Missing pictures

[antigallican]

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Twice this week my Q has had discrete pictures on it go missing - I mean they are not on the card when I put it in my Mac to download. These are pictures I took, examined through 'play'. Anyone else have this experience? I'm on 3.2. Sometimes the camera locks up live too and will only respond if you pull the battery. Of course I'll replace the card, but would like to hear any similar experiences.

Thanks.

John

[antigallican]

I'm too late to edit my post so have to post again. The Q is firmware 3 - it's my SL which is 3.2.

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[MLochmansPhoto]

Question ....Are they still visible on playback on your card when its in camera, but not transferred during import to your Mac?

If this is the case maybe..... by mistake you pressed the secure picture option in playback mode. It's just a wild guess here but I believe

there is such a option in the playback menu, I am not sure though.

[antigallican]

Thanks for that thought. They are definitely not present - I put the card back in the camera but they were still missing. I know they were there because I was shooting in difficult light and I was taking a picture, checking, taking a picture checking. So now I’m going to swap out the card, (top quality SanDisk Extreme too). It’s making me anxious about relying on my Q. Let’s hope it’s a card issue.

 

Anyone have strong feelings about the most reliable cards? I’d have thought I was using one.

Edited October 5, 2018 by antigallican

[Leica Guy]

I exclusively use Sandisk Extreme Pro cards. I must own a dozen. Never had a problem. Your problem is puzzling and for sure concerning. Hopefully you can establish confidence in the camera soon or get it repaired. The problem you present is definitely not normal for the camera. I would run some experiments being careful on what you’re doing. Verify they are viewable in camera. Then in LR. Try continuous shooting on highest frame rate to really fill the buffer. Again, I’ve never experienced what you are seeing. My Q problems are typically operator error. I hope yours are and the Q is solid. Good luck.

[bags27]

I believe I have a similar experience some 6 weeks ago (3.0 firmware) using Sandisk Extreme Pro. After a day of shooting, I examined the photos and asked myself: where are all the shots from the bridge? None of them were there, not one of maybe a dozen. Only time that's happened.

 

As to lock-ups and the necessity to remove the battery with 3.0, this is a well-discussed issue. It happened to me a couple of times when I first loaded 3.0, but it MAY be that I had messed up the video setting and was unintentionally using it when trying to shoot stills simultaneously, so the camera froze. Hasn't happened since the first week of the 3.0 release.

 

Someone on a different website offered that Leica firmware updates need several cycles before being fully functional. I don't know how that's the case, but there it is, FWIW. But no problems of any sort for several weeks now.

[hifly]

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This happened ones to me on my Leica T and I was able to recover the files using a file recovery software.

[antigallican]

Thanks for the further thoughts and comments all. I've swapped the card for a different Sandisk one and formatted it. We shall see. Do any of you delete files in between formatting? I ask as I was warned against this by the leader of a course I attended - a guy who'd shot hundreds of thousands of wedding images. I don't remember doing it on the Q but I guess I may have done.  As for the lock ups - they've only happened since the new firmware and they are rare. I think they're software induced.

[bags27]

Thanks for the further thoughts and comments all. I've swapped the card for a different Sandisk one and formatted it. We shall see. Do any of you delete files in between formatting? I ask as I was warned against this by the leader of a course I attended - a guy who'd shot hundreds of thousands of wedding images. I don't remember doing it on the Q but I guess I may have done.  As for the lock ups - they've only happened since the new firmware and they are rare. I think they're software induced.

I don't know about refraining from deleting individual captures between reformatting. But I know it's good practice to reform the disk in the camera after transferring a photo file to the computer, rather than just erasing the file with the Finder (on Apple).

[HighlandK]

+1 it is good practice to reformat the card in camera (not on computer) after downloading images from it. I understand this puts down a fresh index and avoids the corruption that could occur by just rewriting over the old one (I'm not a techie and my terminology is imprecise!). I also try to avoid deleting images in camera in case of possible corruption but that might just be paranoia!

 

The only time I have had a 'missing image' problem was when in a noisy environment I thought I had pressed the shutter button all the way but hadn't realised it because the shutter is quiet compared with my usual slap with a DSLR! I also use SanDisk Extreme Pro and have never had a problem, although fair to say I rarely fill the card.

[SonomaBear]

I must agree with everyone about the need for caution with removable media. Both SD or CF, I format the cards before reuse. One card failure, my total in 12 years, came when not reformatted.

My storage workflow traveling is 1. Shoot; 2. Lock card; 3. Read into Passport WiFi hard drive; 4. stored upside down in card case. — in the evening I load all the locked, upside down cards into LR then return to case rightside up. Do not reuse until back home and all images received from travels to LR on primary system with RAID drives. Unlock the cards, reformat in Q, and I’m ready for next trip.

Paranoid? Yes! Failures? Very rare and none since using Q and newer Canon EOS. The one failure was in a tiny Canon Powershot I carried before using iPhone.

[integrale]

Doesn’t the camera number each photo sequentially? If so, you can check if photos are missing from the numbering...

[antigallican]

Yes the camera does number sequentially but I have reformatted the card now. I wish I'd thought of your point before I did, though of course it wouldn't have brought back missing material.

Edited October 7, 2018 by antigallican

[Leica Guy]

Did you download the photos? Are the numbers in sequence?

[antigallican]

Did you download the photos? Are the numbers in sequence?

 

 

Ah you're too clever for me. I'll have a look tomorrow - they're on my office computer. Thanks

[Leica Guy]

Ah you're too clever for me. I'll have a look tomorrow - they're on my office computer. Thanks

LOL. Let us know.

[DFConn]

Greetings to all Leica Q2 users who discover that images are missing from their SD cards after a shoot:

I'm having this problem with my Q2 - just bought in May 2021 and running Firmware 3.1. Q2 seemed to have no problem with older Sandisk Extreme Pro 128gb card running at 95 MS/s - newer 128gb V30 card (still old by today's standards) has the issue - card runs at 170 MB/s - I also had the issue with a Sony Tough 128gb V60 card that I stopped using. Why are faster cards a problem for the Q2?

One of the main questions for me: why does a camera as expensive as a Q2, that is seemingly running the same innards as a Panasonic, have this problem? What is wrong with the Leica-Panasonic engineering compact that this is still a problem over 2 years after this camera was first released to the market?

I have never had this issue with any camera I've ever owned since turning to digital capture in 2000: multiple Canon 1Ds and 5Ds, Panasonic LX-5, GH5, Sony Nex-7, a6000, a6300 and A7RII...if Leica is listening, you need to fix your firmware and/or replace the SD card slot tech in the Q2..

Don't get me wrong. I love Leica and up until the year 2000 I shot with an M2, M4, and later, an M6 - all with my trusty Summicrons. Aging eyesight caused me to switch to Canon for its focusing system. So, when the Q2 came out, I thought I could, finally, return to Leica!

But we're now well into the 21st Century and this problem where you can't trust that the the Q2 is properly recording what you're shooting is, simply, unacceptable.

Again, Leica: if you're listening, please fix this issue...now.

Don Connors

https://dfconnors.com