Corrupt Picture Files

[DMacIntyre]

Hello All,

I have been having a problem lately with picture files being corrupted, and I'm wondering if it would be a CF Card issue or my camera. Unfortunately, I do not have another CF card to test with, so I'm reaching out to see if anyone else has had the same problems.

I shoot with an EOS 30D in RAW using a Sandisk Ultra II 1 GB card. When I take the pictures, the preview shot in the LCD looks fine. No error messages etc. When I upload the pictures (I use a cardreader and have tried two different ones but have not tried direct transfer from the cam to PC via USB) and the thumbnails come up, they still look fine. Here's where I experience one of two problems....

1) I doubleclick the thumbnail to start post process changes and the full size picture comes up with the bottom right 1/4 of the picture scarmbled in various colours. When I look at the thumbnail, that garbled mess is not there!

2) I doubleclick the thumbnail and I get and error message pop-up telling me the file is corrupt and cannot be opened. Again, looking back at the thumbnail, it is there and looks fine!

In both cases, I have tried to re-obtain the pictures off the CF Card in case there was a problem during the transfer from the CF Card to the PC, but the same problems still exist.

So.....what are your thoughts...CF card or cam problem? (Obviously I should try a different CF card to see if the problem persists, but I don't have the cash onhand to buy a second one right now)

Also, does anyone know why the thumbnail (both on the cam's LCD and in the RAW convertor software) looks perfect? Kinda strange to me. I should also mention that this problem does not happen everytime I go shooting and upload the pics.

Thanks is advance!! :)

[Jon]

OK, then you're shooting RAW only, I gather. The thumbnail's an embedded JPEG. If all your pictures come up with the same problem in the same place, I'd suspect either the camera or the converter software. What software are you using? Raw Shooter Essentials from Pixmantec is a free download; give that a try just in case it's your software. I'm not sure how soon it'll support the 30D, though. You might also consider doing a complete uninstall/reinstall of the program you're using.

[AndyMac85]

I'm in the same boat..I've tried using that $20 sandisk cf reader everyone praises and the reader in my printer, and I get the bottom right corner all scrambled. it's usually only one image from each shoot. it's happened the last few times I've shot. I'm going to try using my other card(I have two 1gb ultra ii cards) and see how that goes. pretty annoying! I use zoombrowser to pull the images from the card, and it'll just stop uploading the images once it gets to that file. I've tried formatting the card in the camera many times, so I don't know what the deal is. Here's what the problem is:

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/8580/messedup8mh.jpg

[Jon]

Andy - try copying files from your hard drive to your card, and vice versa, and see if there are any consistent problem areas. The problem you're having, if it's always the "nth" file on the card, suggests a bad card. If the problem may occur sometimes with the 5th, sometimes with the 7th, and sometimes with the 11th file on the card (not the upload - on the entire card) it's elsewhere. Tests like that will help when you go back to SanDisk for a warranty replacement.

[StealthLude]

you should have more than 1 CF card so you can test it.. Personally, that looks like your cameras is screwed up.

[DMacIntyre]

That's exactly what is happening to my shots as well. I wish I had another CF card to test with.

When uploading, the card reader will suddenly stop as if I unplugged the reader from the USB slot unsafely. I have to unplug it and pop it back in.

Very frustrating. I would hate to think it's the camera since I just got it. Argh!

[SkipD]

Go get another CF card right away - even an inexpensive 256MB card would do - and test the camera with the second card.

[AndyMac85]

yeah, it's the card. now I have to contact sandisk and blah blah blah. thanks for the help.

[AndyMac85]

formatted the card in windows, file system was fat32. all is well. yay for two working CF cards again!

[DMacIntyre]

formatted the card in windows, file system was fat32. all is well. yay for two working CF cards again!

Does formatting the card using the camera not perform the same function? If not, can someone tell me how to go about formatting the card in windows? Much appreciated!

Cheers.

[rudgej]

Does formatting the card using the camera not perform the same function? If not, can someone tell me how to go about formatting the card in windows? Much appreciated!

Cheers.
You would have to have the card in a reader. Connect this to the PC, and the flash card will show up as another drive in Windows Explorer. Right-click on this drive and choose the format option (make sure that you select the correct drive). The file system will probably say FAT32. Click on start to format it. :)

[DMacIntyre]

Thanks John...is FAT32 the correct option or should I be using NTFS for an EOS 30D.

Thanks again!

[rudgej]

You should use FAT32.

[Jon]

Thanks John...is FAT32 the correct option or should I be using NTFS for an EOS 30D.

Thanks again!I don't believe any camera, certainly any Canon, uses NTFS. 10D and newer support FAT32 (don't know about 1D,1Ds). Anything older (D30, D60) will require FAT16.

[AndyMac85]

sandisk said to format it as FAT, whether or not that makes a difference, I haven't the slightest idea.

[rudgej]

sandisk said to format it as FAT, whether or not that makes a difference, I haven't the slightest idea.
FAT stands for file allocation table with the two main versions being FAT16 and FAT32 (16-bit and 32-bit respectively). You should choose the FAT32 option for your card given your operating system and camera.

[AndyMac85]

either way, my card is acting up again. I let the data finish transfering to the camera, as indicated by the red load light turning off. my other card works fast and flawlessly; whereas, this card is notably slower and keeps on coming up with errors.

[Jon]

either way, my card is acting up again. I let the data finish transfering to the camera, as indicated by the red load light turning off. my other card works fast and flawlessly; whereas, this card is notably slower and keeps on coming up with errors.Go on-line with SanDisk about sending the beastie back for replacement. You need to register it first. They'll take care of it, but want to know when/where you got it, etc.

[AndyMac85]

yeah, that's how I came across the formatting thing, but formatting isn't the issue, I don't think. the card is faulty, and I hope they let me RMA it...it's less than a month old.

[DavidW]

Hang on - it may not be the card. There's no official support for the 30D in Adobe Camera Raw, unless Adobe have slipped out a 3.4 beta without putting it on the download pages. There is an unofficial hack, but various people have reported that sometimes 30D images are partially corrupt when used with the hacked ACR.

Try the troublesome images in DPP 2.1, Canon's RAW converter. If they're fine in DPP 2.1, it's the hacked ACR. If they're also corrupt in DPP, that's the time to start blaming the hardware.



David

[Jon]

Hang on - it may not be the card. There's no official support for the 30D in Adobe Camera Raw, unless Adobe have slipped out a 3.4 beta without putting it on the download pages. There is an unofficial hack, but various people have reported that sometimes 30D images are partially corrupt when used with the hacked ACR.

Try the troublesome images in DPP 2.1, Canon's RAW converter. If they're fine in DPP 2.1, it's the hacked ACR. If they're also corrupt in DPP, that's the time to start blaming the hardware.



DavidWhen they're having trouble reading from the card, it's the card. Andy's got 2 cards - one goes smoothly; the other one in fits and starts, and gives the corrupt file problem.

[AndyMac85]

when importing the images, whatever program I'm using either stops or gives me an error message when it gets to the problematic image. it's definitely the card...it's much much slower than the other one, too.

[DavidW]

Fair enough - there's possibly two problems mentioned in this thread. All I was trying to say is that I wouldn't start condemning hardware on the basis of failed conversions of 30D RAW files in ACR, because the only publicly available way to get ACR to support 30D files requires an unofficial hack that some have reported is troublesome.

Clearly if you have trouble downloading from a card, it's time to get it replaced.



David

[AndyMac85]

I haven't had a problem with the hack, I'm really anxious for the real update to come out, though.

[DMacIntyre]

I'm having the problem when I shoot straight JPG as well. No transfer errors, but when I look at some of the pictures, there is a major colour band difference in some of them and in others, it looks like the picture was knocked over a few pixels (Eg. A tree trunk doesn't line up halfway down!) I'm going to return this CF card. Not impressed at all and I'm seeing a surprisingly large number of Sandisk issues in this forum. Seems like the less expensive brands are faster, cheaper and more reliable. Typical! :rolleyes:

[Featherae33]

Hi, I know this is an old post, but I was hoping you would be able to help me and respond. I am having the same problems listed on the original post. I have had diognostics done on my computer, reformated the hard drive, sent my camera in for repair, reformated my camera, changed the cf cards 5 times, used another computer, and various other things. I am getting desperate and don't want to buy a whole new system (obviously that is too much money). Please help me if you can!

[Jon]

Can you calm down and say that again, slowly?
First - what card and camera are you using?
Second, does this happen on multiple cards or just one?
Does it happen randomly, or is it possibly associated with a particular type of shooting (bursts, video, high ISO for instance)?
Does it happen whether you download directly from your camera or from a card reader?
Have you tried several card readers?
Have you tried several USB cables?
Have you tried different USB ports in your computer?
Have you tried these several variables on another computer?

[Torrard08]

Hi, Im having a problem with my Canon 450d/memory card.
I recently bought My 450d about 6 weeks ago. Its my first DSLR.

The problem is intermittant. I took numerous photos. When i viewed them during playback on the camera they look fine. but when I viewed them on the laptop "Some" of the photos had, what I can only describe as, edging. It could be a couple of mm on the left of the picture or it may be about an inch across the top. It varies. It could be on the bottom or on the right. It can also be split down the middle or split horizontally. It can also be darker on one of the halves.

Id originally bought a cheap 4gb hp card from Tesco. Id also bought 2 x 16gb cards from ebay. I had the exact same problems to a lesser extent with the other cards. I formatted All cards and then ran off about 100 or so pics to check if the issues arose.

They did.

I believed the problem to be cheap spurious cards and as I was going to Olando Florida/Las Vegas on my holidays and I didnt want to take any chances of the issue happening again, I bought an expensive Sandisk EXtreme 111 (30mb edition) 8Gb card.

To my Horror a high number of my holiday photos are corrupt with the same issues as Ive mentioned above. The photos appear fine when viewing them on the playback of the camera.

I was really angry, but Ive calmed down a little now.

Does anyone know or has anyone come across this problem before? I would appreciate any information on this please.

On the plus side, Ive found this site and hopefully someone can advise me.

It looks like I will have to send my camera back to canon.

Thanks in advance.

Torrard08

[gcflora]

I am not convinced that the effect you're describing is caused by faulty CF cards. If it were my camera I'd be following your advice and sending the camera to Canon or speaking to the store where you bought it from.

[Torrard08]

I am not convinced that the effect you're describing is caused by faulty CF cards. If it were my camera I'd be following your advice and sending the camera to Canon or speaking to the store where you bought it from.

Yeh cheers for that, I was just prolonging the inevitable.

[gcflora]

Yeh cheers for that, I was just prolonging the inevitable.

Yeah. It sucks. But at least you will have peace of mind afterwards.

[Torrard08]

Yeah. It sucks. But at least you will have peace of mind afterwards.

:rolleyes:

Thought Id let you know that I've found the problem. I feel a bit silly, but, in case anyone else comes across this issue, maybe this will help.

The Issue was actually the Card reader in my Laptop. I was removing my memory card from my camera and inserting it direcrtly into my laptop card reader. Id noticed that when I did this a couple of times the various photos that were previously spoiled where ok and others that were ok were spoiled.

So, eventually, the penny dropped and I got the usb cable and inserted it into the camera, then into the laptop and downloaded my photos directly.

I was delighted to find "Every" single photo was blemish free.

Im even more delighted that it wasnt my camera.

Again, thanks for your help and hopefully this may help someone else in future.

Cheers,

Torrard08

[pwm2]

I have never seen a transfer error when reading out the photos, but I still prefer to make the copy twice.

I normally do one copy from CF to a one HDD or USB stick.
Then I do a second copy from CF to another HDD or USB stock.
Then I compute MD5 on both copies.
If the MD5 is identical, then I remove the pictures from the memory card, knowing that I have two separate - and identical - copies of my pictures on two separate media.

Keeping the files with the MD5 checksum means that I can verify the contents of a picture 5 years later, if I want to.