NIGHTMARE----lost 900 images of wedding

[christopher hartt dallas]

Bob Bernardo - often active on this forum - is another person for you to touch base with. He has been successful with recovery of certain files in the past. The "overwriting" will likely make recovery impossible though.

 

Perhaps 'amplifying the positive" (pictures that you DO have) could be an alternative strategy - prints, slideshows, etc - as an alternative for pictures missing?

[photo_dark]

Wow... this is my absolute nightmare :( Hence the reason I have a very specific methodology for any and all events.

 

1) Carry enough cards to hold at least 3000 images in RAW in 4GB cards. Overkill? Yes. Do i care? No.

 

2) Once a card is done, it get's put in a ziploc bag in a special pocket in my computer bag... but not before ....

 

3) ...any time I have a spare second, I backup any new images to my computer. Then, I STILL don't erase the cards.

 

4) As soon as I get home, I backup all the images on my computer to an external hard drive. Then I backup all my

cards onto a second folder a second time on the external hard drive. Then I backup all cards to a second computer..

 

5) Finally, Once i've had a chance to go through all the images, I backup the original raw files to DVD and store

them in my fire safe. Only then do I format my cards and take them out of the ziploc to be used again.

 

... Yes it's overkill and i'm paranoid... but... i've never had a problem with erasing a card accidentally, and

if I did have a card fail, i'd only lose around 200 pictures, which is survivable.

 

If i was in your situation, i'd refund them the ENTIRE amount, offer to do anything possible to re-create the

important images if possible, talk to a laywer, talk to my insurance company, apologize to the couple on my hands

and knees... and finally, get a tattoo on the back of my hand that says "don't reformat cards until they have

been backed up and backed up again you dummy!"

 

:)

[francie_baltazar]

Pearl - sorry about your loss - it sucks and just want to add never ever ever format in the field - I carry around about 10 cards just so I never have this issue - and make sure that I put full cards in a different location to unused cards... that said I want to know how you got 900 images on a 4G card??

 

If they were mostly head shots - I would offer to redue those shots for them and include some of the other offers suggested.

 

From what I know cards which have been formatted can not be recovered - they are not like our hard drives...

 

Hard lesson to learn... and it's mistake you have to own up to...

 

hope it goes well --- good luck - go buy a few more cards --

[bpearl]

i want to clear things up here. it turns out i DID NOT OVERWRITE THE IMAGES.

 

the 4GB card in question has only 396 files visible on it, and the counter says i have 5 still available. NOW

thinking rationally, when i do the math there are 508 images that are not 'visible' on the card (both when it's

on my computer through the reader & when in the camera) My other 4GB that is full has 909 JPGs on it.

 

and when i think of the shoot more clearly and less teary-eyed -- 508 is what is missing, NOT 900 -- there is no

way with what is missing from what i shot that it totaled 900...wow, did my emotions take over my logical mind.

 

 

 

SO --- i will be sourcing the BEST of the BEST to recover this 'invisible' information.... following up with some

of those suggestions of this post -- and will let you know how it turns out....

 

may the gods, angels and tech wizards be on my side - your prayers are welcome.

 

bp

 

ps --- one big lesson i learned today was exactly HOW passionate and emotionally connected and involved i am with

the work i do, i think i am in the right field.

[photobiscuits]

It is possible to recover data from any storage device as long as it has not been overwritten. Even when

overwritten it is possible to recover parts or all of the data, though this would be useless pieces of pictures.

Googlesearch, there is lots of recovery software out there and it's not terribly expensive. Be careful with that card, if it is freezing up your computer there is an error somewhere - don't be discouraged, perhaps this anomaly is a blessing in disguise.<br>

For what it's worth I feel for you. You made a mistake and you've likely learned a lesson. Be honest, good

luck, keep us informed.

[wedding-photography-denver]

I am so sorry for your position.

 

I would advocate honesty in all aspect of your dealings. Make whatever restorative move you can in monetary terms and then ask, no beg, that they allow you to set up a time to re-shoot anything they can stand to do. Add your most sincere apologies and hope/pray for their understanding.

 

Going forward, I would really consider the use of much lager cards (Sandisk or Transcend 16gb are my preferred flavors) as you will not have this issue and therefore can likely leave the card in cam from leaving your office till you DL the images to you computer. Just a thought.

 

Best, D.

[steve george]

This doesn't help you here I know, but I find the most stress-free method of working is to format all cards before the wedding. I have unused ones in my right jacket pocket, used ones in my left jacket pocket - that way there is never any confusion. I don't format a card until I've got all the photographs downloaded, backed up onto an external hard drive and backed up onto DVD. If I format the cards before I process them then I even go through each card first and the corresponding folder on my PC to make sure that card was downloaded.

 

What may help you here - I bought an application online called Photo Nose - it was cheap. I used this to retrieve some personal photos I changed my mind about keeping and was surprised to see that even though I had formatted and filled the card with photos since my last portrait session it still pulled back 10-15 photos from it in addition to my personal ones.

 

I think reformatting just overwrites the first couple of bytes of a file - so depending how much of the rest of the file was overwritten you could still pull some back.

 

But I would be honest with B&G - offer a refund, a portrait session, etc.

 

One B&G I shot for recently put their wedding gear back on when they got back from honeymoon and we spent a day taking their photos around various Sussex landmarks from Brighton Pier to Beachy Head. A lot of fun. Maybe you can offer something similar for free in your local area?

[hensil]

Hi Pearl,

I feel sorry for you. I am glad to know that you will recover more than half of images from the card. Everyone has given you some good advice and I would not repeat them. Have you transferred/seen other images from other cards? Look at them, you may find some pictures that may be good or better than the one lost. Looking at the pictures will make you feel good.

[joshloeser]

The very best of luck to you, and I hope you recover as much work as possible.

[rainer_t]

-- "IS THERE ANYWAY IN the UNIVERSE to get images off a 4GB that has been formatted and then 100% shot over? "

 

If you had only formatted the card, and not used it at all, very likely all images could be recovered.

 

If you had not filled it completely after formtatting, a certain number of shots could be recovered.

 

Since you have used it completely (that's how I understand your "100% shot over"), the sad answer is: There is no chance to recover anything.

[lorriman]

"bad news of this type should always be done in person."

 

Not necessarily: evaluate the probability of a broken nose, and whether you would be willing to accept one.

[fotografz]

I wonder how many of these stories need be communicated before people stop using small cards and swapping them out ... and how many times this has to happen before the value of dual card

slot cameras for "one time events for pay" becomes crystal clear?

 

Before the smug answers come flying, consider this: We are all human, and human error is inevitable sooner or later. Couple that with potential card failure, or other hardware/software failures in the

chain of shooting/processing, and it provides the rationale for anticipation and preparation.

 

As professionals, shooting one of life's important milestones, it is our responsibility to "anticipate the worst and prepare for it as being inevitable," in order to limit or eliminate the chances. This is

NOT the place to learn the hard way ... because the way is hardest for those who trusted us to be professionals.

[davebell]

Marc, as has been said before, many photographers just cannot afford two dual card cameras. That's a fact of life. I absolutely agree that dual card cameras are the way to go, but unfortunately its not a simple of case of just going out and dropping many thousands on a new body for every wedding photographer.

 

A good methodology can go a very long way, i.e.:

 

1) Shoot with 1G or 2G max cards, in RAW for improved post processing ability and reduced images per card.

2) Use a good brand, such as Sandisk.

3) Never fill a card as this can cause failure - stop before it nears being full.

4) Format all cards at home before the shoot.

5) Store used cards in a different location (e.g. in a pouch in your body).

6) Backup to multiple locations asap, even during breaks at the event if possible.

 

And there are many other good tips above.

[michael_mays]

The truth shall set you free. As for a dual card camera how much more does one cost than the amount that you are going to

refund. It is worth the investment. FYI i use little post it dots when i take a card out of the camera i put a dot on it and don't take

it off until i format the card after i have done everything else everyone has said to do. Good Luck hang in there and all that. I

promise you are not likely to do it again.

[neilambrose]

<p>There's a slim chance some of the images may still be there. I recently lost a card with some personal work on it

(nothing wedding related) and used some fairly serious recovery software to bring it back. I was surprised that not only

were all of the images I shot recovered in full, but also many older images that had been on the card from several weeks

earlier, surviving two reformats and a fair bit of overwriting. As long as you haven't written over the exact same clusters,

any older images will be intact. The extent to which this is effective depends on how much you overwrote the card. But

at this point you've got nothing to lose so you might want to explore data recovery just in case.</p>

 

<p>As you've discovered the hard way, good advice for when you're on a job is never format a card and never delete an image. Helps to

prevent human error at least.</p>

[ramanarao_kalavacharla1]

Hi

 

" Bob Sunley , Aug 24, 2008; 06:27 p.m.

Well if you posted this under your real name, it will be in google for eternity "

 

If he deletes his profile from photo.net How does google can bring back this posting ! !

 

Regards,

[ramanarao_kalavacharla1]

I don't intend to either suggest Hide or Run away from the situation [by deleting the thread post or profile ], I wonder whether google is recording each and every internet posting throughout Earth for all the servers and is archiving some where on their servers ! How can that technically be possible !

 

Perhaps they [ google ] might have a pointer some where to the original posting but when I myself delete my own posting [ assuming photo.net allows that ] then google might return an invalid hyperlink pointing to a post that did exist in a past point of time.

 

I know this way too different topic, but couldn't help the better of my curiosity.

 

Thanks & Regards,

[david.elliott]

"If he deletes his profile from photo.net How does google can bring back this posting ! !"

 

There is the internet archive - they might have a copy of it. It might be in google's own cache, i.e. when you do a search

for something, click on the 'cached' version.

 

Also, somebody may have saved the page or printed it. It could be lingering in cache somewhere. It may be in photo.net

archives if those are kept. I assume the database of posts is backed up somehow. etc

 

Basically, once it is out on the internet, you cannot erase it.

[silverdae]

You DO stand a chace at recovering the images. We have done this in the past ourselves. You might not recover them ALL, but you do stand a very good chance of recovering a lot of them, even after reformatting. You can download software to recover. Spend some time online searching for recovery software for your card's brand. Once you download it, it will take hours per gig to recover, but leave it running overnight. Its worth it to give it a shot.

 

I can guarantee you it is not impossible to recover some of the lost images. It isn't 100%, but it is a chance. We've recovered after a couple of formats even. Don't give up- look into the software. Mistakes happen, but you still have options.

[ncarrasco]

Thank you for posting your nightmare on this site. This is a good lesson not only to wedding photographers who

must work under stress but to anyone else who is serious about photography. I got married last year in the

Caribbean and contracted the service of a local photographer. Although I never had the opportunity of meeting him

in person before the wedding to review the details of the contract, I did speak with him on the phone. Among

many different questions, I asked him if he had enough memory cards to shoot the entire wedding in RAW format

without having to reformat a single memory card in the field. He gave me the most reassuring answer by saying

that he not only used a hard drive to back up the images in the field but he only reformatted the cards just

before his next wedding. Today memory cards are really cheap.

 

I hope you can recover your images. Try to please your B&G as much as you can, even if you have to refund every

single penny. Sorry.

[john_g10]

Don't think you have to reformat flash card all the time after using it.

[jtk]

"everyone had pints"

[mark_mankey]

*hug*

[fotografz]

David Bell, sorry but I don't buy the argument ... a dual card older model can be had for near the price of a new less capable DSLR. People

are all taken with buying the latest gadget even if it isn't as well suited to the work at hand as a previous better model.

 

I've witnessed more losses from human error and gear malfunctions using small cards and swapping than I have from those using a better

suited camera for this work with bigger cards. In fact, I've never heard of a failure or loss of images from a dual card camera ... not that a

card couldn't fail, but the chances of two cards failing at the same time is astronomical. And, if the camera itself should fail, you'd know it

immediately and go to the back-up.

 

Again, I ask ... why do you think the manufactures make dual card cameras?

[ilkka_nissila]

How healthy is it to hand-hold a D3+24-70/2.8+bracket+flash, or same with 70-200/2.8, for 10 hours straight? For some photographers with less robust build, it may be too much, or at least uncomfortable. If you have to go for an older second hand model, you may end up with a situation where all of the low light images are somewhat worse than what they would be with a modern mid-priced model (e.g. a D700), but in case something goes wrong with the D700, you may lose images because of no backup card. While these sort of failures and human errors occur, and their probability and the consequences should be minimized, it shouldn't be done at the cost of the quality of images that you do get, nor should you have to get neck, arm and back pain because of the decision to shoot "safe" (from compact flash error) with a dual-card model. If you can afford a dual card model and don't have an issue with the weight, by all means get one - and use the feature ;-)

 

I wonder if some statistics of card failures exist (assuming that human error can be eliminated). To get a rough idea we would have to have people who shoot so much that they get card read errors on a regular basis. I don't know anyone like that personally.