Equipment .... um.... accidents

A while ago I dropped my beloved 16 - 35 squarely onto the mounting ring onto a ceramic tiled floor and while manual focus worked, much of the internal focus cams were sheared. I had it repaired and the repair cost was less than straight out replacement. It is now insured. Now, my beloved CF card was removed from a camera body and somehow ended up in the laundry cycle sans the protective plastic cover sleeve. Question. While the image files are there and recoverable, do I ditch the card and replace or is the card that tough that I continue using it without fear? Anyone with similar experiences? Am I pushing my luck? Should I change my user name?





happy photo'ing





mal

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Originally Posted by malfunctions

I dropped my beloved 16 - 35 squarely onto the mounting ring

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[:(]



Do I dare ask how much it cost to fix it? Either way, you have it fixed. That's the main thing.



Regarding CF cards, in my experience they have proven pretty tough. And by "tough" I mean dropping them from camera height onto tile floors, putting them down on the ground outside for a few minutes, getting some rain drops on them by accident, etc.


Even though I would the believe the card to be fine, I would suggest testing all card functions before totally dismissing this dryer "incident". I would shoot with it at various rates (fast shooting, single shot), along with an upload test as well as a card format test.



Depending on the heat of your dryer, maybe some of the plastic has been damaged and negatively affects file transfer to and from the card -That's what were testing for.



Good luck!





- Alex

Hmmm....


If it were me, I would dry the card thoroughly...and I mean thoroughly (better safe than sorry). Then I'd plug it into my least used (or cheapest) computer's card reader to make sure there wasn't a short in it and that everything functioned as normal. Only after passing that test would I stick it back in my camera.


Of course, you may not want to take advice on gear security from a guy who mounted his camera to the very edge of his car...



http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4039/...3c427e70_m.jpg

Ahh the agony. From the land of Oz, the repair cost was $800AUD. New lens cost was $1700AUD. The 17-40L f4 was $1000AUD. Talk about a rock and a hard place! It was fixed, the glass was fine, all realigned and works great! It even has a brand new serial # since the lens mount was distorted! A great advert for the robustness of the glass elements... not so good for the electronics and plastic parts.





I suspect the CF cards are pretty tough too! Trust me though, it was accidental, not deliberate but what a way to find out.

I have washed many, many flash drives and CF cards. All are still working. Dry them very well before getting them anywhere nearelectricityand I bet you will be fine. They are remarkably tough bits of technology.

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Originally Posted by alexniedra

Even though I would the believe the card to be fine, I would suggest testing all card functions before totally dismissing this dryer "incident". I would shoot with it at various rates (fast shooting, single shot), along with an upload test as well as a card format test.

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[Disclaimer: I'm an engineer with a modest amount of English-language proofreading experience.]


Here's the rub: without access to the full library of CF controller codes, an application that can test those codes against every bit/nybl/byte/block of the CF card, you're not going to be able to test the card, but instead you'll merely be experimenting with it and gaining empirical/clinical evidence. (Much along the lines of the people who say "my new camera arrived today, I'll test the auto-focus and let you know the results" - without checking the phase alignment of the light rays on the AF sensor and the image sensor, there's no true way to "test" AF as a user.)


I'd copy off whatever files you may want/need, then destroy or donate the card as you see fit. Or relabel it for use when carrying images to the camera shop for printing - they're still on your computer so if the card loses some data you are only out the gas money and time.

I agree with peety3. This is kinda like motorcycle helmets, or baby car seats. Once they have been in a car accident, you are supposed to replace those safety devices even if they look OK. You never know what little crack or defect has developed that you can't see.


While not quite as important as personal safety, photographing with a potentially damaged card is just a ticking time bomb. You never know when that one critical photo lands on that one little defective spot on the CF card, and the image becomes unrecoverable.