I lost my photocard for recent pictures taken on my Canon PowerShot SD500. Is it possibe to retrieve any pictures from the camera's internal memory?

Formatting a memory card completely erases the pictures with no hope of retrieval. If you had only deleted them, you could have used photo retrieval software to get them back.

The internal memory only works when no card is in the camera and then only holds a small number of pics. If you had the memory card in the camera most of the time, most of your pics were on the card.

Issue: [Memory card locked] message appears on the screen.
Solution: Change the memory card lock switch to the normal setting

The SD card has a lock switch to prevent existing data from being erased. To record images or movies this switch must be in the normal (non lock) position. Different brands of SD memory cards may identify this switch differently. Regardless the procedure should be the same. Please remove the card from the camera and ensure that the switch is not in the locked position.
---
You should be able to retrieve photos, but not writing or erasing if the switch is switched to write protect.

If it's not functioning correctly, the camera may need service at Canonusa.com.

Maybe you could try to format the card in the camera. If that doesn't work, try formatting it in the computer. (The card alone, not the camera connected to the computer) Otherwise I think it's broken. Do you use a micro/mini SD adapter? If the contact is bad, it may tell you "Memory card error" and "card locked" at the same time. Check the contact.

Please go to your cameras menu and check to see if they are stored on the cameras "internal" memory. Usually a camera will store pics internally untill the capacity is met then the remainder is stored in removable memory(pic card).

You may be short on memory. Check your settings. Are you taking images in the 'max' setting? In most cases you do not need to burn 5 Mb per image if you are printing 4x6 prints, then 300k should be fine. This will free up your memory card.

I'm sorry to say that the card is erased. A format is a complete erase of the memory card. 
However, your pictures aren't necessarily lost. First of all, make sure you don't use the memory card in the camera. As long as you haven't taken any new pictures on the card, you should be able to recover your pictures.
Next, you will need a USB memory card reader that accepts your type of memory card.
Connect the card reader to the PC, then insert the memory card in the memory card reader. Then download this program: http://www.datarescue.com/photorescue/download.htm
This is a program for recovering lost pictures from formatted memory cards. It's a free trial version, that will show you the photos that can be recovered. To do the actual recovery, you will have to buy the program for $29.
I hope this helps you! Let me know if I can provide more help.
Regards,
/Chris

Hello Dear,
There is no internal memory present in any of the Canon Cameras but you can take your Card to a data recovery expert and your photos can be retrieved 100%.
You are suggested not to use this card any more, as if over written there will be NO chances for Data Recovery.
Joseph Manoj
+91 9352008418

It's no problem at all to get them back. Please see this post for several free software that you can download. You'll need to use a card reader with these programs though:
http://camerarepair.blogspot.com/2007/12/recovering-those-accidentally-lost.html

See Canon SD 600 posts referring to Lens Error, restart camera. I just fixed mine today.