Corrupt files?

[Stu Hastie]

Every so often I get one of these. Sooner or later it’s going to be the killer shot that’s all screwed up. Any idea what’s going on there? I was thinking it’s probably a card issue. The thumbnail views ok, but when it comes to RAW conversion, this is what I get.

[Zach Matthews]

It almost looks cool enough to use like that.

[Gary Worrall]

Hi Stu,
There are many scenarios where this can happen,
I will list some I have seen,
1. cheap brand of card and sometimes, a counterfeit card
2. deleting numerous files in camera to make space for more images
3. not removing card safely from the card reader or computer

I’m sure there are many others but the above is what I have seen, sometimes you can recover those files but if they are too corrupt, its all over!

I would suggest the purchase of good reputable cards, like Sandisk or Lexar to name a couple, cheap cards are not worth it IMHO

Always remove card safely from the computer or card reader, I prefer the card reader but the only reason is personal preference

As a good “housekeeping” routine,
You should always do a full format of the card prior starting to take new images

Lastly,
I never upload from the camera to the computer,
If you get a power surge or a serious electrical problem and the camera is hooked up to the computer, your likely to fry the camera as well

I was able to recover 1100 files for a friend of mine but his corrupt raw files were just suitable for what I would call, “modern art”

Put the suspect card aside and buy a “good” new one!

Edit: I would also not “put all your eggs in one basket”
A friend of mine, travels the globe and to use his expression, “carry a hat full of cards and only delete them when you have uploaded at home”
The reason being, all computers die eventually, and always at the most inconvenient time,
He gives an example when crossing a river in NZ, fell over lost all the camera gear but still had all the images stored on the dried out cards
Sorry, hope I haven’t been too boring, or scary
Regards,
Gary

[Stu Hastie]

Thanks for your replies gentlemen.
I’ll try re formatting the disc a couple of times, and see where that takes me. Just going off memory I think it is a Scandisk 8G card, so I don’t really want to trash it just yet. I’ve only had the card since early Oct, so I might go back to the shop and see what advice they can give me as well. (Maybe get a swap)
Gary, good advice re downloading straight off the camera to PC. Something I’ve never considered before. Looks like I’m in the market for a card reader now 🙂
Thanks once again.

[pawel]

It could be “dying” camera sensor. I got the same pink pictures with my old Canon A75. how many photos You take with Ur camera ?

Cheers.

[Stu Hastie]

Dang! I hope your wrong pafek!
Last time I used my camera I shot about 800 frames between two bodies; my trusty, rusty old 350d and 40d, with probably 75% of those on the 40d (with the suspect files). I haven’t shot anything since, but I’ll try formating the card a couple of times, and then swap cards between bodies and see what I get then.
Thanks for your response, and welcome to the IA board

[Stu Hastie]

I’ve formatted the card a couple of times, taken it out fishing for the day, and out of the 78 frames I processed, I had no corrupt files. Fingers crossed all is OK from here on in.

It wouldn’t be great if you suddenly had a bad frame when it really matters :-/

[Tim Angeli]

Awesome shot Stu!!!

[Gary Worrall]

Good news Stu,
Yes, great capture there
Hope everything works out OK,
Regards,
Gary

[robert jaspers]

Wow, some great advice here on things I hadn’t considered.

[Author]

Posts