Computer won't download photos taken with Canon and Nikon cameras

[susanhmason]

What type of firmware do I need to enable my computer to load photos from my SD card? My current camera is an EOS Rebel T7, but this SD card has been used on this and two other cameras. One of the other cameras was a Canon and the other was a Nikon, so I have pictures on this card for all three cameras. The Current camera is the newest and I have only owned it for a few weeks and haven't taken that many pictures with it yet. I have 3 laptops and none of them will load pictures off this SD card, and I even tried another card, and they won't load the pictures off the other card either. All of the cards I have were used with the same 3 cameras. I don't have the other 2 cameras anymore, but I still have the cards because I want to keep the pictures. All I get is this big black box with no pictures in it. I never used to have any problem loading my pictures from the SD card onto my computer. What am I missing now?

[normadel]

An SD card must be formatted in the camera it is being used in. . Moving a card from camera to camera, especially different camera brands, without formatting it is asking for trouble, and you found it.

Why are you doing this? Each camera should have an SD card in it, formatted in-camera. 

[susanhmason]

I don't have the other two cameras anymore, I gave them away when I got my new one. I can see the pictures while the card is in the camera, except for a few short videos which were taken on the Nikon. Most of the pictures were taken on the other Canon. I replaced the other Canon because it was one of those zoom cameras and it got a spot on the lens coating that made a spot in the picture blurry. I had no idea that I couldn't use the card in different cameras. I just want to find out how I can get my pictures off the card. Not only can I see the pictures as long as the card is in my camera, but I can also still take new pictures with my new camera even with the same card. I can do everything except play the videos that were taken on the Nikon and get my pictures onto my computer. 

[susanhmason]

Also, I just managed to download some of the pictures on that card, but only the ones shot on the Nikon camera. There are tons of photos still on the card, but I believe they were all shot on one of the Canons. The Nikon pictures loaded off the card, because I apparently have Nikon firmware on my computer. The card must be able to separate the pictures, otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to load the Nikon pictures onto my computer. 

[jrhoffman75]

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@susanhmason wrote:

Also, I just managed to download some of the pictures on that card, but only the ones shot on the Nikon camera. There are tons of photos still on the card, but I believe they were all shot on one of the Canons. The Nikon pictures loaded off the card, because I apparently have Nikon firmware on my computer. The card must be able to separate the pictures, otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to load the Nikon pictures onto my computer. 

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There would be no Nikon firmware installed on your computer.

How are you trying to download your images from the SD card?

You should use an SD card reader. Create a folder on your computer. Put the SD card in the reader. Then copy all the files on the SD card into the folder.

[susanhmason]

That is exactly what I did, and have been trying to do all along. I have a card reader plugged into a USB port.  This laptop also has a card reader, but, it wasn't reading anything so I got another card reader. At first, the new card reader wouldn't read anything, but yesterday the card reader light actually turned on for the first time. I was able to get a number of pictures onto my computer. I dragged them into a separate folder on my desktop. But when I put the card back into my camera, there were still many photos on the card. Now, the card reader light won't come on, again. It never came on except for that one time yesterday. 

[normadel]

You may have damaged the file system on the SD card, to the point where it's not working reliably. Photos may not be retrievable.

Again, you CAN use a card on different camera IF AND ONLY IF you reformat it in the camera to use it in.

If you give up retrieving photos and want to check out the health of the SD card, there is an app you can download for Windows and Macs called "SD CARD Formatter".  It is from the organization that maintains SD standards. It resets the structure of an SD card. If it can. Then, put it in your camera and FORMAT IT THERE. This is important.