Polaroid A - Recent Questions, Troubleshooting & Support - Page 8

The best way to download pictures from your camera to your computer involves removing the memory card from the camera and plugging it into a card reader (either built-in to the computer or connected via USB or FireWire). This is likely to be faster than connecting the camera to the computer, and won't run down your camera's batteries.

Once the card is plugged in, it will appear to your computer as a removable drive. You can use the operating system's drag&drop facility to copy pictures from the card to the computer's hard drive. Or you can use any photo cataloging program.

Your camera uses SD memory cards. On one edge is a slider switch: towards the electrical contacts is the unlocked position and away from them is locked.

Unfortunately, the switch is easy to move accidentally and it's also easy for it to appear to be unlocked when it isn't. Like any mechanical component it's also possible for the switch to fail.

If the switch is in the locked position then slide it fully to the unlocked position; if it's already in the unlocked position, slide it fully to the locked position and then fully back again. There should be a soft click at each end of the switch travel, if not then the switch is definitely faulty or obstructed.

If that fails, then try looking closely at the switch in both positions to ensure that there is no debris obstructing its movement, if not then check the electrical contacts to ensure that they're completely clean and grease-free. Don't touch the contacts with your bare skin, but if the contacts need cleaning then a cotton bud (Q-tip) moistened with a little alcohol or methylated spirits can be used to clean them.

If you still have no fix, then try a different SD card as yours may have an irreparable faulty switch. If the card does prove to be faulty then on most major brands you may be able to return them to the manufacturer for exchange: I've found that they will often do this on a goodwill basis even if the card is out of warranty.

If all options regarding the memory card are unsuccessful, then you have a faulty camera and further remedies require either a professional repair or replacement of the camera.

I hope that my answer has been of use and has given you additional options to fix your problem. Please take a moment to rate my reply.

Hello

Please download Disc Digger HERE. This is a free tool you can use that works very well and there is no installation required, just run the program once you downloaded it.

Once you have connected the memory card to the computer via either the camera or preferably with a usb card reader , run the program.

On the program , select the dig deep option for accidentaly deleted files or dig deeper for a formatted card. Then select the card you want to do the recovery on and run the program.

The data will be displayed and you can recover it from there. This will only work if the card has not been used since the pictures were lost. Save the files to a location on the computer hard drive and not back to the memory card as this will overwrite the other pictures that still needs to be recovered.

Some of the properties of the files may become lost in the recovery but the pictures should be fine.

Feel free to ask if you need more assistance.

Kind Regards
Andrea

you need a SD card...they go for cheap i believe. make sure its not the mini or micro....it should be the plain sd card..
heres a picture:
http://blog.frankvh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/sd-card.jpeg
sanddisk i always a good company but they are all the same for me.

post for more help :)

-mike

Yes.

The best way to download pictures from your camera to your computer involves removing the memory card from the camera and plugging it into a card reader (either built-in to the computer or connected via USB or FireWire). This is likely to be faster than connecting the camera to the computer, and won't run down your camera's batteries.

Once the card is plugged in, it will appear to your computer as a removable drive. You can use the operating system's drag&drop facility to copy pictures from the card to the computer's hard drive. Or you can use any photo cataloging program.

Hello

The problem is that the lens has become stuck in the barrel. There are some DIY solutions you could try, but the probability is that you will have to get it fixed by a professional.

Use these at own risk as it may further damage the camera.

Firstly , try connecting your ac adapter or usb cable.

Try holding the shutter button while switching on the camera.

Look at the lens , and if some of the lens 'circles' is misaligned or not concentric then try wiggling it (while holding camera lens down).

Try gently pushing or pulling the lens when it extends but this is risky as it may cause the lens barrel to slip out of its guidance system.

Another way to do this is to place the camera lens down on a hard surface and then power it up. Be sure to use a soft cloth or something similar as to not scratch your lens or casing. Let the lens push the camera up and down a few times and sometimes the little resistance provided by the camera is enough to get things going again.

Try hitting your camera near the lens on the body with the soft tissue on the palm of your hand.

Other than that , I would take the camera to a repair center for a evaluation to see if it would cost more to repair than to replace the camera.

If it is still under warranty I would suggest you take it in before trying any of these steps and remove any off-brand batteries or accessories as some stores are really fussy about warranty repairs on camera's with non-brand accessories.

Hope the advise is useful. Please do not hesitate to let me know if you need any further assistance.

Regards
Andrea

Having received no response in over a month, I assume my suggestion helped.

If the pics are on your internal memory, with no card in the camera,go into the menu and find "format"...follow the on-screen instructions. If the pics are on the card and you want to delete just one pic at a time, bring up the pic on the screen and push the button with the garbage can icon...follow the on-screen instructions. If you want to erase the entire card and the pics are safely on your computer, then just do the format thing again with the card in the camera.

Hello

OK, if the memory card itself is locked, you might sometimes get this error code. All you need to do is to take out the memory card and switch the lever on the left side to the unlock.



If the error is still displayed after you did the above, you might want to try the card in another camera.

If the card works in another camera . the problem is with your card reader in your camera.

If you open you sd slot and look inside with a sharp light , you should be able to see on the left side of the slot there is a little copper or spring steel lever switch. This switch work as follows:

1. When no card is inserted / no write protection , the switch is open and thus the protection is off.
2. When locked card is inserted , the tab is depressed and tells the camera that the card is lock.

Contrary to popular belief ,the little tab on the sd card is not an electronic switch and does not physically influence the card operation itself. If you put a locked card into a camera without a sd lock switch , you would still be able to use the card normally.

It is incredible difficult to fix this switch because of space limitations in the sd card. Look into the sd slot and if you can see the switch , use a needle to pull the little tab down toward the base of the camera by about 2mm or until it works being careful not to bend it.

If this does not resolve your problem , there might be a short in the switch circuit and the camera will need to be disassembled to resolve this error. This should cost no more than $50.

Please feel free to contact me if you need further information

Kind regards
Andrea

Hello Dear

Insert your memory card into your computer's reader if you have one. If not, you can purchase a multi-format USB Memory Card reader from Amazon.com or Buy.com

2 Open up 'My Computer'. You should see it under the list of available drives.

3 Check its contents first to make sure that you have the right drive.

4 In 'My Computer', right-click on the drive and choose 'Format'.

5 Leave all the options as they are and click on 'Start'. This is a non-reversible process so make sure this is what you truly wanted to do in the first place.

6 Once the process is completed, take the memory card out and insert it into your Digital Camera or any other device. Try to browse to it to make sure it works fine now.

Hello

The problem is that the lens has become stuck in the barrel after dropping it. There are some DIY solutions you could try, but the probability is that you will have to get it fixed by a professional.

Use these at own risk as it may further damage the camera.

Firstly , try connecting your ac adapter or usb cable.

Try holding the shutter button while switching on the camera.

Look at the lens , and if some of the lens 'circles' is misaligned or not concentric then try wiggling it (while holding camera lens down).

Try gently pushing or pulling the lens when it extends but this is risky as it may cause the lens barrel to slip out of its guidance system.

Another way to do this is to place the camera lens down on a hard surface and then power it up. Be sure to use a soft cloth or something similar as to not scratch your lens or casing. Let the lens push the camera up and down a few times and sometimes the little resistance provided by the camera is enough to get things going again.

Try hitting your camera near the lens on the body with the soft tissue on the palm of your hand.

Other than that , I would take the camera to a repair center for a evaluation to see if it would cost more to repair than to replace the camera.

If it is still under warranty I would suggest you take it in before trying any of these steps and remove any off-brand batteries or accessories as some stores are really fussy about warranty repairs on camera's with non-brand accessories.

Hope the advise is useful.

Regards
Andrea

Make sure you have the latest driver for the Polaroid camera from Polaroid.com installed on your computer.

No. That probably wasn't the answer you wanted to see, but there it is.

Not all batteries are created equal, especially in digital cameras. Try lithium ion batteries (Energizer Advanced or Duracell PowerPix) or quality NiMH rechargable batteries. Regular alkalines, especially some of the cheaper ones, are not recommended regardless of what the manual says.

You can download the software for this camera from this link.

http://www.downloadplex.com/Drivers/Digital-Camera/Polaroid/polaroid-digital-cameras-a500-driver_176486.html

The battery enclosure has a couple metal flaps that make contact with the batteries, try prying it out a tiny bit so the connection is more secure and stops behaving erratically.

when using the zoom , it is nescessairy to hold the camera as still as possible or activate a anti shake function (if available) in the menu .

one way is to use a monopod with that it is a hack of a lot easier to get it steady even with large zooms

Hi,

You can view and download the complete instruction manual in PDF format by clicking this link.

On the page which opens, click on the "Download" button to download and save the manual.

• You'll require Adobe PDF Reader installed on your computer to view the manual. If it is not already installed on your computer, download it free from: http://get.adobe.com/reader/

Hope this solves your problem. Thanks for using FixYa.

If your camera uses a memory card, just get a card reader to download your pics.

See the camera specifications, whether it supports memory cards above 2gb, if it supports it must have the "sdhc logo", most of the old camera's dos'nt have support for memory cards of capacity 4gb and above.