200 photos missing during shooting

[falkk]

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Dear colleagues,

some strange things happened during a shooting:

 

I lost about 200 images during a wedding shot last weekend. I had my M Type 240 (with Noctilux) with fully loaded batteries.

 

I was using Aperture Priority Mode-A with Continuos shooting and Live-View. Prior to the recent firmware update my M did not like continuos shooting at all, but since the update recently, it did not hang anymore.

 

I did not check every shot, since things moved quickly sometimes. Especially the during the ceremony itself, so I just shot away. Two - three shots in a row, maybe.

 

When I reviewed my files afterwards, I saw two corrupted images and a gap of file-numbering (see screen shot). I wondered and I realized, that somewhere during my shooting, around 200 images were not saved to the card. Camera was switched on (off course) I had my Live-View, I clicked everything responded. It did not hang.. except: for about one hour of shooting the ceremony, no images were saved.

 

I was using the Samsung 16 GB SD HC card, which I got from my Leica Dealer, when I bought the M last year.

 

You can image the embarrassment, telling my client that I do have a lot of nice pics, just the ceremony is missing… Good luck, I had my M8 with me, and I made maybe 10 shots with it. But I am quite unhappy - and I learned to review every now and than.

 

Did anybody of you have such an experience? Would would you say, is it the camera or is it the card?

 

Falk

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Edited September 9, 2014 by falkk

[Echo63]

any chance it was slung from a strap, and you managed to bump the delete button, and then the set button a bunch of times ?

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[k-hawinkler]

Why not have Leica examine camera and card?

Could it be that by using Aperture Priority Mode-A with Continuos shooting and Live-View the camera simply couldn't keep up with the rapid sequence of shots? I certainly would avoid that mode.

Edited September 9, 2014 by k-hawinkler

[falkk]

Dear colleagues,

thanks for answers… well, I am pretty sure, I did not delete the shots by accident. But never say never, haha…

 

I had the card examined by my Leica-Dealer yesterday. They could not recover any data from the card, and they say card is OK. I did not send camera to Wetzlar yet, I will do that immediately after my trip to China.

 

My dealer suggested, that is is the camera indeed, so I will send it in after my trip…

[01af]

I did lose a few frames from the middle of a shooting once ... but in my case, it was only one or two rather than several hundred, and it was with my M9.

 

In any case—did you check your memory card with a data recovery program? For DNG files you'll probably need a commercially available program, as the free ones usually will only recognise and recover JPEG files.

[MarkP]

Another reason why some would not want an M without a rear screen.

[Gary Clennan]

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That is very unfortunate - and frustrating! Please do let us know once you find out what the issue is....

[k-hawinkler]

I did lose a few frames from the middle of a shooting once ... but in my case, it was only one or two rather than several hundred, and it was with my M9.

 

In any case—did you check your memory card with a data recovery program? For DNG files you'll probably need a commercially available program, as the free ones usually will only recognise and recover JPEG files.

 

 

Well, I lost a number of shots that way in my M9 as well.

Maybe Leica still has not succeeded completely with battery/power managment in their M?

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m9-forum/187415-m9-1-162-firmware-bug-just.html

Edited September 9, 2014 by k-hawinkler

[CheshireCat]

Another reason why some would not want an M without a rear screen.

 

Indeed, and if the card had a hardware problem, the firmware should have displayed a big alert on the rear screen. So in any case this is an unacceptable firmware bug,

 

Another reason why pros use Canikons.

[ninicholas]

Dear colleagues,

 

thanks for answers… well, I am pretty sure, I did not delete the shots by accident. But never say never, haha…

 

 

 

I had the card examined by my Leica-Dealer yesterday. They could not recover any data from the card, and they say card is OK. I did not send camera to Wetzlar yet, I will do that immediately after my trip to China.

 

 

 

My dealer suggested, that is is the camera indeed, so I will send it in after my trip…

 

 

Which city in China? I'm in Shanghai now.

[rramesh]

Another reason why some would not want an M without a rear screen.

It would be very foolish of Leica to remove the rear screen and keep the delete button.

[falkk]

Hi 01af,

I checked a few software programs (I am using Mac Pro) including the SanDisk Rescue Pro Trial Version. I did a little bit research here in the forum.

I finally decided to invest 30 US$ in CardRescue.App.

 

No luck. Than at the Leica Store, they used some professional tool (I do not know what) but also no luck. So, I guess the pics are gone for good.

[falkk]

Ahh, Ninicholas,

I am invited to participate a conference in Tianjin Binhai Area. I will go there around Sept. 20. Than, I hope I get the chance to visit this crazy construction areas there. Than, I am planning to stay a bit in Beijing.

 

I have spent more than 14 years in China. Recently, I had an assignment in Shanghai. I loved it. My client booked a room in a new shiny hotel, somewhere near the French old quarters. But after a few days at this high-class tower, I moved to a very local business-hotel. I prefer local food and local life… I miss the food in China! ;-)

 

How do you like it?? How long will u stay in Shanghai?

 

Falk

Edited September 9, 2014 by falkk

[falkk]

Why not have Leica examine camera and card?

Could it be that by using Aperture Priority Mode-A with Continuos shooting and Live-View the camera simply couldn't keep up with the rapid sequence of shots? I certainly would avoid that mode.

 

 

Well, I certainly would assume, whatever mode Leica is offering us: when I use it, it should be safe to use. Or it should come with a warning: "Do NOT use A-Mode, Life-View and C-Mode altogether." sth. like that.

 

They don't, so I use it.

[k-hawinkler]

Well, I certainly would assume, whatever mode Leica is offering us: when I use it, it should be safe to use. Or it should come with a warning: "Do NOT use A-Mode, Life-View and C-Mode altogether." sth. like that.

 

They don't, so I use it.

 

 

I agree with you.

 

However, I also learned the hard way how to work around certain "features" of my M9. My conclusion, because of these and other issues, has been to pass on the M240 and wait until the Leica electronics/firmware has caught up with the pretty high standards of their industry.

[falkk]

I agree with you.

 

However, I also learned the hard way how to work around certain "features" of my M9. My conclusion, because of these and other issues, has been to pass on the M240 and wait until the Leica electronics/firmware has caught up with the pretty high standards of their industry.

 

Yep - I also learned it the hard way… My guess is, that the new M-P comes with a reason.

[k-hawinkler]

Yep - I also learned it the hard way… My guess is, that the new M-P comes with a reason.

 

Let's hope so, but that needs to be demonstrated!

[CheshireCat]

any chance it was slung from a strap, and you managed to bump the delete button, and then the set button a bunch of times ?

 

293 times ?

And that would not explain the 0-length files.

[FlashGordonPhotography]

I really feel for your image loss. It's the real fear of all wedding photographers. I'm glad you had the M8.

 

Being 20000 kms away means we can only guess, of course but I don't think Leica will find a fault. It looks like the files were written to the buffer and the failure is writing to the card. The card may be fine but I've had several cards that would work in all my cameras and fail in a Leica (mostly M9). Even two cards of the same type and size. One good and one bad. I wouldn't be using that card in an M again.

 

My guess would be that a corrupted file clogged the buffer making the camera think no card was present. The camera will work but just keep flushing images out of the buffer as it fills. At the second zero byte file you've turned the camera off and it's reset everything and then the card has been recognised after that.

 

The menu needs an option to have the camera not shoot if a card isn't detected. But Leica's don't have this.

 

Gordon

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Hallo,

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[CheshireCat]

The menu needs an option to have the camera not shoot if a card isn't detected. But Leica's don't have this.

 

If the card is not detected, you will see the "Sd" message flashing in the viewfinder. It is impossible to ignore it.