Cracked SD card in Hoodman adapter. Thoughts?

[Erik German]

First, my thanks to all on this forum who have allowed me to benefit from their experience. If a thread already exists on this problem, my apologies, but I think I've exhausted the possible search terms.

The gist: I love my Hoodman SXS adapters -- use them daily in my EX1 -- but I noticed a glitch yesterday. In my two oldest adapters, the SD cards stick out a millimeter or so from the end of the adapter. They don't stick out so far that the door of the EX hits them. But something else is definitely hitting them. The top edges of both SD cards have somehow been slightly crushed or chipped. I only noticed this recently and the cards still work fine. I'm trying to figure out how or when this damage could have happened.

Each adapter has its dedicated SD card, which I only take out when I need to field-dump footage directly onto an SD-slotted Macbook Pro. My theory is it has something to do with the fact the SD cards protrude (I bought these two in July). I've had no such problem with my third Hoodman adapter, whose SD card sits flush when seated, which I bought in October.

The kind folks at Hoodman -- who've offered to replace both adapters for free -- say I'm the first to report this kind of problem. My thought is perhaps the edge of the carrying case lids have been catching on, and perhaps cracking, the seam on top of the SD cards when I close them in the field.

The Hoodman folks, reasonably enough, dispute this because they've got so many units in the field and they say no one else has reported this problem. Their theory is the SD cards are suffering impact of some kind somewhere else in my workflow. I'm not in a position to disagree and am more than ready to eat the cost of two new SD cards. I just can't figure out how precisely the same impact happened to the two SD cards in the older adapters.

If anyone out there has a good guess or a similar experience, I'd once again be in your debt. (Literally, because I can't afford to be replacing these spendy Hoodman SD cards all the time). Here's a link to photos of the one of the adapters and damaged cards: Picasa Web Albums - Erik - Hoodman problems

Thanks and cheers,

--Erik

[Charles Newcomb]

You're not nuts. I just checked all of mine and found one of them that has the SDHC card sticking slightly out of the adapter. I ejected it and re-inserted it, and it's still sticking slightly out, even after it clicks into place.

A few months ago Hoodman replaced an adapter and a 16GB card for me when the card stuck in the adapter and cracked when I tried to get it out. It seems to work okay, however.

I guess I better call them in the morning to get them to replace the one that's sticking out slightly.

EDIT: Hmmm. I just noticed two adapters I got from Hoodman in November have a green sticker inside the slot where the SDHC card slips in, and the ones I bought previously, including the one I have now that sticks out a little and the one I sent back, don't have the green sticker. I have another I got last summer (without the sticker) that seems to align just fine.

[Erik German]

Thanks for posting. For me, the adapter w/ the green insides is the good one. Both of my problem units are black inside.

As for the source of the breakage, one other possibility may be that sometimes I stick the Hoodman units inside Sony SxS card cases when I'm swapping in the field. The tolerances on the Sony cases seem to be a bit tighter than those of the Hoodman. When I close a Sony case with the Hoodman inside, the lid seems to rub and catch on the seam of the protruding SD card. I'm not sure if that's enough to cause the SD card's edge to chip, but it's the only theory I've got at the moment...

[Marcus Durham]

I have one MxM adaptor like this. I filed down the part of the case that rubbed and its fine.

I also found that adaptors generally sit better in the cases in one direction than the other.

[Charles Newcomb]

Maybe I confused you... the best of my lot are the ones with the green stickers.