Canon powershot A620 - putting a a memory card and it says memory card locked - it's a new card and it's not locked - what should I do?

SD cards have a slide switch along one edge. The position farthest from the contacts locks the card, protecting it from writes. The position nearest the contacts unlocks the card. If the switch is already in the proper position, slide it fully the other way and then back again.

The A620 is designed to work with SD cards, not SDHC cards. SDHC cards will fit into the slot but are electronically different. You'll have to stay with SD cards, 2GB and smaller.

This worked for me!  I have the Canon Powershot SD780 IS and although my card WAS NOT locked, the camera "malfunctioned" and the switch in the camera needed to be gently pushed back IN, not DOWN on my specific camera type.  This is great, I was just going to go out and buy another camera today!  Thanks for the post Stephan!

Some cameras cannot handle over 2GB memory cards. If it works fine with 2GB card - stick to that. If some other A620 you know operates with 4GB card, take yours to repairs.

The A620 came out in 2005, before the SDHC (high capacity) protocol had been introduced. The A580 came out in 2008 and is compatible with the SDHC protocol. The A620 is only compatible with the SD protocol, and maximum capacity under this protocol is 2MB.

Canon doesn't typically publish information regarding the top capacity for memory cards, especially since new cards come out all the time and they'd have to continually rewrite their manuals.


I would, however, suggest getting a couple of 2gb cards instead of a single 4gb card. Not only is there less of a question of compatibility with 2gb cards, but if you misplace one, you still have a backup. A 2gb card will hold several hundred shots at full resolution and the lowest compression, so you won't have to worry about running out of space.

Hope this helps!

I also own an A620, but unfortunately I also learned the hard way that SDHC cards are not compatible with this camera. The A620 was designed before the newer SDHC format came out, thus although they look exactly the same, your camera will never work with these cards. Your camera uses standard SD cards (2GB or less). There are some standard 4GB SD cards, but they are very rare these days, and costly.

The memory card could be too big. Some camera's can only use a certain size memory card. You will have to check your manual to see what the specifications for your memory cards. Hope this helps.

Your camera has a board with the SD card slot board and electronics to record and retrieve images. This board can be replaced and should cost about $100 to repair.

the a 620 only goes up to 2 gb no higher