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DPChallenge Forums >> Photography Discussion >> absolutely freaked out - happy ending
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03/21/2019 01:03:48 AM · #1
I just returned from a trip to Mexico where I had 3 different people and pet portrait sessions on three different days. This was my first trip abroad for this project and was very excited to be shooting with some very incredible people. First I shot with the ex-first lady of Mexico, the next day with one of Mexico's top jewelry designers, and the third with a childhood friend and one of the top photographers in Mexico.

The evening of the 2nd session I went out to dinner with the friend who had set up the first two sessions, and we chimped at the shots from that day's shoot. They had turned out super cute.

I got home Monday night and began to download all my work. The first session looked great. I was relieved. Then I inserted the 2nd memory card to download the other two sessions - the one with the jewelry designer and the photographer. All but ONE of the jeweler's photos were gone. The photographer's photos were there, but none of the jewelers. I had a heart attack.

I've run 3 different data recovery programs on that card but they are simply not there. Not broken or fragmented, just simply not there. The image numbering shows that there's a gap of about 30 images, which is about how many I took. But the images simply do not exist. Even though I scrolled through them on my camera hours after the shoot.

I do not understand what or how this happened. Nothing like this has EVER happened to me. And I'm hoping to get some insight into this problem from the community in order to avoid having it repeat in the future. As I'm getting increasingly higher profile subjects, I just can't chance a follow-up call to let them know "Ooops, something happened, can we reshoot...?"

I'm devastated. And so, so pissed off.
03/21/2019 01:59:42 AM · #2
Oh man Johanna, I am so sorry to hear this. I wish I could offer you some alternate advice but the data recovery software is all I know about and has certainly worked for me in the past. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that someone here will be able to help you out. Best of luck!
03/21/2019 03:09:45 AM · #3
That’s a real bummer, hopefully somone here will be able to help.
03/21/2019 03:50:12 AM · #4
On the surface of it, what you're saying seems impossible.

1. You shot 3 sessions, 1 on the first card and 2&3 on the second card.
2. Within hours of having shot sessions 2&3, you and a friend chimped and both sessions looked great.
3. You got home and tried to download 2&3 to the computer.
4. 2 was fine, but only one image from 3 exists on the card.
5. Several recovery attempts have failed to show a trace of the missing files.
6. Had they been ON the card at any point, even erasing them would not have purged them like that: only reformatting the card would purge.
7. You cannot have reformatted the card because session 2 still exists on the card.

Bearing that in mind, the only scenario that comes readily to my mind is that your camera has 2 card slots, that by default you write to "A", but that somehow you switched to writing to "B" during that session, and there is a second card in the "B" slot with your pictures on it :-)

I hope I'm right... It's a longshot...
03/21/2019 03:51:51 AM · #5
have you checked the little switch on the card is turned on ?
03/21/2019 06:38:39 AM · #6
That is really awful - I feel for you.

I assume you have tried to look at the cards in the camera again and they are not showing? I sometimes put cards in my PC to view and they do not show all the images as the PC still thinks it has the old card in.

If you had deleted them from the card and had not taken any more photos on the camera then the data should still be on the card.

If it was the D750 you were shooting on I see that has dual card slots but I am sure you would have checked both cards.

If the card had a corrupt section on it I would have thought the recovery software would alert you to this.

Perhaps try a few more recovery programs before you give up all hope. It does sound very bizarre.

[Edited to fix typo]

Message edited by author 2019-03-21 06:39:04.
03/21/2019 10:45:58 AM · #7
This is not a good thought and I know nothing about this kind of thing, but is there any way to delete as you chimp? Is it possible that, as you were going through the images, you or your friend advanced from frame to frame by using the delete button?

So so sorry you are going through this, Johanna.
03/21/2019 10:54:59 AM · #8
Originally posted by Bear_Music:

On the surface of it, what you're saying seems impossible.

1. You shot 3 sessions, 1 on the first card and 2&3 on the second card.
2. Within hours of having shot sessions 2&3, you and a friend chimped and both sessions looked great.
3. You got home and tried to download 2&3 to the computer.
4. 2 was fine, but only one image from 3 exists on the card.
5. Several recovery attempts have failed to show a trace of the missing files.
6. Had they been ON the card at any point, even erasing them would not have purged them like that: only reformatting the card would purge.
7. You cannot have reformatted the card because session 2 still exists on the card.

Bearing that in mind, the only scenario that comes readily to my mind is that your camera has 2 card slots, that by default you write to "A", but that somehow you switched to writing to "B" during that session, and there is a second card in the "B" slot with your pictures on it :-)

I hope I'm right... It's a longshot...


Exactly right except that it was session 3 that still exists and session 2 does not.

All the other suggestions are nix: didn't delete while chimping (would have showed in the recovery, anyway), never removed the card between 2 and 3 so little switch wasn't touched, don't use a 2nd card (which I may need to start doing....!!!).

Plus now the plot thickens. Following Paul's advice to check the card in my camera, when I scroll to where the photo would be, I get a "cannot display this image" message on the screen. Which means that the camera is recognizing something there, but nothing else is.
03/21/2019 12:43:11 PM · #9
whoa DANG! I'm bumfuzzled, Johanna. I hope you figure it out. It sounds like your camera knows something. You just need to figure out how to get it to tell its secrets.

Please keep us posted.
03/21/2019 01:41:32 PM · #10
Sounds like it could be bad sectors on the memory card. I would advise not using the card in question again and definitely recommend using the dual slot functionality to save photo to both cards.

Not sure if there is any way to recover from a bad sector - you can prob pay a company tens of thousands to try and then fail.
03/21/2019 01:43:08 PM · #11
Out of interest, how do you get the photos from the cards - a card reader or a cable directly to the camera from PC? Perhaps try the cable solution if this is not how you downloaded the other images.
03/21/2019 01:48:09 PM · #12
You must be SO bummed. Geez. [url=//www. https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4153383]At least you’re not alone?[/url]. Maybe contact the guy who posted the forum and see if he ever figured out what happened?

Sorry, I don’t know how to make the link work but you should be able to cut and paste into google.

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4153383

Message edited by Bear_Music - parsed url.
03/21/2019 01:49:03 PM · #13
This one apparently recovers from bad sectors - possibly one you have tried
https://www.yodot.com/
The free download may at least let you see if there is any sign of the files before you cough up any dollar
03/21/2019 03:31:04 PM · #14
Johanna .. i had a mini heart attack reading what had happened to you ..
it would feel like the bottom had fallen out of your world ..
i'm hoping that all the wonderful advice you have received here will help ..
and you find those missing 30 photos ..
but i'm excited for you that you are getting such wonderful high profile clients ..
talk about a roller coaster of emotions .. :)
really really hope this one has a good 'ending' .. xx
03/21/2019 03:57:57 PM · #15
I had good results with EaseUs data recovery wizard, when something similar happened to me. No harm in trying.
03/21/2019 05:16:10 PM · #16
Originally posted by PennyStreet:

You must be SO bummed. Geez. [url=//www. https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4153383]At least you’re not alone?[/url]. Maybe contact the guy who posted the forum and see if he ever figured out what happened?

Sorry, I don’t know how to make the link work but you should be able to cut and paste into google.

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4153383


Very interesting. I might take this to Nikon and have them deal with it.
03/21/2019 05:32:11 PM · #17
I will try

connecting camera directly to computer

Ease Us recovery wizard

and yodot.

If none of that works, I'm taking it to Nikon.
03/21/2019 07:20:52 PM · #18
Johanna...my heart stopped when I read this post. Hoping that Nikon will be able to solve the problem.
Something similar happened to me several years ago and Nikon was able to retrieve most of the images that were 'lost'.
Fingers crossed.
03/21/2019 07:34:19 PM · #19
Did your cards go through any X-ray machines? If so, it is possible that they got zapped by extra high X-rays. If it was checked luggage some airports really turn of the rays to check the luggage contents. If it was X-rays, you are probably going to be out of luck though.

Sorry to hear you are having to deal with this. I had a similar problem with film back in the earl 80's while doing a very nice wedding in Las Gotos, Calf. This was before the internet where I could have found out from others that stuff like this happens. It was about 25 years later before I dared do another wedding and it was only as a personal favor to fiends.

Good luck and I hope you find them.

Mike
03/21/2019 08:01:41 PM · #20
I have not had your specific problem, but I have had issues with bad backup external hard drives. I have lost a year’s worth of digital files. So I know the feeling. I have learned to use several sources for backups including the cloud and multiple backup hard drives. I hope you find a solution.
03/21/2019 08:15:12 PM · #21
Originally posted by tanguera:

I will try

connecting camera directly to computer

Ease Us recovery wizard

and yodot.

If none of that works, I'm taking it to Nikon.


I can’t imagine how you must feel, but yes, if all else fails I certainly would do that. You want to know you’re safe for future shoots. It doesn’t seem logical to me at all that the card is at fault but I definitely don’t know enough to really make a guess. Good luck.
03/21/2019 08:55:00 PM · #22
OK, final update. I tried EaseUs recovery software and yes, it found the files. It recovered them with the extension .CHK, which I changed to NEF, and my computer was able to change them. Of the 125 shots, only 7 were unreadable. I'm hoping they're not the 7 best.... but at least I have the images.

Thank you all sooooooo much for your support and your wonderful suggestions. I cannot tell you the anguish I've had for the past several days. I will post the final, finished photo here as a thank you :)
03/21/2019 08:56:15 PM · #23
Yay! Yipppeeee! Yay!!

03/21/2019 08:59:53 PM · #24
Originally posted by MikeJ:

... It was about 25 years later before I dared do another wedding and it was only as a personal favor to fiends.

Mike


I would only try it again on "fiends" too, Mike!

LOL!

I actually never did wedding photography for anyone when I was starting out without having one of their own follow me around taking every shot that I took... "just in case". I wasn't charging... just doing a favor.

I was never sure enough about my abilities to shoot a wedding for pay.

I'm a scaredy cat.

Kudos to you!
03/21/2019 09:50:24 PM · #25
That’s awesome good news. I can imagine how freaked out you would’ve been.
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