Are My Images Recoverable?

I imported my CR2 files this morning from a 5 day canoe trip, and though they looked fine viewing on the camera, and the thumbnails at first looked fine at first when imported to my computer via LR, they immediately and one by one turned to looking like this.

You can see that some thumbnails in this capture look fine, but they soon went to crap. You can also see a few thumbnails that are starting to go.

The raw file is corrupt. The reason that you can see the image on the camera and initially in LR is that the Jpeg embedded inside the raw is being shown to you. That embedded Jpeg is not corrupted but the rest of the raw file is.

What you need to verify before attempting any type of recovery is where exactly in your transfer pipeline the corruption is occuring. The cause could be:
A. The camera
B. The card
C. The card reader or cable
D. Your hard disk or PC in general

The most common culprits are the card reader or the card. If you used a card reader, try connecting the PC directly to the camera and reading the card that way or try another card reader to try to eliminate the reader as the source of the problem.

If that passes, then try a new card in the camera and shoot a few shots and see if those images are also corrupted. If so, that will indicate a camera problem. If not, that probably points to the card.

Eyeball2 wrote in post #17173539
The most common culprits are the card reader or the card. If you used a card reader, try connecting the PC directly to the camera and reading the card that way or try another card reader to try to eliminate the reader as the source of the problem.

In my ramble above, I did mention trying shots with the camera using a older and proven card, as well as the new card. Same camera, same reader. The images off the older card opened in Adobe Camera Raw looked just fine, but the images off the new card opened in Adobe Camera Raw had the same corrupted look. My thinking (with my limited knowledge with this stuff), is this proves the card to be the culprit.

Would it be worth further testing, such as using my camera for downloaded, something I haven't done in many a year.

Those Raws are borked. You might be able to salvage the jpgs with this:
http://michaeltapesdes​ign.com/instant-jpeg-from-raw.html

Chances are that your RAW files are toast, though I would definitely attempt to recover them with a RECOVERY PROGRAM SUCH AS THIS.

However first and foremost I would try to save those full sized imbedded JPEGS. They may be all that's left of your trip.

HERE IS A PROGRAM that might work to do that. Worth a try.

Download the images to a different computer using a different card reader and cable. If that doesn't work use the tool above or something like exiftools (maybe) to extract the embedded jpeg files from the raw files.

I tried the JPEG Extraction tool, and the JPEGS seem corrupt too, but not in the same way the RAW files are. There are bands of varying colours going horizontally across the image, with no colour consistency from one image to another.

Can you post a download link (dropbox, whatever) to a raw file that shows corruption of the JPEG as well?

kirk

I once had a card that was reported by the OS as being corrupted. I inspected the card, noticed a speck of dust inside one of the 'holes' on the card. After brushing it away with a pin, I inserted the card and all was fine.

TL;DR: be sure your card isn't dirty where the pins go in.

Yes - before you take the nuclear option and reformat the card, check EVERYTHING!

kirk

Here is a link to one RAW file on dropbox.

https://www.dropbox.co​m …b9e42f9/IMG_019​0.CR2?dl=0

A visual inspection shows nothing, but I think I will look better with a magnifying glass and better light later.

You transfered the pictures to your computer through the camera, right? Did you give it a shot directly via a card reader?

BearLeeAlive wrote in post #17173741
Here is a link to one RAW file on dropbox.

https://www.dropbox.co​m …b9e42f9/IMG_019​0.CR2?dl=0

A visual inspection shows nothing, but I think I will look better with a magnifying glass and better light later.

I'll tell you. If anyone around here can save these, it's Kirkt. He has a very advanced knowledge of some aspects of imaging that I've been amazed at with forensic imaging techniques he's pulled off.

armis wrote in post #17174553
You transfered the pictures to your computer through the camera, right? Did you give it a shot directly via a card reader?

The download was via a new quality card reader. I have yet to try the camera, but other cars via the same reader worked just fine, with all images as should be.

I tried several things, including rendering the raw file in various converters and extracting the embedded JPEG (full res) using dcraw. As you have pointed out, both appear to be corrupted.

There appears to be a small jpeg that is preserved - if you open your file in DPP, the small JPEG will be displayed, but the raw will not be rendered. I guess this is the default behavior for DPP when the raw file is damaged (there is no error message, or similarly informative message). I suppose this small jpeg is what is used to display the image on the LCD of the camera?

Also, your firmware reads 2.0.4 - the most recent version is 2.1.2. You should consider updating:

http://www.usa.canon.c​om …ark_ii#DriversA​ndSoftware

I'll keep trying.

kirk