No images found on camera

[JohnMWright]

I just got a Canon 20d. I installed a 2GB microdrive that had been

used in a 10d previously, and started taking snapshots learning the

camera. I was able to cycle through all the pictures in the camera,

but when the time came to view them on the computer... the software

told me "no images found on camera". I followed the directions

carefully (nothing unexpected there) with software and hardware

setup. Rebooting, trying again, using another cable all got the same

result. What finally worked was formatting the card in the 20d, even

though it had been formatted previously in a 10d, same file format

(fat32). I just thought that was odd. I never found any other

reference to this problem, although the Canon support website was

down last night when I checked.

 

After re-formatting in the 20d, it works fine.

[phule]

Is there a specific reason you didn't (or don't) use a card reader?

[JohnMWright]

Only because I didn't buy one yet. I will, soon.

[mike_smith2]

I may be way off here, but doesn't the 10D writes Canon Raw files (CR) and the 20D writes Canon Raw upgraded files (CR2)

 

Sounds like the additional info on the CR2 files cannot be written into CR formatted media, so perhaps a bit like Betamax and VHS incompatability? If so then it would seem that you cannot interchange cards between CR and CR2 writing bodies without reformatting the recording disk/card.

 

I seem to remember reading recently that each digital image file has 3 componants, including an embedded Thumbnail which is used for review in-camera - I assume this is for quick reviewing otherwise it would take an age to load each file in-camera. So I would hazaard a guess that the thumbnail data info is identical between CR & CR2 and hence was being recorded on the microdrive, but there were critical CR2 write-errors giving incomplete data capture on the CR formated disk hence the full file was not being recognised.

 

At least with 35mm film, if the cannister fitted between camera bodies there was a good chance that a rewound and re-usued film would continue to function, no matter what age body it was stuck into!

[mark u]

See p. 114 of the manual:

 

"Format the CF card before using it in the camera."

 

"A non-Canon CF card or a CF card formatted with another camera or personal computer might not work with the camera. If this happens, format the card with the camera first. Then it might work with the camera."

 

Seems your situation is covered....

[JohnMWright]

Ah, I did not spot that, hadn't read the entire thing yet. Thanks Mark. It still seems like a strange thing to need to do... I've never specifically needed to format hard drives when moving them from one computer to another, unless of course I wanted to change the file system.

[john_baker8]

It also states in the 20D manual that you cannot see the RAW files directly from the computer. You need to use EOSViewerUtility to download the RAW images from your camera to the computer.

[mark u]

Formatting writes some files to the card. Think of it like formatting a DOS floppy with or without command.com. Without it, your DOS PC wouldn't boot from the disk.