S50 and Microdrive

My local camera dealer offered to allow me to take some test pictures with an S50. All went well until we tried to remove my 340MB Microdrive. The release button achieved some movement but final extraction using our fingers was not possible. The assistant disappeared with the camera and re-appeared some 20 minutes later have effected the seperation.

When I got home I realisied from marks on the Microdrive that he had clearly resorted to the use pliers.
As I use Microdrives exclusively this incident has put me off the S50.
Is my concern justified?

I currently own an S50 after previously owning an S40, and I've exclusively used 1 gig micro drives in the camera. I don't even own a regular compact flash card. I have experianced zero problems using the microdrive. I'm not sure why you had a problem, or if there was something wrong with that camera but I have never experienced anything like that. On the S40, the battery release switch began to get loose over time, causing the battery to sometimes popup if I openned the door, but that was the only problem I've ever had in that area of the camera.

-Herb

Roy Ashcroft said:

My local camera dealer offered to allow me to take some test
pictures with an S50. All went well until we tried to remove my
340MB Microdrive. The release button achieved some movement but
final extraction using our fingers was not possible. The assistant
disappeared with the camera and re-appeared some 20 minutes later
have effected the seperation.
When I got home I realisied from marks on the Microdrive that he
had clearly resorted to the use pliers.
As I use Microdrives exclusively this incident has put me off the S50.
Is my concern justified?

Click to expand...

my son has a new S50 that he got for his birthday.

I have two one gig IBM Microdrives I use for my EOS 1Ds.

A few days ago, I stuck one of the MD's in his S50 & took 30 shots. When I tried to remove the card, it absolutely refused to eject. I finally had to pry it out with the tip of a steak knife!!

The camera works fine, but I doubt I will ever try an MD in it again.

He uses Lexar 512 cf cards & they work fine, so he will stick with those.

-John

Roy Ashcroft said:

My local camera dealer offered to allow me to take some test
pictures with an S50. All went well until we tried to remove my
340MB Microdrive. The release button achieved some movement but
final extraction using our fingers was not possible. The assistant
disappeared with the camera and re-appeared some 20 minutes later
have effected the seperation.
When I got home I realisied from marks on the Microdrive that he
had clearly resorted to the use pliers.
As I use Microdrives exclusively this incident has put me off the S50.
Is my concern justified?

Click to expand...

It's possible that your Microdrive is a hair thicker than the official Compactflash Type II physical specifications, and thus requires a plier for removal.

I had the same problem with a 1-gig Iomega drive. However, the IBM version ejected with no problems. The Iomega version was a bit thicker.

--
Sabesh
http://www.pbase.com/sabesh

sabesh said:

I had the same problem with a 1-gig Iomega drive. However, the IBM
version ejected with no problems. The Iomega version was a bit
thicker.

Click to expand...

That's odd, because the Iomega is nothing more than a re-badged IBM.

IBM's QC must not be real great.

-John

JohnM31499 said:

JohnM wrote:
That's odd, because the Iomega is nothing more than a re-badged IBM.
IBM's QC must not be real great.
-John

Click to expand...

Yes, it IS a re-branded IBM. It says that it is an "IBM Microdrive" at the back of the unit. I have a feeling that the Iomega layer is pasted onto the IBM shell and hence, increasing it's thickness.

--
Sabesh
http://www.pbase.com/sabesh

sabesh said:

I have a feeling that the Iomega layer is
pasted onto the IBM shell and hence, increasing it's thickness.

Click to expand...

got stuck in my sons S50 is an IBM drive, not an Iomega.

It works fine in my 1Ds & worked fine in all my other Canon D-SLR's however.

-John

I too have had a problem with 1GB Microdrive. I bought my S50 only 3 weeks ago and my local dealer has had to return it, complete with stuck Microdrive, to Canon. I have used this card with absolutely no problems in my other cameras. Canon. of course, claim that they've never heard of this problem and I have no doubt they are going to charge me for taking it out. Will keep you posted.
Janice

I use a 1GB microdrive with no problems in my S45, sildes in and out just fine. Since the S45 has the same chassis as the S50, there really shouldn't be a difference I think. But I know some people, including you, have reported this. Yet others are using Microdrives with no problem. Microdrive is supported by Canon for usage with the Sxx series. I always remove it and insert it into my card reader when transferring, so I would notice if there was a problem. If it would help to identify any issue with various versions of Microdrives, the label on the back reads this:

Model: MSCM-11000
P/N: 07N4071
"MADE IN THAILAND BY IBM STORAGE
PRODUCTS (THAILAND) LTD E182115 T"
Copyright IBM Corp 1999,2000

Regards,
Roger

JohnM said:

JohnM31499 said:

I have a feeling that the Iomega layer is
pasted onto the IBM shell and hence, increasing it's thickness.

Click to expand...

got stuck in my sons S50 is an IBM drive, not an Iomega.

It works fine in my 1Ds & worked fine in all my other Canon D-SLR's
however.

-John

Click to expand...

Hi,

I read in a post that some suggest to remove the sticker on the top of the MD and that helps.

I do not own a MD, but that sounds plausible.

Duc