Wellthatsucks
Polaroid underwater camera will not accept any SD card I’ve tried… since January
Bought for my teens 13th birthday. We have been trying different cards for months since then, and from Amazon to ScanDisk- nothing seems to work. I knew the price was too good to be true, but I thought it was a good brand 😮💨
Discussion
I think you may be using the wrong memory card. A quick online lookup mentions that your camera needs an older SDHC card type, and on the photo shown you have package from the newer SDXC type card. Try ordering SDHC card and make sure it's formatted to FAT32.
Good thought. Also note the manual says 64gb size limit. The format could be a few things....FAT32 is most likely, followed by FAT.
Thank you for posting it. So many people buy 128GB cards because they are so cheap only to find out the devices have a 32 or 64 limit.
Seconding this. Used to manage a camera shop and had so many people get frustrated that newer cards weren’t working for them. Make sure to get an older card, like this person said the SDHC, and also you likely can’t go above a specific capacity. I’d look up the manual to see if it’s listed, but for older cameras I typically suggest around 32gb if I’m not 100% sure, just to be safw
I’ve never heard of this, thank you so much! I’m going to try and order one now.
Here is the manual : https://manuals.plus/m/69c5edb9fcc5b0c9d4ab8b295eec36621b58969a55d7ef686299f43a2c4439bd
Page 13 gives you instructions on how to Reset and format.
Thank you! I just screenshot it (from another commenter too) and I’ll be back shortly to give an update after it charges. I had finally gotten baby fed & in bed, only for the camera to die on me as it was about to reformat.. lol feels like there’s a message here.
Update: you are a genius!! I think it’s working! I will know tomorrow when he uses it in the pool, but it looks like it took a pic of the tv so far? lol so I count that as a win. I’ll keep testing it tonight in the meantime.
Thank you so much again!!!
The good news is you have lots of extra SD cards now and can take lots of pics
next time, try reading the manual
Wow, thank you so much! I’m going to try this after I feed the baby, and I’ll be back to let you guys know if it works. So excited! :)
I thank god every day that I have been curious enough since I was born to click random buttons while looking up tutorials for every little thing instead of wondering why things don’t work like a caveman.
The internet has unlimited knowledge, google exists; but no, just keep buying more sd cards lmao
Someone else mentioned formatting the cards. Many cameras have the functionality to format the cards themselves. Have you dug around all the settings on the camera?
Second thought: are you using full size SD cards, about the size of a postage stamp, or micro SD cards the size of your finger nail? Full size cards have a physical slider on the side of them. When slid to one side you cannot write data to the card, its possible the camera sees this as the memory being full?
Thank you, it’s a micro sad card size. And the only settings on the camera is power/take pic (on top) and 3 on back is one that is switching between camera, video & pics, and then up and down. :( no settings
Edit: typo lol not sad card, SD card
Idk where you got this camera but I got an old secondhand cheap digital camera at goodwill and it would only take up to a certain size sd card bc the bigger ones didn't even exist when it was made. I think the max was like 16 GB or something tiny like that.
Oh wow! I wish I knew that before purchasing. It was on Woot. Sometime back in the beginning of January or end of Dec.. I’m just now learning about the card sizes this evening bc of this post, as I honestly didn’t know before. I love Reddit lol.
I was so baffled and had to do a bunch of googling and I think found my answer on an old reddit post haha
It is likely a size problem. New cards are huge. Older devices can only handle a maximum size (like 2GB or 16GB.) Your manual should tell you.
A shot in the dark, but there are some equipment that only accepts SD cards that can "talk" in SPI, so cheaper (or bigger than 32GB) ones have flaky support for it, therefore it won't work correctly.
So, pick one that is:
- Not the cheapest one, ie. pick one from a legitimate brand like SanDisk, Kingston, or similar
- Don't pick anything over 32GB
- Format as FAT32
- Don't pick fancy "fast" ones
Is there a settings menu that you can go to and find the format memory selection? Or something similar
hopefully you’ve already tried and resolved this OP but they are right you need to format your SD cards before use so that they can properly communicate with the device it’ll be used with! a lot of cameras will have the option to format the card from within the settings menu
Try this: stick your SD card in and goto system settings so you can reset and format the SD card.
Source: https://manuals.plus/polaroid/ie50-wave-underwater-streaming-camera-manual#general_system_settings
Omg I misread that as underwear camera and was all WHAT?!?!
I read that it can’t be any bigger than 64gb and it has to be an SDHC micro SD card. So, make sure it’s not SDXC. Has to be the older generation, I guess.
Are you formatting the card beforehand?
I had an old Kodak that actually had an internal storage. It would store like maybe 10 pictures or so without a card at all. Does yours do that?
Use the camera to format the card and you'll probably find that they all work! Give us an update when you've tried this!!
I have one and unfortunately it kind sucks. I bought it for my 4 year old as a durable camera with simple controls but the resolution isn't great.
Aww I was thinking it might be something like that. I saw it on Woot and thought of my teen who lives in the pool- the ad pics were good lol but I know how deceiving they can be. Thank you for sharing that! Maybe I’ll give it to my toddler if I can get it to work, and get him a better one. Have you tried any other brands?
No I still let her use it and she enjoys it but even after uploading the photos and making sure they settings were max resolution I was not impressed. Also the battery sucks in the one I have even after charging it all day it drops from 3 to 2 bars in minutes.
Yes! I was just wondering about the battery! I swear I charged this a few days ago to full, awaiting the new SD cards. But tonight it died, while trying to format it. We haven’t used it yet, so it should have been full charge. :(
I'm afraid Polaroid is now a zombie brand IMO, they are just wringing out the last bit of brand recognition to sell junk. Sort a like Black and Decker, which was used by pros and sold quality products until the 90s, then they sold out and became the absolute trash they are today.
They are probably in the wrong format
Oh no! Thank you, I didn’t realize there was a different format. I’m trying to see which is which but I’m not finding anything for this specific camera on google yet. I’ll keep looking
You have to reformat them yourself, it can be done by plugging it into a computer. Not sure what format you need for the camera though. There's a handful.
Not Polaroid, but my other digital cameras had an option in their menu to format the card.
Hey OP. This camera lets you format the card on the camera itself. Per the instruction manual:
Page 4: Class 4+ MicroSD required Page 13: Select reset and format (from the menu) to reset the camera and reformat the memory card
Why would OP read the manual when they can keep buying MicroSD cards?
Surely the next one will work...
Just one more sd card bro I swear this one will work
Me, a poor person who knows how to actually handle money and problem solve, cries at the stupidity and waste.
You’re so good with money, you don’t have any of it!
They just haven't waited enough time. Since January? Should give it at least another year for the card to maturate.
If there is an option in the camera to format the card, try that. If not, try formatting it in fat32 or something from your computer. There's also a decent chance it isn't compatible with SDXC, if it uses an ancient controller.
As for the brand, unfortunately, I believe it was sold off a while ago when the instant film fell out of popularity and is now being plastered on all kinds of random things.
If the camera says SDHC it typically expects FAT32.
If it’s SDXC, it wants ExFAT.
Best option though is to find the format (or “initialize” or “erase”) option in the camera menu itself to get the card into the correct format.