My D200 seems to have this issue. Often i will receive the -E- err when one of my CF my cards are loaded in it (And then I spend an hour inserting and removing it a dozen times till it works...). I like that the Sd cards are so durable in comparison to the Cf cards which also seem to corrupt much more often than the SD cards and also dont survive washer trips (like the SD cards do).

As to what PB PM said, Have you ever shot Memory stick duo pro like what Sony uses? That is tiny!

I have never had bent pin issues in my camera

But

I did bend the pins in my buffalo card reader that asked me to format the card when attached to the comp.

I plugged the d700 in and imported through lightroom, then formatted.

Still couldn't use the reader, but only CF was broken, so I opened it up and used a very small screwdriver to adjust the pins.

Now, it's as good as new.

I have CHA/FOR errors on my D70, and use contact cleaner to keep it from happening so often. Use an old 64mb card and spray it inside with DeoxIT(tm) Gold G5 Spray, then insert it gently into the connector a few times to clean the pins. Cleaning kits are available also.

Otherwise, pulling the card and re-inserting also works it when the error occurs.

The card reader connector should be replaced if it's got too much gunk and corrosion on it. These are old cameras in today's world. Here comes the D7000, may it give good service for 6 years also!

I bet it is the card. Sounds like he same errors I got from various cards over the years. Kingstion, Transend and the cheap Lexars all gave me errors in my D50,70,80,300. I had to re-flash D50 3 times before it was right. Some cards do some screwy shit for sure. Usually it is the ones that come with software that auto runs. I just buy Sandisk now - never had an issue with those cards - cost more, but worth never having a headache. I would Not shy away from Lexar pro series either - for some reason no one around me sells them.

I doubt you have a bent pen - that seems to be a normal lazy camera shop person answer, in my experience or they don't want to exchange your card. Use a flashlight, if it is bent you will see it.

As NikoDoby said there were a couple of things the original D70's were plagued with. One friend had all the issues between 3 trade-ins. Finely she was given a D70s and she was back in heaven. Quite some time ago though.

I had CHA errors with my D70 after I bought it new.
I returned the camera to the retailer who exchanged it and I've never had a problem with any CF card since.
Possibly a bad batch was responsible for the errors?
I hope to be getting the new D7000 soon. I already have a buyer for the D70.

I preferred cassette tapes once too. They were more durable then CDs because they weren't easy to scratch like a CD. I could also record, delete, and re-record music over and over again. I couldn't do that with a CD until years later. And I had fun making my own mix tapes WITHOUT goofy software to confuse me.

I also preferred the brick mobile phones because they were easier to hold in my hands. I hate how thin these new smart phones are. Brick mobile phones were more like traditional phones and you could really press them up against your ear.

And I loved plowing my fields with Oxen. Tractors are so impersonal and they always break down on you and are expensive to repair. The Ox was a loyal creature and it was fun raising them. As long as I remembered to feed them they never gave me problems

Oh and then there were kerosene lamps...

PB PM said:
Oh gosh, I love CF cards! SD cards are small and so easy to drop and loose. I'll take CF cards over SD any day of the week.

Uh, I just lost a brand new 4GB Sandisk SD card on the street somewhere yesterday. So, you may have a point!

Oh gosh, I love CF cards! SD cards are small and so easy to drop and loose. I'll take CF cards over SD any day of the week.

NikoDoby said:
The D70 is notorious for CF card errors and there is a recall because of a faulty connection/memory card assembly that Nikon will fix for free. If your D70 suffers from BGLOD (Blinking Green Light Of Death) Nikon will repair it for free even though the warranty has long expired.

Yes, I remember reading about this some time ago, but I guess I kept forgetting (or didn't realize) that Nikon would fix it! Thanks! I was literally about to throw my stupid D70 over a cliff on my last ski trip because I was getting so frustrated with it!

NikoDoby said:
I'm not a big fan of CF cards and prefer the "simple" connection of SD cards but that doesn't mean you'll never get errors with SD cards.

And I thought I was the only one who didn't like CF cards! I really much prefer the SD click-in-click-out insertion method, and especially how easily they "self-eject." Never liked sticking CF cards into an array of pins either.

Although it's not unheard of, I think bending the pins is pretty rare. The D70 is notorious for CF card errors and there is a recall because of a faulty connection/memory card assembly that Nikon will fix for free. If your D70 suffers from BGLOD (Blinking Green Light Of Death) Nikon will repair it for free even though the warranty has long expired.

I'm not a big fan of CF cards and prefer the "simple" connection of SD cards but that doesn't mean you'll never get errors with SD cards.

I've never heard of the bent pin issue on any Nikon DSLRs. My brother had a canon point and shoot that took CF cards, and his wife bent a pin on that (not sure how). Canon replaced it for free.

I never had any issues with my D50, which I passed on to my Dad, who as also never had any problems with it.

People like the D50 because it is smaller than the D70(s), but still has the screw drive for older AF lenses, and buttons on the back to switch ISO, WB etc, which the D40 lacked.

PB PM said:
The D50 is a good camera, problem is that the largest cards it can take are 2GBs, since it was made in the pre SDHC era.

Right. I bought a pile of 2GB Sandisk CF cards, thinking it would solve my D70 problem (to no avail). Gotta try to find compatible 2GB SD cards now! Unfortunately, used D50s are still super expensive for some reason? Were the "CHA/FOR" errors ever part of the D50's legacy, that you're aware of?

The D50 is a good camera, problem is that the largest cards it can take are 2GBs, since it was made in the pre SDHC era.

A friend of mine bent a pin on his D70 and it cost like $300 to fix. I really mistreat my D70 yet have never bent a pin. That said, I don't think that Nikon bodies are particularly prone to bending pins.

On an issue related to this thread's title, my D70 has been giving me constant "CHA," "FOR," and "NO DATA" errors ever since I put a Lexar CF card in a reader at work way back in 2005 (my D70 had/has the latest Nikon firmware). I then took the D70 to Samy's Camera in Venice. We then proceeded to try three more brand new Lexar CF cards in my D70, and the errors continued to appear. We then put the brand new cards into a demo body (not a D70), and the new body produced similar errors with every card which we first tried in the D70. The D70 had appeared to have "ruined" the brand new cards.

No matter what brand of "approved" CF cards I use (both Lexar and Sandisk 2GB CF cards), my D70 continues to have errors. Constant re-booting and re-insertion of CF cards temporarily "fixes" the problem. I've been trying to buy a used D70s on Ebay (for its larger screen and for the D70-series' 1/500th sync speed), but I've heard of other users having similar problems, so I've since shied away from another D70 purchase. I'm now searching for a used D50 instead.

Has anyone heard of problems such as bent pins on the D300 or D700 cameras? A salesman at a local camera shop told me that he has seen this problem more with Cannon than Nikon.