Common User Mistakes –Not Powering Off the Camera Before Removing Memory Card

Published by LC Technology on February 14, 2022February 14, 2022

If you own any sort of camera, then you might have heard some horror stories about professional photographers or videographers losing their photos or the videos. Well, that happens more often than you might think. The shooting day usually is very fast-paced (whether it’s a wedding, fashion show, hockey game, football game, etc.). And you might be running out of space on your memory card and decide to switch it. And you just might forget to turn off your camera before doing so.

Let’s talk about why it might be not the best practice to replace your memory card while your camera is on.

• Just like when working on a computer, you should eject the memory card or USB device before removing it. This is to make sure the write cycle has completed.

• These types of devices are also very sensitive to electrical spikes which is why you power down the camera before removing the card. Both scenarios can cause file corruption of the memory device.

How to prevent potential data loss?

• Make sure you have enough memory on your card before you go out shooting. (More information here)

• But if it just happens that you have to switch cards at some point. Make sure that the files are completely written to the memory card before you remove it from the camera. In addition, removing the card while the camera is powered up, can result in electrical issues with the card…so make sure you power down the camera prior to swapping memory cards.

And if something happens to your memory devices, lc-tech experts are always here to help and answer all the questions you might have.