Alafoto Loc: Montgomery, AL

Yes, have destroyed several cheap card readers by bending pins within. Always cringed when re-installing card into camera. So glad CF cards are no more.

Alafoto Loc: Montgomery, AL

My old CF cards have no lock. I have ten or so still hanging around

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

I have never seen a lock on any of my CF cards. Are you sure there is one?
Mark

agillot

bend pins in card reader , the older insignia reader was prone to that , went thru 3 of them , the newer insignia NS.DCR30D3K has been improved , no more bent pins .

blue-ultra Loc: New Hampshire

I was going to mention that. It is a common problem tha tis why we do not see them anymore...

Bob

Brian Hartnell Loc: Marinette WI

I have been using CF cards for 19 years on my Canon equipment. Bent pin/s in the card readers are definitely the #1 culprit. Once you bend them, it is almost impossible to fix because just pushing in the CF card at a slight angle can re-bend the pins. Transfer your images using a direct cable from the camera to computer and forget using CF cards in readers. In the near future that is going to be a moot point as camera manufacturers migrate to smaller cards and abandon the CF card altogether. Heck as more cameras work with wireless transfer that is also going to make cables moot at some point but not for legacy cameras.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

I have never had that problem, I have had some readers go bad that needed replacement but have never experienced the problem you describe and I use CF cards exclusively in my Canon cameras.

Brian Hartnell Loc: Marinette WI

I have used CF cards from my digital Canon's for 17 years. The pins in the CF card reader bend and prevent any transfer. Good luck fixing them as they then become weak and bend even easier once you fix them. Either buy a new card reader or use a cable to transfer images. Cables work much better. Just keep the cable in your camera bag and one with your computer. USB to Mini/Micro USB, which ever works on your camera. This also works great on Cellphones, tablets for image transfer.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I've used CF cards for almost 20 years, still have around 100 of them and use eighteen of them regularly in three camera... sometimes swap a dozen or more cards in a day's shoot, have probably done thousands of downloads from them, and always remove the card from the camera and use a reader... I've NEVER bent a pin (knock on wood!)

However, it is possible, I know. (In fact I bought a DSLR with a damaged CF socket for $5, hoping to fix it... but it turned out the damage had shorted out the entire main board of the camera, making it too expensive to repair.)

In this case the original poster says they have tried BOTH a card reader and direct download from the camera using a cable.

While the card is in the camera, can you see the images on the card using image review? If so, I'd suspect a problem with the computer. If not, I'd suspect a damaged memory card.

If it's the latter, look closely at the socket end of the cards to see if there's a pin broken off in one of the holes, or any other sign of damage. It's unlikely, but possible.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

It depends on the program you use to do the download, typically you have to click on a command to do it!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Mine doesn't automatically download. It usually ask me if I want to open Windows Explorer to view/work with the files.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Hmmmm My 5DIV takes em and that is all I use because they are faster than the SD counterpart.

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

Check the age of the CF reader. Some earlier readers (often cheap Chinese imports) had chip-sets incompatible with later USB chip-sets.

jaxpics Loc: NNJ

If you can see the images when the card is in the camera, and you tried using two different card readers to download the images, it doesn't sound like bent pins to me.

Assuming you are using a PC with a Windows OS and this is your first attempt with the CF card, I think you will find the images in File Explorer under a separate drive for the card reader ( USB Drive (F:) - is how my CF Card appears). When you insert a new drive for the first time Windows typically flashes a banner asking how to handle the device with options ranging from 'do nothing' to 'Open folder to view files' to 'Import photos and videos' etc. The banner is easily missed. It sounds like you may have automated the download when inserting the SD card into the reader. To do the same for the CF Card, right click on the drive associated with the card reader in File Explorer and select 'Open AutoPlay'. You will be presented with a pop-up window with multiple options on how to handle the CF Card when it is inserted into the card reader, with 'Import photos and videos' being the one for you.

Hope this helps ..

sv3noKin51E

patcam, haven't ever had a CF card fail yet some do but have had a couple of CF card readers go south, which is why we have several card readers on hand. sv