Hi all,
Not sure this is the right place for this one but if not, happy for it to be moved somewhere more appropriate.
I would like to say I've come to accept the outcome to this, but that's not the correct term. I guess you could say I understand that there is probably no happy ending to this story, but just thought I'd run it by the forum here to see if anyone has any outlandish tips... or even if someone can let me know what on earth went wrong.
So hopefully I have enough details, but trying to keep it kind of brief too; we went away to Hill End for the weekend. I had the above memory card (EMTEC SDHC (1) 16GB Class 10 85MB/s Card) in my Canon 70D. I have used it for the last few weeks without any issues at all. On Saturday I used it normally and extensively and only noticed maybe about 2 hours into the trip, the photos started taking really long to process in camera. Meaning, the camera would start "cutting me off" when I got to 14 photos, which the camera was still trying to process. But it wouldn't allow me to take any more photos, until the number dropped. As soon as it was showing 13 to go, I could take another photo. Until I got to 14 to go, where it would jam up again. Shutter just wouldn't work.
So this was extremely frustrating, but I dealt with what was happening. It got worse as the day progressed and there were two times I just go too frustrated and sometimes as I do, kind of reacted without really thinking, or knowing the consequences. The only way to stop the camera from jamming up was to remove the battery and click it back in and start again. Anyway, I did this two times and only after the second time did I realise none of the last 28 photos I'd just taken had been written to the memory card. They were all gone. That was really disappointing but I can deal with that. They were mostly photos of the kids playing... of which I took about 800 others. In the end, I took 14 more photos and retired the camera into the house where is sat there just processing the photos for probably an hour or so while I reluctantly just used my Iphone. Then last night I took a few astral shots (30sec shutter speeds, which meant there was no build up of photos) and it was a really slow process, but went "okay." All my shots are safe.
Sorry for the build up, but that's how it started. Where it got ugly was that I got up around 6:30am this morning after a -5'C night and the place was covered in frost. It was stunning, with the sun peeking out onto the tree line in the background. It was stunning scenery and I popped off a bunch of photos I was really happy with. Something of note, is that I even reviewed a couple of them on the camera's screen. When it was processing the photos the day before, I couldn't review or see any photos I'd taken. Camera was basically just jammed up until the 14 photos were processed. But this morning, I saw with my own eyes the photos I'd taken. Not all, but a couple, at least.
Anyway, I got to the magic number of 14 again and the shutter jammed up again and I couldn't take any more photos. So, just like the day before, I turned the camera off and it just showed as it was loading/processing the 14 photos. Where it differed this time, is I turned it back on (as I did many times the day before) but it came up with an Error message. I think Err 8, from memory? That was different. So I turned it back off and it just looked to be processing the 14 photos again. In sheer frustration I retired the camera and just hoped it'd save the photos I'd taken. Again I went out with the Iphone while my DSLR sat inside.
Anyway, long story short, we packed up, went to Mudgee and plain and simply, I needed the camera again. Absolutely nothing had changed on it - still showing it was processing 14 photos when it was off, the Error message when I turned it on. This was about 3-4 hours later, so I just hoped the photos were okay but I knew nothing was going to change, so I ejected the battery and put t back in, pressed the review button and the last shots on there were from the night before. All the photos I'd taken that morning are all gone. For the record, I put in another memory card and shot perfectly and issue free for the rest of the day - no slow processing or anything - just 100% normal. Don't ask me why I didn't just change the memory card last night because I am kicking myself about this... very annoyed at myself for taking the risk. I just didn't think I'd actually lose any more photos now that I knew "the trick."
Anyway, the point of this thread is to see if anyone out there knows and kind of obscure or tricky technique... or if it is even a remote possibility, that the photos I took this morning were somehow actually saved somehow? And if so, if there's any way I could retrieve them? I know it's unlikely, but any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
And also, anyone got any suggestions on what happened? Like I said, I've used the memory card solidly without issue over the past month or so. No issues whatsoever. In fact, my wife recalls me saying how quick it was processing photos (for the record, it is a brand new card and this is all part of it's first usage). The only possible thing I can think of is what I alluded to before. It was -5'C overnight, and yesterday afternoon was probably around 10'C outside. But it seems ridiculous to me that the cold weather would affect it. I'm sure I'd have shot sunrises in Winter before with temps around 10'C (granted, with a different memory card). But is that's what's happened here? That's all that's been at all different to the last few weeks. Everything else, all the same. Also, for the record, when it was slowing up yesterday I switched from RAW to JPEG because I thought that might quicken it up. Nope, no difference at all. It was processing the JPEGs every single bit as slow as the RAW files.
Anyway, can anyone make anything of this? I desperately miss the photos I took this morning (I still see them in my mind). Main thing I can't understand is how I reviewed a couple of the photos on the camera screen this morning, but I lost every single photo from the morning.
E-hug on offer again, if someone could somehow suggest a way to retrieve the photos.
- - - Updated - - -
To pre-empt a possible question, I'm back at home now in "normal temps" though to be honest it's allegedly about 10'C now and I just put that cursed memory card in the camera and rattled off a flurry of photos. It took the magic number of 14 again and then the shutter jammed up. I've turned it off and it comes up with the same message - "Recording... Remaining Images: 14"
This time it is slowly counting down, though, and there's no Error message when I turn it back on. So it doesn't appear to be a temperature thing, which I kind of figured anyway. I'm just so curious about why it froze today when it was handling the most valuable photos I took with this condition.