Corrupt Images? Can they be saved?

[Detonate]

See the attached below. These were shot as JPEG's not RAW, and this is what they look like out of the camera.

I've heard that sometimes it's just the JPEG Header data that is corrupt and the image data may still be fine.

Before I delete this whole batch, I want to see if anyone had any opinions.

I know I had a card come out screwed up once when shooting in RAW, and I was able to extract the Basic JPEG from the RAW files, which worked out OK. But in the scenario it seems like a lost cause.

[Concisus Cognatus]

Wow Jim I've never experienced anything like this before. I'll keep an eye on this thread. It'll be good knowledge to have in case I run into this myself.

What would cause something like this, bad card, momentary glitch in the camera, etc?

[Detonate]

Yeah, I've never seen this either.

When you shoot in JPEG mode, what is displayed on the LCD of the camera?

When you shoot RAW, it converts a basic JPEG which is embedded in the RAW file, and that is what is shown on the LCD. That is why I went through an entire shoot and thought everything was fine, only to find out all the files where bad after the shoot.

But if you are shooting JPEG only, I wonder what is displayed? If it's the saved JPEG, then one would assume you'd see the corrupt image in the thumbnail view on the camera LCD.

If that's the case, then it suggests that these files were corrupted AFTER they were moved to the PC..... ?????????????

[Concisus Cognatus]

Hmmmm....I'm absolutely no help on this one. Matter-of-fact, this is why I'm watching this thread. I assume that somewhere down the road I'll get something like this and want to be prepared for how to handle it.

[srwatters]

I can't add much except to say that on my D3 when shooting RAW + jpg, I see the jpg image data. I know this because when shooting small jpg and I zoom in, I see the expected lower quality vs shooting large jpg. Same issue with the quality setting. Jpg fine is always better viewed on the LCD vs jpg basic. If you saw them correctly on the LCD, then I would assume they were corrupted in transfer or on the computer.

Any backups to check against?

Originally Posted by Detonate

Yeah, I've never seen this either.

When you shoot in JPEG mode, what is displayed on the LCD of the camera?

When you shoot RAW, it converts a basic JPEG which is embedded in the RAW file, and that is what is shown on the LCD. That is why I went through an entire shoot and thought everything was fine, only to find out all the files where bad after the shoot.

But if you are shooting JPEG only, I wonder what is displayed? If it's the saved JPEG, then one would assume you'd see the corrupt image in the thumbnail view on the camera LCD.

If that's the case, then it suggests that these files were corrupted AFTER they were moved to the PC..... ?????????????

[Detonate]

I don't think so. These aren't mine.

A friend sent them to me. I've ask him if he erased the compact flash card. Which I'm assuming he probably just cut and pasted them over.... We'll see.....

[Controverrsy]

Originally Posted by nikonhobbyman

Wow Jim I've never experienced anything like this before. I'll keep an eye on this thread. It'll be good knowledge to have in case I run into this myself.

What would cause something like this, bad card, momentary glitch in the camera, etc?

I was just about to say the same thing...

[mdh]

I have seen this in jpeg and raw, Most of the time it is a transfer
problem, try to download the card once more or on a different computer. If you downloaded from your camera the battery may have been low, also most photographer use cheap card
readers myself included untill I had this problem, make sure all card readers are well connected and not bumped during transfer. Downloading a second time has worked for me
every time. good luck
Mike