Lost photos on memory card

izzy 1954

izzy 1954

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I have two Canon DSLRs and I'm not sure if I formatted my CF card in the camera I was using, but I think I did. I went out with this card in this camera on several occasions and shot hundreds of photos successfully and transferred them to my computer in the usual way, but didn't delete them or format the card because I hadn't backed them up yet. The card is a Lexar Professional 1000x 64Gb CF UDMA 7.

Then I went out and shot about 300 pictures which I could see on the back of the camera. When I brought the camera home I wanted to show a picture to someone, and all the new ones had disappeared. Thinking I just maybe couldn't find the right place on the card I shot something just to get to the end and then scrolled back, but the latest shots were still missing, though the one I just shot was there.

I can neither see these 309 pictures on my computer nor my camera, though the file numbers show a jump from file number 6334 to 6643 and the previous shots are visible and so is the one I took when I got home.

So my first thought was to find some recovery software to try to get them back. I downloaded a free program called EaseUS and ran it, but because the memory card is so big it took ages and finally came back with a load of photos that I'd taken ages before and had deleted or reformatted since. It didn't show me the current un-deleted photos because I guess it didn't think those were what I was trying to recover.

So my question is, where do you think my photos have gone and how do you think I can get them back? Of the 309 pictures there is really only one I want to find as they were bird photos and most of them weren't keepers, but though I say it myself one of them did look rather good when I saw it on the back of the camera.

BTW, I'm using a iMac, and in case its relevant, the camera I was using is a Canon 7D Mk2, and my other camera is a 5D Mk3.

Thank you for reading this, I know its rather long, but without a full explanation people will probably just tell me what their favourite data recovery software is.
 
Hi Izzy, welcome to the forum.

Doesn't the 7D Mark II have dual card slots? Could the images have been written to the alternate slot for some reason (I've never had a dual card slot system, so I'm unsure how they work and what settings are available). It sounds to me as though the images may not have been written to the card in the first place, although the incremental numbers suggest the camera has registered them.

Is there an option for it to record raw to one card and jpegs to another? Could you have switched it to this mode by mistake. I made the error of reducing the quality when recording a movie on a Canon, not realising it would reduce the quality (to jpg) in stills mode! I was gutted when I came to process a large stack of a cute spider I found, only to see the images were all the size of a postage stamp. Still they processed really quickly... so there's always a bright side.

Really hope you find your images and sorry I can't be more help!
 
You will have created an additional camera specific folder when you put the card in the other camera. Put the card back in your computer them try clicking on/opening all folders that you see one at a time. Hopefully you'll find your 'missing' shots in on of them
 
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Thanks for the replies….

TimmyG, yes it has dual card slots but I only had a CF card in the camera. Not sure how I would have been able to play them back (at first) if they weren't written to the card, but what you're saying is suggesting a camera fault rather than a card fault…. I've only been on a few outings with this camera so far, its still under guarantee, so maybe Canon will help….

Andrew Davies, I only ever use a CF card so it couldn't play back from an SD if there wasn't one in the slot could it?

JohnX, there's only one folder with any pictures in it, its marked as 7D2 folder and contains all the other pictures, then there are 309 file numbers not listed, then the last picture I took after the disappearance. There are two other folders called MISC but they're empty. I haven't swapped this card between cameras since putting it in this one, and I'm almost certain I formatted it at the beginning.

Its still a mystery…….
 
Canon's have an option to "release shutter without card" (it will probably be in the custom menus). With this switched on you can fire some test shots, and the images will appear briefly for review on the LCD screen, but if no card is in the slot, they won't get saved.

Check to see if you have this setting switched on. If so do a test where you take a shot with the card in camera, then take the card out and take a few more, put the card back in and take another. See if the numbers on the images recorded to card follow on from each other, or if the numbers skip (representing the ones taken without the card).

If the above test agrees, it sounds as though the CF card may not have been in the slot properly or there was an issue with the contacts, and the camera wasn't able to write to the card. Unfortunately this also means you would have likely lost your images (as I'm not aware of any internal storage with the 7D (worth checking though, if you can connect the camera directly to the computer).

Also, have a look at this thread:

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3161280

Not sure what this issue was, but he was able to retrieve his images using an alternative file recovery application....

EDIT: The release shutter without card option is in "shoot Menu 1" according to this:

https://photographylife.com/recommended-canon-7d-mark-ii-settings
 
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I would try an alternative recovery program first just to make sure. I have use Recuva a few times, make sure to check the deep scan option in the settings first.
 
Thanks again TimmyG…. a good idea!

So I just tried that and the numbers follow on from each other, ie the ones taken without a card didn't have a numerical representation, they just didn't exist in any form.

Also, while I could still see the lost pictures on the back of the camera I was able to scroll back to them several times, they weren't only there for a quick preview.

Thanks also for the link to the other forum, it sounds like a similar situation, but I'm not sure what his answer was….
 
sbowler579, there seem to be a limited number of recovery programs for Macs…. Recuva says Windows…. :(
 
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