. I also imagine there is some resistance when pushing in a pin(I.E. if it is difficult, don't keep pushing). Also how does 1 pin get all the stress if they are all equal lengths, and all point towards a hole? IT just doesn't make sense.


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## Garbz (Nov 26, 2007)

Clogged hole in the CF card is one answer. Believe me I've seen plenty strange bent pins on plugs where I have always thought it to be impossible to do like S-Video Cables.


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## BRABUS27 (Nov 26, 2007)

The pin is actually quite bent, if you can imagine a triangle... the tip of the pin is probably creating a 30 degree angle with the body, the mid pin is 70 degrees, and the base of the pin is creating 80 degrees. So it is pretty bent.
I checked the CF card that I used and saw that 2 of th e holes were deformed (I dont know how because I have used it before and it was fine).
It was dark and I was in a hurry to take a picture, which is probably why I used so much force :banghead:


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## newrmdmike (Nov 26, 2007)

just like your head on the wall there buddy. . . take it easy on things! lol


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## digital flower (Nov 26, 2007)

My wife forced the CF card in the wrong way on my Coolpix 8400 and it bent one of the pins and shorted something else out (forget what now). I took it to PhotoTech in Manhattan who in turned sent it to Nikon. I got it back fast (faster than if I shipped it to Nikon, I think) and it was under $200. At first they thought they were going to fix it and gave me an estimate and then told me they had to ship it Nikon. I got it about 10 days later for the same price.

We have since had a lesson on CF card insertion at my house


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## BRABUS27 (Nov 26, 2007)

Darn, so im looking at around ~$200. Thats what the other forum said too.


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## soylentgreen (Nov 26, 2007)

Yeah, if it's bent that bad, tahn have the factory fix it. My card reader had bent pins, but I was able to tweak them back into shape with a thin pair of needle nose pliers. Metal does not bend back to it's original point, so you still have to be careful re-aligning. Factory will probably swap out a whole new interface. Hence $200.


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## Atropine (Nov 27, 2007)

Personally I think there's a big design flaw on the CF cards. The contacts should have been on the short side of the card. This would have made it impossible to insert it the wrong way (the hole in the camera would be too small).

In strictly user oriented point of view, the Sony MemoryStick is close to perfection. It has a few and non-fragile contacts and a shape that eliminates the chances of inserting it the wrong way.

The CF standard is obsolete and fragile and I've often wondered why semipro/pro cameras still use it.


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## JerryPH (Nov 27, 2007)

Atropine said:


> Personally I think there's a big design flaw on the CF cards.
> 
> The CF standard is obsolete and fragile and I've often wondered why semipro/pro cameras still use it.


 
The real design flaw is in the human who cannot pay proper attention to something as simple as the insertion of any card into their camera. No matter what technology used. You show me any technology out there, and I can show you a person that will jam it in there backwards anyway, whether it fits... or not. 

The CF standard is FAR from obsolete. It is nowhere near as fragile as a smaller and thinner SD card and has much faster write speeds. Matter of fact it is good enough to be the card of choice on the latest camera released out there, the Nikon D3... and not just a slot for one card, but *two*! The second CF card can be used as additional storage or automatic backup of every picture you take.


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