Why would my canon t3i Eos say there is not a card in it, when there is?

[debydevore]

I saw this question asked, but not answered-beacuse they did not ive the product info-

I have a rebel t3i EOS, I have a card in it, but the camera says it doesn't-any ideas-realitively new card-

[cicopo]

It's very likely you've bought a card in a newer format than the camera can write to. If you check your manual it most likely recommends using SD and SDHC cards which were the only types available when it was designed. Since then new styles of SD cards have been developed but use a different method to save the photo so the camera can't recognize them.

[debydevore]

It is a SDHC card, and has had no trouble before.  I appreciate the answer, I'm going to purchae a new card and hope that fixes the issue-I can't guarantee I did not touch the metal prongs-which may have caused it to quit reading- I'm glad I found this site!  Thanks so much for your time!

[Skirball]

Can your computer read the card?

[cicopo]

Touching the terminals shouldn't hurt it or none of mine would work. I've seen one work after the camera it was in flooded in salt water when the user didn't close the housing properly & I know of one that went through the laundry process. For what they cost we all need spares on hand but if you have a card reader do see if your computer recognizes it & if so try formatting it using the FAT32 file system.

[Skirball]

^^^ +1

Knock on wood, but I've never had a problem with an SD card, and I haven't always been delicate with them.  They're more resilient than people give them credit for.  That said, anything can fail. 

[jaygorzy]

You must be kidding.  A brand-new Canon T3i can't recognize "newer" SD cards?  I stuck the same SD card into an 8-year-old Nikon D90 and it recognized and read the same card perfectly.  If Canon cameras are this squirrely, I'm going back to Nikon.

[hcbph]

Did you format the card and did you do it in the camera?  You might want to try reformatting the card in camera and see if that fixes your problems, assuming you have the right card.

Good luck

[ebiggs1]

Lexar and SanDisk memory cards are the safest bets when it comes to reliability and performance. I’ve used them for years and trust them with all of my pro work. If you plan on utilizing some of the more advanced features on the T3i (video, RAW, burst) then go with a Lexar Professional (133x or higher) or a SanDisk Extreme (30MB/s or higher). 

The Rebel T3i accepts SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards.  Canon recommends a Class 6 card or faster for recording HD movies. UHS-I compliant cards are supported, but the camera does not take advantage of their increased bus speeds.

[timotrio]

I also have a rebel T3i and have the same problem. I have tried changing cards, newer or older it doesn't recognize that there is a card in the camera. I checked each card on my computer to see if the camera was misreading the card and was saving pictures on them. This didn't bear fruit. Took out and charged the battery, turned the camera on and off. I am guessing that the contacts inside the camera are bad or dirty. I am going to try and clean them.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Tim