Changing Lenses with power on dangerous to Memory Card?

I Simonius wrote in post #4168608
How?

I didnt notice any mention of it in the lens manula - I'll have to go find it now I suppose..

Yes, it's in the IS lens' manuals, but under different headings. In both of mine under Handling Cautions (!).

RX350 wrote in post #4164377
i do this all the time. no problem.

what about taking memory out while camera ON , I heard this is bad.

When you open either the card door or the battery compartment door, there's an interlock which turns off the camera. An innovation in the 1D III is that it'll blink an LED at you if you open the card door, but will continue writing to the card.

DDA wrote in post #4168424
I don't wann hijack the thread, but this question is quite related...

If I remember well, it's writeen in the manual of my 100-400 that you should always turn the camera off before changing lens as you could damage the IS. Any truth? Experience?

JBaz wrote in post #4169523
Yeah, I'm kind of curious of why having the power on with IS when changing lens would do some damage.

When the IS isn't active, the moving optical group is locked in place; with the IS spun up, it's free to move and could damage something. The IS components take about 30 sec. to spin down after you release the shutter button, so that's considered the safe interval.

Thanks Jon for this comprehensive answer!

I think it's prudent to power down any electronic equipment when changing parts.
I always turn off the light before changing the bulb.

Few years ago of the coast in South Africa I lost all my images on my card while changing lenses. It was a 10D and the lens I removed was a 70-200 2.8L IS. I reviewed the situation several times in my mind and can only conclude that I must have touched the shutter and activated the IS while removing the lens. I had just done a Seal shoot from a boat at a island so were pretty devastated by the loss. Never happened before and never again. Still use the card up to today so no permanent damage to the card.

Hermeto wrote in post #4168184
Of course that sensor is not energized!
There’d be plenty of interesting pictures by now, of pack pads moving across the sensor in wet cleaning, or tip of the blower approaching the sensor..

I think you would have a hard time getting ANYTHING in focus, without a lens attached

pakomo wrote in post #4171735
I think you would have a hard time getting ANYTHING in focus, without a lens attached

Actually, anything on the sensor will be fairly close to in-focus. That's why we clean dust on the sensor.

-js

very informative. I will now have to change my habits... either that or just buy several bodies and not switch lens anymore... lol

Are we all sure its absolutley safe to press the shutter button when the pwoer is on? or did someone hear a rumour about that too?

Mark Kemp wrote in post #4176727
Are we all sure its absolutley safe to press the shutter button when the pwoer is on? or did someone hear a rumour about that too?

It absolutely isn't safe. The only people who've never gotten an OOF, poorly-exposed, or blank picture, and who've never had a shutter failure, lens failure, card failure, flash failure, image banding, front-focusing, back-focusing, severe vignetting, CA, spherical aberration, purple fringing, . . ., are the people who haven't pressed the shutter button with the power on. :{)#