I've been using this camera for family photos for about a year now and suddenly it's showing a memory card error. It's frustrating because I have a trip coming up and need it working. The card is a standard SD one I bought on Amazon. I tried formatting it in the camera like the manual says, but that didn't help. Then I put it in my computer and formatted there, still no luck. Maybe it's the card itself, but I don't want to buy a new one if it's the camera's fault. Budget is tight, so hoping for a simple fix. Anyone have ideas?
Your memory card might be faulty since formatting did not resolve the error. Test with another card to confirm if the issue is with the card or the camera. If a replacement is needed and consider the SanDisk 128GB SD card for its reliability and 100MB/s read speed and suitable for family photos and full HD video. This option provides good capacity without high cost, making it ideal for tight budgets compared to smaller or pricier alternatives.
Clean the card and slot contacts with a soft cloth, then test with a friend's card to pin down whether the card is worn out or the camera is at fault. If it points to the camera, check your warranty.
First check the tiny lock switch on the side of the card. If it has shifted toward the locked position even slightly the camera will throw errors. Slide it firmly to the unlocked end, reseat the card, and try again. While you have it out, lightly clean the gold contacts with a soft cloth or a pencil eraser and blow any dust out of the slot. Easy fix sometimes.
Confirm the card format and capacity your camera supports. Many older bodies refuse cards larger than 32 GB or formats other than the one they expect. If your card is 64 GB or more and was formatted by the computer, the camera may not like it. Try a smaller capacity card borrowed from a friend to see whether the camera behaves.
Do a full format in the camera if it will let you, not a quick one. If the option is missing, do a complete erase on the computer using its disk utility, then put the card back in the camera and format again so it writes its own structure.
Isolate the fault. Put your current card in another device that can use SD and see if it works there. Then try a different known good card in your camera. If your camera rejects every card, the slot or its pins may be the culprit. A settings reset or a firmware update from the maker can also clear stubborn media errors.
If one other card works fine and this one keeps failing,, retire it. If no card works, consider having the slot inspected, since worn or bent contacts can cause exactly what you are seeing.
Had this happen mid trip and it turned out not to be the card at all. The little plastic lock tab on the side was loose and the camera thought it was locked. I nudged it toward unlock and put a tiny sliver of thin tape over the channel to keep it from sliding & then reformatted in camera. Worked ever since.
Another thing that bit me was formatting on the computer with the wrong file system. A full format on the computer followed by a format in the camera cleared the error. If the camera still complains, power the camera off, pull the battery for a minute, then try again. Weird, but it can reset the card interface.
If you have any photos you care about on that card, stop writing to it and run recovery on a computer first so you do not make things worse. After that, test with a different card borrowed from someone. If the second card is fine then yours is done. If both fail then the slot or controller in the camera may need service. Hope it is just the tab. Works great.
Sounds frustrating and especially with a trip coming up.
dealt with something similar last year and after formatting failed, I ran a disk check on the card through my computer - that found some errors and fixed them right up and but only if it's not totally dead.
You plug it in, right-click the drive, properties, tools, check now or whatever it's called in your OS.
I tried that and it fixed everything but then I backed up my stuff first, just in case...
yeah.
If that flops, probably time to consider if the camera's reader is the culprit.