Used memory card, New Nikon

hkaborn2

Senior Member
Hello. I am asking this out of an abundance of caution. I just bought a Nikon D5500 and am going through initial set up. I have a suitable SD memory card (16 mb, class 10) that contains photos from a recent vacation but which still has lots of available space for additional photos. Photos were taken with a Canon point and shoot digital camera. If I were to use it with my new Nikon would I risk losing my vacation photos? Thank you.
 

cwgrizz

Senior Member
Challenge Team
My thinking would be yes. It will need to be formatted in the camera. If it were me, I would copy all of the vacation photos onto my computer to save them and then format the card in the new camera and start fresh.
 

480sparky

Senior Member
Yep. Copy everything on the card to at least two (preferably three) drives, then reformat the card in-camera.

The camera may vomit a few times if it gets a whiff of Canon scent, but that will diminish over time.
 

weebee

Senior Member
I've used a card from my Sony point and shoot then in my D3200. The camera will just create its own folder without harming the other pictures/folders already present as long as you don't format the card in the camera. Though, using a SD card formatted for the camera is the best way to go.
 

Pretzel

Senior Member
A good habit to establish is to download all pics from an outing right away, then format the SD card in-camera before the next outing. It helps ensure you always have room, is better for the health of the SD card, and makes sure that if there is any data corruption, you lose as few "memories" as possible.

Other than that, once you use a card once, it's "used" from that point forward, so there shouldn't be any issues. :D

BTW, welcome to the forums!
 

Woodyg3

Senior Member
Contributor
Yep. I would never use an SD card for long term storage. Too many things could go wrong, not the least of which is losing one of those tiny little things. :) I always copy files onto a hard drive right after a shoot, then back that up in two locations.

SD cards are pretty inexpensive anyway, so why not have a couple or more for each of your cameras? (I know, it'sporetty easy for ME to spend YOUR money, isn't it? :) )
 

carguy

Senior Member
Soon after a shoot, I upload to my PC via Lightroom to an External Drive (A)
I back the files up to the cloud using Backblaze.
Reformat my cards (in camera).
Backup External Drive A to a second External Drive B that goes in the safe

:)
 

skater

New member
The Nikon will not automatically overwrite your Canon photos. It's not a predator. If you tell it to format the card, obviously it will delete everything on the card, but you don't HAVE to do that - the Nikon will create a new folder for its pictures and work fine. Further, my experience with Canons is that they use IMG_ for the filenames, while Nikon uses DSC_ (by default, but this can be changed on some cameras), so even if it uses the same folders, the filenames shouldn't overlap. And even if they did, the camera should be checking before writing so that it doesn't overwrite a file.

Digital cameras use the same file systems (either FAT32 or exFAT, depending on the size), a card used in a Canon will be readable in a Nikon, and vice versa.

I do agree with formatting when it makes sense, such as after copying everything off the card. Windows and OS X will leave small, hidden "preview" files (and other info) on the card to speed up access, so even if you delete the main pictures, the previews can still be there, taking up space, and over time that starts to add up. So, as other said, I also like to format after copying the pictures to the computer.

I wouldn't store pictures on an SD card for longer than necessary, though. It's easy to forget what's on a card and lose pictures the next time you format, or lose track of what you did and didn't copy off of the card. And SD cards do die from time to time.
 

fotojack

Senior Member
One thing to remember, too, and it's not stated often enough, is to turn OFF the camera before removing your memory card or inserting your memory card into the camera.
 

Moab Man

Senior Member
It's best to get in the habit after each outing to download your images off the card and then reformat the card each time you put it back in the camera. What happens over time is stray data here and there will corrupt the card. Reformatting cleans up the card and gives it fresh instructions thereby lessening the chances for a card crash. I have helped a number of people recover (Wendy on here for one) their data due to not reformatting regularly. And when the card does crash, due to Murphy's Law, it will happen at the worst time.
 

Pretzel

Senior Member
One thing to remember, too, and it's not stated often enough, is to turn OFF the camera before removing your memory card or inserting your memory card into the camera.

I've never prescribed to that... I knew to wait until the read/write light was off, but what other issues can it cause?

Typically, my camera is off because all the shooting was done earlier in the day, it's back in the bag, and I'm uploading when I get home, but just curious, mainly...
 

fotojack

Senior Member
I've never prescribed to that... I knew to wait until the read/write light was off, but what other issues can it cause?

Typically, my camera is off because all the shooting was done earlier in the day, it's back in the bag, and I'm uploading when I get home, but just curious, mainly...

It's been known to corrupt cards, Pretzel. It's not a common occurrence, but it has been known to happen. Why risk it? Cards are expensive enough.

Besides...if you look in your manual, it tells you to turn it off before inserting or removing cards! :)
 

lucien

Senior Member
my friend had an issue, he has a nikon d50. He took 6 sample pics on his card. I took his card out straight out of the camera thinking nikon is nikon. I put the card in my D5000, lo and behold. When he got home he couldn't read/see what I took. He doesn't have a reader, and the camera directly plugged into the computer didn't show the other pics. In the end he took it to walmart used their reader to see what he wanted to print and their reader picked up everything from both cameras from the same card. Better to err on the side of caution !!
 

480sparky

Senior Member
my friend had an issue, he has a nikon d50. He took 6 sample pics on his card. I took his card out straight out of the camera thinking nikon is nikon. I put the card in my D5000, lo and behold. When he got home he couldn't read/see what I took. He doesn't have a reader, and the camera directly plugged into the computer didn't show the other pics. In the end he took it to walmart used their reader to see what he wanted to print and their reader picked up everything from both cameras from the same card. Better to err on the side of caution !!


That's because you can only use the same camera that took the image to see it either on the camera monitor or with the camera plugged into a computer through a USB cord.
 
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