Camera Help

New SD Card Stuck In Camera

group of sd cards

I about had a heart attack yesterday. I had just reformatted one of my new SanDisk SD cards that I bought in preparation for my photoshoots coming up next week. I put it in my camera, wanting to test it out for my photoshoot with my family that afternoon. I noticed it was a slightly tight fit, so I tried to push down, which usually is what I do to release the card. When it didn’t pop back up, my stomach dropped slightly. When I tried again, and it stayed in place, my heart joined my stomach. My new SD card was stuck in my camera.

What to Do When a New SanDisk SD Card Is Stuck In Your Camera

If you are anything like me, then a frantic Google search led you here. Attempting not to start crying, I clicked on a few unhelpful links, telling me that the security tab must be broken, that something had gotten in the SD card slot before the card, and even a suggestion to put electrical tape around the card (DON’T DO THIS). Thankfully I eventually stumbled upon a solution that solved my problem- a video on YouTube by Theoria Apophasis, which I will share for you here:

Removing Burrs

The person in the video calls this method “de-burring”. He says to scratch the burs off of the sides of the new cards. I spent about 10 second scratching on each side with my fingernail, and then I held my breath as I reinserted it into my camera. I pushed to release, and IT WORKED. I have no idea why this made such of a difference – I noticed nothing coming off or changing as I scratched the sides of the cards, but HALLELUJAH and thank you Lord for YouTube and people sharing ideas on how to fix such a random issue.

Can't Get the SD Card Out of Your Camera?

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to scratch off the burrs until the card is out of your camera. For me, I was thankfully able to ease it out by slightly wobbling it back and forth and pulling just enough that I felt half-way comfortable I wasn’t going to break anything. Some people recommended putting in a flat metal tool to release the card, but I would be VERY careful with putting anything in your camera that is not designed to be used for it. I think my SanDisk SD card was able to come out because it had been released, it was just stuck enough from being too tight of a fit, that it needed to be pulled out.

I wish you luck, and hope this solves your issue as easy as it did mine! And a big thank you to Theoria Apophasis!