Image corruption

[rooboy]

Hi everyone,

Macka and I are having problems with corrupted images from our 2 D70s. After a full day shooting today, we had 5 images corrupted, looking like this:



When we opned in CaptureOne to view them, half of the image was normal, then a strip of corrupted data, then weird colours. The above result was from Camera Raw, which would only open 1 of the 5 shots. The weird thing is that all shots display perfectly on the camera LCD

This corruption is happening on 2 separate cameras, 4 from one camera and one from the other. The only thing we've changed recently is some new CF cards from Birdy, although we shot thousands of frames at the Handball competition without this happening at all, so I don't think that the cards are at fault.

I've put a link to the whole RAW file here if that is of use to anyone. If it was only 1 camera I'd just take it to Maxwells (under warranty until December next year) but with 2 cameras I'm concerned. Could it be our CF reader (a cheapy from JB hifi)?

Help appreciated

[radar]

After a full day shooting today, we had 5 images corrupted, looking like this:

.....

Looks very artistic

If it was only 1 camera I'd just take it to Maxwells (under warranty until December next year) but with 2 cameras I'm concerned. Could it be our CF reader (a cheapy from JB hifi)?

As you say, it is suspicious that it is happening on two cameras. Try connecting the camera directly to the computer, you could get the raw images that way. Make sure you use a different usb cable and different usb port on your computer.

That should confirm if it is your card reader or not. You may also try it on a different computer. Basically a process of elimination.

Cheers,

André

[MCWB]

Very weird Patrick! Interestingly I can do a preview of it with Nikon View, but it chucks a spazz if I try to convert it to jpg... I would suggest transferring the card again to a different folder to rule out corruption during transfer, and maybe also transferring via USB cable from the camera (ugh)!

[rooboy]

Cheers radar, we'll use the USB cable next time. It might be difficult though, as we only got 5 corrupted shots out of ~500 taken today

It's strange though, image => computer (corrupted) => camera, and it's still fine on the camera LCD.

Edit: Thanks too Trent. Unfortunately I used C1's automatic delete option so I can't try a fresh transfer with these images (won't be trying that again soon ). Not looking forward to using the in-camera transfer too much, maybe I'll just leave it on overnight next time I want to look at 4GB worth of images

[NikonUser]

Just throwing ideas out there... and I hope I'm wrong.

But could your HDD be on the way out?

And explanation as to why it still looks ok on the LCD of the camera (and also another poster mentioned that it looks ok in NikonView until you try to convert to Jpeg) is that the JPEG that is embedded into the NEF file isn't corrupted.


Paul

[birddog114]

Need new and good card reader.
Some "cheap" card readers may produce problems.

[rooboy]

Thanks for more replies (quick service!)

Paul, I'll be adding/upgrading the HD soon, 120GB just isn't enough these days. It's about 3 years old, a Seagate SATA drive, which has had the odd hiccup here and there so I guess it could be the problem.

Birdy, any particular brands/models I should look out for?

Thanks everyone

[MCWB]

It's strange though, image => computer (corrupted) => camera, and it's still fine on the camera LCD.

IIRC the camera reads the small preview jpg embedded in the NEF, which may explain why the previews work well even though the TIFF image data in the NEF is corrupted.

[birddog114]

rooboy,
Try Transcend, Apacer, Sandisk or Lexar, the last two are expensive.

[gstark]

Edit: Thanks too Trent. Unfortunately I used C1's automatic delete option so I can't try a fresh transfer with these images

Have you used the card since

If not, you could use a file retrieval utility to recreate the data, and try different transfer modes.

Regarding the auto delete finction, why bother? Just transfer the fules, and when you're happy they've been moved, you should simply reformat the card in the camera.

But getting back to the point, I'd be looking at a glitch during transfer as the problem here. This isn't sounding like a HDD issue.

Quick procedural question: do either of you ever remove the card with the camera turned on?

Note the word ever .....

[rooboy]

Quick procedural question: do either of you ever remove the card with the camera turned on?

Note the word ever .....

No. I do stupid things, but generally not that stupid...

The main reason I was using the auto-delete option is that until we recently bought some decent sized cards, we were making do with several 512Mb cards. Multiple reformats (especially when in a hurry to shoot something) are a pain, so I was lazy. Which I think is what you were getting at

I'll have a play at recreating the data, thanks for the idea. I was mainly concerned that either the camera or CF card was about to spontaneously combust, the consensus seems to be that they're not going to

[Colcam]

Hi Rooboy. I would be suspecting a corruption in the transfer to the HDD. The preview in camera is almost certainly the companion jpeg. HDD problem is unlikely unless it fluctuated iin some way whilst tranferring. Pretty slim chance though.
Definitely run an undelete on the card and see what you get, There are many flash card specific rescue apps out there.I haven't used it yet, but you may want to check out Website: http://www.jufsoft.com/badcopy/ for copy of BadCopy Pro - Disk and CD corrupted or lost data recovery software.
Birdys right though. Good reader (or any link in the chain, for that matter) is mandatory if you want the results without the grey hairs. In future, copy then delete from the card afterwards.

Were you shooting inside the core of a nuclear reactor perhaps?

[rooboy]

Were you shooting inside the core of a nuclear reactor perhaps?

Sydney Aquarium, although the way Little Johnny is going at the moment, it may be up for some nuclear renovations soon

[Steffen]

Rooboy,
you should have kept your mouth shut, offered the image for sale, become rich and bought new hardware...

Cheers
Steffen.

[DionM]

Get a new card reader, I suspect yours may be at fault.

I use a Sandisk branded one - not cheap at about $60 - but very good quality. Reads every format too.