Corrupted SD?

Mellie

New member
Hi - I'm fairly new to cameras. I have recently purchased a D5100 with a friend. I was at my dads wedding on the weekend and we took some great shots. When Ioaded the photos up on my laptop from the SD card about a third of the photos are ruined. It's almost like on some of them that it's trying to load three photos into one. Some of them half the shot is missing and greyed out or it has "static" like lines through them. On the display they are perfectly fine. Some of the ones that it's happened to are our favourites or the ones we didn't take multiples of. All the photos where shot in NEF/NEF*. I've not had this problem ever before and the SD card is fairly new. Any ideas?
 

J-see

Senior Member
Do the photos look ok on the screen of your camera?

If they're all good when checking them on its LCD, there's a possibility the corruption is caused during transfer to the computer. If you insert the SD directly into the laptop, try connecting the cam with the SD inside and transfer it like that, or if you did, try the SD directly into the laptop.

Also (you might know) NEF is a RAW format and will only accurately display when viewed in the correct software or when using a codex.
 
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Mellie

New member
Yeah the photos are perfect on the camera screen :) I will have to try connecting my camera with the SD still in the camera to my laptop.

Thanks for that tip! I have SOOOO much to learn still. I am running all the latest software but I have just been uploading the photos straight into iPhoto on my MacBook pro. Should I use another program or try it another way?
 

Scott Murray

Senior Member
Hasn't iphoto been stopped if so I would say that this is your issue, I would try viewing them via another source and copying straight from SD card to your Mac.
 

J-see

Senior Member
Yeah the photos are perfect on the camera screen :) I will have to try connecting my camera with the SD still in the camera to my laptop.

Thanks for that tip! I have SOOOO much to learn still. I am running all the latest software but I have just been uploading the photos straight into iPhoto on my MacBook pro. Should I use another program or try it another way?

You can download ViewNX-2 or CaptureNX-D for free at the Nikon site. They should display every photo correctly.
 

§am

Senior Member
Sounds more like target system issue than the SD card itself as its displaying OK on the camera.
Try the suggestions above first and see how you get on first :)
 

sonicbuffalo_RIP

Senior Member
@Mellie - please download a picture and post it here showing us what you are seeing. Maybe if someone takes a look, they may have a better idea of what may be the problem. No guarantees, but it's worth a shot.
 

RockyNH_RIP

Senior Member
Same thing happened to me a long time ago.... It turned out to be a software issue (with what I was using to load on computer) and I had to update that.. aftyer, all was fine. Not sure what you are using...

Pat in GA
 

Mellie

New member
Below are just a few (4) examples. some are just cut in half and blacked out. some are so minor that it wasn't until I zoomed in that I found them and then some its the whole photo.



example 1.jpg

example 2.jpg

example 3.jpg

example 4.jpg
 
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Mellie

New member
definitely looks like an iphoto or software issue, try the others like mentioned earlier. I never even try to use iphoto anymore.

Thank you! I was just praying it wasn't the SD card. If its my software then that is ok - that I can fix! I have just installed some of the suggested software and I'm very eager to see if that might solve some issues for me. I had a quick muck around with them to work them out and see how they operate and I'm already excited! I will play around with it tomorrow and let you know if it was a success. :)

I was a little apprehensive of posting anything on here (I had done a fair bit of googling which only made me realise I have sooooooo much to learn still) due to my lack of knowledge and experience but now I'm kicking myself for not having done it sooner! You are all legends!
 

sonicbuffalo_RIP

Senior Member
Thank you! I was just praying it wasn't the SD card. If its my software then that is ok - that I can fix! I have just installed some of the suggested software and I'm very eager to see if that might solve some issues for me. I had a quick muck around with them to work them out and see how they operate and I'm already excited! I will play around with it tomorrow and let you know if it was a success. :)

I was a little apprehensive of posting anything on here (I had done a fair bit of googling which only made me realise I have sooooooo much to learn still) due to my lack of knowledge and experience but now I'm kicking myself for not having done it sooner! You are all legends!

No....only Scott is a legend! lol
 

Rob Bye

Senior Member
If using different software doesn't solve the problem, don't forget there is dedicated image recovery software available. Hopefully, it doesn't come to that.
 

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
Thank you! I was just praying it wasn't the SD card. If its my software then that is ok - that I can fix! I have just installed some of the suggested software and I'm very eager to see if that might solve some issues for me. I had a quick muck around with them to work them out and see how they operate and I'm already excited! I will play around with it tomorrow and let you know if it was a success. :)

I was a little apprehensive of posting anything on here (I had done a fair bit of googling which only made me realise I have sooooooo much to learn still) due to my lack of knowledge and experience but now I'm kicking myself for not having done it sooner! You are all legends!


Before you go about replacing your software, you should check the card.

Do the pictures show up this way when viewed from the camera's monitor? If not, then it has to be between the card and your computer.

Try to get (buy, borrow or steal) another card and do a few test shots. See if the result is different with the other card.

Then check your computer-camera cable (the one you use to download your pictures to the camera). If you are downloading from the camera, try getting a card reader and remove the card from the camera before downloading.

You have to determine the source or broken link causing the problem before you try to solve it.
 

Englischdude

Senior Member
and again, not sure how well informed you are about the different formats which you can shoot in, but as already mentioned here NEF is the raw data which is captured by the camera sensor. if you are used to shooting in jpeg mode the NEF will certainly be new to you. when shooting in jpeg mode the camera will take the raw data, apply presets for various parameters such as brightness, colour saturation, contrast etc. and make a Jpeg for you. The advantage of shooting in RAW nd processing the raw images in the computer is that you have alot more flexibility.

There are many free programs available for displaying RAW and exporting to Jpeg. If you are using a mac you are in luck as there is a powerful image processing software called Darktable available (which I use). check out darktable.org It is completely free and there are many youtube tutorials available.
 

Mellie

New member
Before you go about replacing your software, you should check the card.

Do the pictures show up this way when viewed from the camera's monitor? If not, then it has to be between the card and your computer.

Try to get (buy, borrow or steal) another card and do a few test shots. See if the result is different with the other card.

Then check your computer-camera cable (the one you use to download your pictures to the camera). If you are downloading from the camera, try getting a card reader and remove the card from the camera before downloading.

You have to determine the source or broken link causing the problem before you try to solve it.

They show up perfect without any faults on the camera display. They where all taken in a RAW format so I am hoping it's just because I was using fairly basic software. I initially put the SD card straight into my SD card reader built into my laptop and never had issues with it before doing so however I can't be sure that previous photos were taken RAW or JPEG. I have downloaded a few of the suggested free software programs and will try a combination of those as well as using the USB cable straight to the laptop incase it is a SD card/card reader issue :)
 

J-see

Senior Member
They show up perfect without any faults on the camera display. They where all taken in a RAW format so I am hoping it's just because I was using fairly basic software. I initially put the SD card straight into my SD card reader built into my laptop and never had issues with it before doing so however I can't be sure that previous photos were taken RAW or JPEG. I have downloaded a few of the suggested free software programs and will try a combination of those as well as using the USB cable straight to the laptop incase it is a SD card/card reader issue :)

It can still be a transfer problem. If your other program has problems with the NEF files, it should have problems with all of them. If some photos are fine while others are corrupted, I suspect there is an issue with transferring them to the laptop.
 
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