Problem with 5DIII

Just shot well over 200 RAW images with my relatively new 5DIII with Lexar 800x UDMA 7 card. Except for 4 photos, I found nothing in the card to my shock afterwards. I was using 580EXII flash in my home basement studio and tethered shooting using the DSLR Remote Pro. All the images showed up just fine on my laptop screen, however.

At one point during the shoot, I looked at the image counter on the camera and noticed that the number just stayed the same. While I thought that was quite odd, I just ignored it as the images were popping up on my laptop screen. I should have checked the image reviewer on the camera LCD screen...

I don't know whether it's the camera that's caused the problem or the card. In order to eliminate the cause, I tried shooting again with the same card (without the flash). The images were registering just fine except when I decided to use the burst mode. In this burst test, I shot 3 images in a row. In spite of giving enough time for the card to clear the buffer in between, I discovered that there were only 2 images that got recorded even though I clearly shot 3 in a row. This happened about 50% of the time that I did test shots.

Has this ever happened to any of you? What could be causing this problem? Sure hope its the card rather than the camera...

do you have another memory card you can try?

a) Put the card back in the 5DIII and shoot a burst. No tethering, no other card in the SD slot. Does it record them all?

b) Is there a chance that you chose to record only in one card to avoid the SD lag and then removed the CF card and put it back in? If yes, did you shoot with both in? Normally I try to shoot only the SD card, because I don't risk bending pins etc and my desktop has a SD slot for its reader. Once, I pulled the SD, copied the photos, put it back in, shot some more AND THERE WAS NOTHING RECORDED IN THE SD CARD!... It had switched to the CF card automagically... Now I switch the camera off before I remove any cards.

c) The program I use for tethering will also record the photo in the computer. I am not sure whether there is an option to review at the computer and store only on the card. Do you have your tethering program's options straight?

recorded to 2nd card would be my first guess as well, happened to me during a shoot once, all images in camera to review, nothing on the card. Camera had switched from CF to SD card and I had not noticed that. If you shot tethered, aren't they already in your computer then too? Maybe those 4 were taken before tethering and thus are still seen as new by Lightroom or what you use to import? I only shot tethered once, but all those images were automatically on the computer already, noting left to import.

Just figured out why the burst mode was only recording 2 images when I shot 3 in a row. This problem only happens when I shoot in "Auto ISO." When I changed it to manual ISO setting, I'm getting all the images.

As for all the images that didn't register in my CF card, I think the culprit is the DSLR Remote Pro tethering program. I haven't used this program in a long while, and when I tried to use it today, it gave me a notification that I'd need to upgrade in order to use the program. Huh? I thought, why do I need to upgrade in order to use something that I purchased long ago? I just ignored the notification and used it throughout the shoot. All looked okay, as I stated earlier. Now, when I just checked the software settings, I learned that it was set to "Save to PC Only," as opposed to "Save to Camera" or "Save to Both PC and Camera." When I tried to check to "Save to Camera," I get the notification stating that I'd need to upgrade the software. Their website does not provide a phone number so I can't call them to inquire about this. Does anyone know where my images could have been stored in my "PC"? I can't seem to locate them.

Somewhere in your laptop. Shoot one more tethered photo as before and look at recent documents to find it, or search by name (note down the name).

If you bring it up and don't know where it is stored, 'Save as' will normally offer you the subdirectory name

SYS wrote in post #16663388
...I don't know whether it's the camera that's caused the problem or the card.

There is no problem it is working as designed. For some reason you need a card in the camera but when you shoot tethered the images are stored on your computer, not the camera's card. Lightroom works the same way.

SYS wrote in post #16663850
Just figured out why the burst mode was only recording 2 images when I shot 3 in a row. This problem only happens when I shoot in "Auto ISO." When I changed it to manual ISO setting, I'm getting all the images.

As for all the images that didn't register in my CF card, I think the culprit is the DSLR Remote Pro tethering program. I haven't used this program in a long while, and when I tried to use it today, it gave me a notification that I'd need to upgrade in order to use the program. Huh? I thought, why do I need to upgrade in order to use something that I purchased long ago? I just ignored the notification and used it throughout the shoot. All looked okay, as I stated earlier. Now, when I just checked the software settings, I learned that it was set to "Save to PC Only," as opposed to "Save to Camera" or "Save to Both PC and Camera." When I tried to check to "Save to Camera," I get the notification stating that I'd need to upgrade the software. Their website does not provide a phone number so I can't call them to inquire about this. Does anyone know where my images could have been stored in my "PC"? I can't seem to locate them.

Try to do a search on your pc for the raw extension files.

Dan Marchant wrote in post #16664004
There is no problem it is working as designed. For some reason you need a card in the camera but when you shoot tethered the images are stored on your computer, not the camera's card. Lightroom works the same way.

But the DSLR Remote Pro can set up to save in camera or save in PC or both. It looks like what DSLR Remote Pro has done, since I purchased it in 2008 and haven't used in a while, is to force an upgrade purchase. I tried to look for the "lost" photos in my laptop, but I found out that even saving in PC was disabled by DSLR Remote Pro folks. So all the work that I put into this morning is completely lost.

Sorry you lost all those photos, but....

2012 camera, 2008 software... I'm not at all surprised that an upgrade is needed. A lot can change in four years.

Try using the Canon software supplied with the camera for tethered shooting, unless you want to upgrade the software you've got.

There's one feature of the 5DIII that bugs me. When you shoot with two cards in the slots and remove the CF card, the camera automatically switches to the SD card. So when you reinsert the CF after downloading its images, your next shot and all after go to the SD card. To get them back on the CF, you have to select the card function and change to the CF.

I know it's because the camera thinks that the only card left when you pull out the CF is the SD and leaves that as the default, but after noticing no images on the CF and finding them on the SD, I've accommodated this PITA. Perhaps it's better than missing shots.

tvphotog wrote in post #16665514
There's one feature of the 5DIII that bugs me. When you shoot with two cards in the slots and remove the CF card, the camera automatically switches to the SD card. So when you reinsert the CF after downloading its images, your next shot and all after go to the SD card. To get them back on the CF, you have to select the card function and change to the CF.

I know it's because the camera thinks that the only card left when you pull out the CF is the SD and leaves that as the default, but after noticing no images on the CF and finding them on the SD, I've accommodated this PITA. Perhaps it's better than missing shots.

I know but that drive me nuts, to a point that I stop using the SD slot all together. My SD card is a lot slower than my CF card so I find out really quick that I'm shooting with the wrong card.

Ricky

tvphotog wrote in post #16665514
There's one feature of the 5DIII that bugs me. When you shoot with two cards in the slots and remove the CF card, the camera automatically switches to the SD card. So when you reinsert the CF after downloading its images, your next shot and all after go to the SD card. To get them back on the CF, you have to select the card function and change to the CF.

I know it's because the camera thinks that the only card left when you pull out the CF is the SD and leaves that as the default, but after noticing no images on the CF and finding them on the SD, I've accommodated this PITA. Perhaps it's better than missing shots.

Don't close the card door while the card is removed and it won't switch.

tvphotog wrote in post #16665514
There's one feature of the 5DIII that bugs me. When you shoot with two cards in the slots and remove the CF card, the camera automatically switches to the SD card. So when you reinsert the CF after downloading its images, your next shot and all after go to the SD card. To get them back on the CF, you have to select the card function and change to the CF.

I know it's because the camera thinks that the only card left when you pull out the CF is the SD and leaves that as the default, but after noticing no images on the CF and finding them on the SD, I've accommodated this PITA. Perhaps it's better than missing shots.

Just turn the camera off before you remove the card and leave it off until after you insert the new card.

rrblint wrote in post #16665542
Just turn the camera off before you remove the card and leave it off until after you insert the new card.

Well, I feel silly. Should have thought of that.