Missing images on Q3 28

[NightPix]

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After a morning of shooting with my Q3 28 I loaded the images from the Sony 128 MB card into Lightroom Classic. The attached screenshot showed several images were missing - replaced with black rectangles. The missing images also did not show up on the camera when I put the card back in. Interestingly, the orientation (portrait or landscape) of the black boxes was correct. Furthermore, the date, time, and lens data are correct in the meta data, but all the blacked out images show ISO 12,500, which is not correct. 

The missing images were part of a series of long exposures (1 to 10 sec) of the same scene, with the Q3 mounted on a tripod. The camera was in Manual mode, aperture on the lens was set at either f8 or f11, and there was a 10 stop ND filter on the lens. No changes except for exposure time and camera orientation were made between shots. You can see from the screenshot that some other images in the series came out fine.  Before each shot I checked the EVF, and everything looked fine. I don't usually chimp - if I had I might have discovered the problem in the field. Since I discovered the problem I have tested the card in the Q3 and it seems to be working OK. 

I'm assuming the lost shots are unrecoverable, but I'd sure like to better understand what happened. Anyone else experience this issue?

 

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[frame-it]

not related to this problem but on a side note:

if you're gonna use the card on a computer and then put it back into the camera

its better to first lock the card with the little switch on the side

so that the dumb windows or mac OS doesn't index it and create the hidden files

which can sometimes make the images unreadable on the camera

[though the images are fine]

[bobtodrick]

Not to give false hope but we do card recovery at our shop and I have recovered images like this.
It depends on just what the issue is but a good recovery program may very well work.

Edited Tuesday at 11:14 PM by bobtodrick

[NightPix]

17 hours ago, frame-it said:

its better to first lock the card with the little switch on the side

 

The cards I am using are Sony "Tough" brand which do not have the switch. I've used them for years in many different cameras and never had an issue. The specific card that gave me the problem has worked without an issue in the past and seems to be working fine now as well. I will keep testing it though.

I'm wondering if it might have been a battery issue, as I noticed the battery level was quite low when I returned from my outing.

[NightPix]

17 hours ago, bobtodrick said:

Not to give false hope but we do card recovery at our shop and I have recovered images like this.
It depends on just what the issue is but a good recovery program may very well work.

I appreciate the thought, but the images are not that special to justify the effort. I am more worried that this was a problem with the camera (or possible battery). I plan to take a lot of test shots over the next few days monitoring the battery as I go to see if I can recreate the issue. Hopefully this was a one time glitch!

[LocalHero1953]

If you encounter the problem again, you might try a different SD card - there are reports of problems with Tough cards and Leicas (and some other cameras, including Sonys). @ktmrider2 is one who solved problems in a Q3 by swapping to Sandisk.

Edited Wednesday at 05:53 PM by LocalHero1953

[NightPix]

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2 minutes ago, LocalHero1953 said:

If you encounter the problem again, you might try a different SD card - there are reports of problems with Tough cards and Leicas (and some other cameras). @ktmrider2 is one who solved problems in a Q3 by swapping to Sandisk.

Thanks. I’ve used only Tough cards in my SL2/SL2s/Q2M with no issues. I do recall seeing another post somewhere a while back about the Q3 and SL3 being finicky about cards, so maybe SanDisk is the way to go for those newer bodies. 

[coleica]

not sure which operating system you are using.  in the apple environment, there are a number of apps which will scan your sd card for images.  these images can be recovered even if the SD card has been reformatted.  There are similar apps for the windows platform, i am sure.  you can d/l the app, run it and see if the images are there.  then depending how important the images are to you, you can buy the app and recover the files. 

Good luck.

[SrMi]

Have you verified that the shutter speed in black images is as long as in the properly exposed images. What happens if you lift brightness in post?

[bobtodrick]

2 hours ago, NightPix said:

I appreciate the thought, but the images are not that special to justify the effort. I am more worried that this was a problem with the camera (or possible battery). I plan to take a lot of test shots over the next few days monitoring the battery as I go to see if I can recreate the issue. Hopefully this was a one time glitch!

We do about 10 recoveries a week.   90% of the time it’s the card…as others have mentioned try a different card.

I replace my cards  afrer a year or two.  Cards are so cheap these days it’s just not worth replacing them on a regular basis. (not saying this applies to you)

Edited Wednesday at 07:31 PM by bobtodrick

[zlatkob]

4 hours ago, SrMi said:

Have you verified that the shutter speed in black images is as long as in the properly exposed images. What happens if you lift brightness in post?

Good idea to check whether they are just severely underexposed. Unlikely, but worth checking.

[NightPix]

5 hours ago, coleica said:

not sure which operating system you are using.  in the apple environment, there are a number of apps which will scan your sd card for images.  these images can be recovered even if the SD card has been reformatted.  There are similar apps for the windows platform, i am sure.  you can d/l the app, run it and see if the images are there.  then depending how important the images are to you, you can buy the app and recover the files. 

Good luck.

Thanks for the suggestion. These images probably aren't worth the effort but its nice to know that there are options should the problem reoccur when there are images I really care about (ie grandkids!).

[NightPix]

 

25 minutes ago, zlatkob said:

Good idea to check whether they are just severely underexposed. Unlikely, but worth checking.

First thing I checked but there is nothing but noise in the files. I repeated the whole sequence today with the same ND filter, exposure settings and card and everything worked as it should. To be same I'm ordering some SanDisk cards. I'm also going to let the battery run down to see if that has any effect.

Edited Thursday at 12:01 AM by NightPix