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Can't figure it out, card reader not reading images on flash card!


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I have 2 compact flash cards 1bg and 4gb for my d200 and d70 I take some

pictures and put card in my computer to look at pictures and nothing....what am

i doing wrong? Ive used recovery pro and can get some images but I don't want

to have to do this every time! the cards are formatted before I start taking

pictures. And neither are working? I can see images on my lcd screen, do you

think something is wrong with the card reader on my computer. I don't think so,

computer is 2 months old. Any help is greatly appreciated while Im trying to

figure this out on my own.

 

Thanks, Kristina

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Does your computer recognize the CF, but show it empty, while you can see the pictures in camera? I guess it may be an issue either with the CF reader or its drivers. Try un-installing and re-installing it. Also try using it on somebody else PC, and see if you can borrow somebody else reader to use with your PC. Most cameras also allow to be used as a CF reader, connecting the camera to the PC with a USB cable. For the latter most likely you need to install specific drivers on your computer (they should come with the camera, or download them from the vendor web site). The above should allow you to isolate where the issue actually is.
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Not everybody formats before taking pictures. If you use Windows Explorer to transfer files to your computer [ ie Move to ] it clears out your CF card. I have only formatted a couple of times in five years. It is only needed if the card is taking a lot fewer shots than when you started to use it and you need to fill the card for each shoot. I rarely fill my cards, but that is my sort of working.

 

My system using Windows Explorer in W2K or XP is to EDIT>SELECT ALL. Then COPY TO all the shots to my 'archive' folder. Then I select and MOVE TO files to an appropriate 'working folder'. Then I 'look' at my shots in the computer, though of course I can see thumbnails from the camera in WE for the 'move to' stage of the process.

 

I have two hard drives with Archive on one and working folders on the other with the operating system. Hope this helps :-)

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Formatting the card is a good way to ensure that the card and camera will talk to each other correctly. Absence of a problem due to lack of formatting is not proof that it's the correct action.
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DON'T REFORMAT THE CARD until you have exhausted every avenue for recovering the missing files.

 

One option that worked for a friend with almost the same identical problem was to use PHOTORESCUE software. My friend tried two different computers and bought a second card reader and nothing worked before trying and buying PHOTORESCUE and saving the photos. If PHOTORESCUE can't read the photos while the card is in the card reader, put the card back in the camera and hook the camera up to the computer. Then try PHOTORESCUE again to read the card while it is in the camera. This is an exception to the "ALWAYS FORMAT" rule covered below fro normal situations.

 

More on the superiority of PHOTORESCUE about 3/4 of the way down this page:

 

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/aa-07-worked.shtml

 

and a review on this page:

 

http://www.imaging-resource.com/SOFT/PHR/PHR.HTM

 

You can get PHOTORESCUE here:

 

http://www.datarescue.com/

 

Some suggestions for your workflow if you aren't doing these already:

 

Do not use a memory card in more than one camera. The same card should always be used in the same camera. You need a separate set of memory cards for each camera.

 

As someone else said, do not MOVE photos from the memory card to the computer. COPY the files from the card to the computer. Do not use the computer to delete photos from a memory card while it is in the card reader. Do not use the computer to reformat the card. Reformat the card in the camera.

 

Do not fill a memory card with so many photos that you get a CARD FULL message from the camera. Just like your hard drive, you always want to leave some empty space. A full memory card, just like a full hard drive, can lead to data errors. Download the card before it gets completely full.

 

I learned the following from Seth Resnick: ALWAYS reformat a memory card EVERY time you put it back in the camera. Put another way, if you download photos from a memory card, DO NOT put the card back in the camera and take more pictures, no matter how much room there is on the card. Filing system differences between the computer system and the camera system can lead to memory card corruption. Always reformat the card when you put it back in the camera and before taking any more pictures.

 

I hope this helps.

 

 

Jim

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<i>I take some pictures and put card in my computer to look at pictures and nothing....what am i doing wrong?</i>

<p>

The computer sees the CF card as an external disk drive - nothing more. You won't automatically see pictures like in the camera unless you have designated a program of that sort to open the files when the card is recognized. That might be hard for you to do, since you seem to know very little about how a computer works or its file system.

<p>

Look at the card and its contents with Windows Explorer (or some file explorer program). You should see some directories and files on the card. Copy the image files to a named directory on an hard drive. From there, you can open the files with any program designed to edit or view digital images.

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