200 photos missing during shooting

[FlashGordonPhotography]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

In the heat of battle it is possible to miss it. If you have your finger on the shutter it supresses the message.

 

Gordon

[Manoleica]

Hi, not wishing to hijack this important Post, I had a similar experience with my XV.

Out and about the other day I shot maybe 35-40 frames. A 100% charged battery.

Camera set on Manual/Single shot & regular daylight settings.

Using my usual Card Reader into my 24" Mac as usual, only 17 shots!

Same SD as usual.. C r a z y..I format my cards prior to a new session. This week I'm taking my X1 to duplicate shots. If any shots are missing on the XV it's back to the Leica mothership (with SD card)

Edited September 10, 2014 by manoleica
Added info

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[wattsy]

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.

 

Testdisk is the best piece of recovery software I have used (it enabled me to recover files that I lost on an SD card when no other recovery software could even see the card) and might be worth a try. However, I doubt the photos were ever written to the card. I agree with Gordon, the two corrupted files either side of the missing photos indicates some kind of problem between the camera and card which seems to have resulted in files no longer being written to the card and which, later, appears to sorted itself out.

 

This is a real nightmare scenario for any event photographer and underlines the importance of having equipment you can rely on and, ultimately, because nothing is foolproof, professional indemnity insurance. You have my sympathy.

[jaapv]

The problematic thing here is that it is probably impossible to reconstruct what happened. It may have been anything from a software failure of the camera, a failed SD card to a dirty contact in the SD slot. It must be very frustrating, especially in professional use. (not that amateur shots cannot have a very high emotional value).

[thighslapper]

Leica will blame the card....

 

The Card manufacturers will blame the camera....

 

You are in a 'sh*t happens' scenario where the lack of evidence and error repeatability makes it almost impossible to work out what has happened.

 

I've had this once on the M9 ..... but the images were actually still there and recoverable.... but this is a failure to write to the card or the card to record issue .... and I suspect the latter..... or the camera would have flagged an error. Leica will tell you if the buffer keeps flushing when it cannot write to the card as suggested by Gordon.

 

As in all cases with 'sods law' it never happens except when you least need it.

 

Commiserations

 

I would trash the card. It cannot be trusted....

 

...... and an other argument for on-camera memory like on the T .....

Edited September 10, 2014 by thighslapper

[wattsy]

this is a failure to write to the card or the card to record issue .... and I suspect the latter..... or the camera would have flagged an error. Leica will tell you if the buffer keeps flushing when it cannot write to the card as suggested by Gordon.

 

The M240 might be different but my M9 will continue shooting indefinitely to the buffer even without a card present. Apart from the initial "no card" warning, there is no way of knowing that the camera is continuing to flush the buffer into the ether.

 

I would trash the card. It cannot be trusted....

 

I'd be tempted to "trash" the camera. It cannot be trusted.

Edited September 10, 2014 by wattsy

[edwardkaraa]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

From my own experience, I would never use neither LV nor continuous mode in any important occasion like a pro shoot.

[k-hawinkler]

The problematic thing here is that it is probably impossible to reconstruct what happened. It may have been anything from a software failure of the camera, a failed SD card to a dirty contact in the SD slot. It must be very frustrating, especially in professional use. (not that amateur shots cannot have a very high emotional value).

 

 

If the M behaves similarly to the M9 in this regard, the same use pattern probably will eventually force the same error mode again, me thinks. What eliminated the problem in my M9 was the use of a Panasonic Gold card. I have no idea if anything and what might fix the problem in that specific M. It would be interesting to learn if Leica found a problem with it. For the OP, please keep us posted. TIA.

Edited September 10, 2014 by k-hawinkler

[algrove]

I just think it's a shame we even are having this discussion and the freeze up discussions also.

[jaapv]

It keeps the forum going

[zlatkob]

I just think it's a shame we even are having this discussion and the freeze up discussions also.

 

It makes me wonder whether product development involves, at some point, tough testing by photographers who push the cameras hard and discover these failures while there is still time to address them, i.e. before the product is finalized & released. Maybe it is the card, but seems more likely to be the camera given the two zero files. Wishing falkk good luck in recovering the photos!

[jaapv]

Yes, Leica has a group of beta testers who put the camera through its paces in as many situations as possible in the months before finalizing, forum members amongst them.

[thighslapper]

The M240 might be different but my M9 will continue shooting indefinitely to the buffer even without a card present. Apart from the initial "no card" warning, there is no way of knowing that the camera is continuing to flush the buffer into the ether.

)

 

....... I had this warning multiple times on my MM the other night for the first time ....but the images were in fact saved and the problem has since vanished. Weird

[k-hawinkler]

It makes me wonder whether product development involves, at some point, tough testing by photographers who push the cameras hard and discover these failures while there is still time to address them, i.e. before the product is finalized & released. Maybe it is the card, but seems more likely to be the camera given the two zero files. Wishing falkk good luck in recovering the photos!

 

 

Not 2, but 294 zero files from 2933 to 3226, no?

[pop]

Two directory entries with a file length of zero bytes. Two hundred odd file numbers missing altogether.

[k-hawinkler]

Two directory entries with a file length of zero bytes. Two hundred odd file numbers missing altogether.

 

Unless the OP listed only the first and last of the zero files and not the others in between.

 

When the problem happened on my M9 it kept listing all the zero files.

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

Edited September 10, 2014 by k-hawinkler

[pop]

That is how I understand the problem:

File #2932 ok

File #2933 directory entry only, no data

Files #2934 ... 3225 number increased, no directory entry, no data

File #3226 directory entry only, no data

File #3227 ok

 

With the narrative indicating that the frames 2933 through 3226 were exposed but not to be found on the card.

[FlashGordonPhotography]

I think it would be understandably difficult for Falkk to trust either the card or camera again. I shot 950 shots on two M's at last weekends wedding with absolutely no issues but I avoid Leica's continuous after poor experiences with the M9.

 

Some years ago I had a session where a Canon wrote 40-50 corrupted files to a card. Canon said it was the card but I sold that body soon after. And from then on always shoot with two bodies, just in case.

 

Gordon

[JohnJWhite]

And then there was the time back in the 80s I had an evening job developing film at a high end shop west of Boston. A big time pro brought in six rolls of 35mm negative film for processing, along with some Fujichrome. It was a shoot for the Boston Symphony Orchestra with some famous singer. Very important stuff.

 

It had been a long day. I proceeded to put the entire batch through the E6 chemistry.

 

Yup. Excrement happens...

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[pgk]

It may have been anything from a software failure of the camera, a failed SD card to a dirty contact in the SD slot.

Interesting scearios. First one 'magically' resolves itself with no intervention. Second one 'magically' resolves itself with no intervention. Third one might just resolve itself as the camera is moved. My logic may be faulty but I know what I think most likely. Another possibility is a battery problem/poor connection though I feel this is again less likely.

 

There are probably other scenarios, but I doubt that many would resolve themselves without some user intervention, even if its only switching the camera off and back on or removing the battery.