DPChallenge: A Digital Photography Contest You are not logged in. (log in or register
 

DPChallenge Forums >> Hardware and Software >> Faulty camera or memory card?
Pages:  
Showing posts 1 - 25 of 30, (reverse)
AuthorThread
06/05/2016 06:18:22 PM · #1
About two weeks ago I dropped my (SD) memory card after downloading photos from my camera. When I put it back into the camera and switched on, the camera indicated that there was no memory card in the camera. I took it out and reinserted it and everything seemed to be okay. However I was still worried enough to go into a camera shop the next day to see what an "expert" thought. The salesman formatted the card, took a couple of photos, formatted it again and expressed confidence that the problem had been some dirt that got into the wrong place.

I had no more problems until today, when after taking a few quick shots, I discovered this, taken in bright sunshine.

If your eyes and monitor are good, you may just be able to see a small puff of cloud near centre left.

Auto-contrast managed to extract this detail from the otherwise unedited jpg file:


When I processed the RAW file I was able to extract a bit more detail:


This properly exposed photo of the same scene was taken only seconds later. The exposure details are identical:


Can I safely assume that my memory card really was damaged in the fall, or should I worry that my camera is faulty?
06/05/2016 06:40:25 PM · #2
I would try another card to see if it happens again. That should give you a better indication whether it is the card or the camera. I have owned a few cards that have become faulty after a while.
06/05/2016 06:45:06 PM · #3
I don't think I've got another card with enough memory to meet my needs so it would mean I'd have to buy a new one. The problem is that this is the only photo that I've encountered a problem with in two weeks of shooting, so even if the card is faulty it could be a while before it happens again.
06/05/2016 07:46:59 PM · #4
The card stores the image created by the camera. The image, as you proved, wasn't corrupted, but the exposure looks totally off. That would be a function of the camera, not the card.

Or I could be wrong...
06/05/2016 09:59:04 PM · #5
I am looking at the EXIF of the dark exposure and there I am seeing that you have Lens:
Aperture: F3.5
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/4000 sec

looking at the shutter speed, it might be possible that it capture dark exposure because of the ISO is still 200. See if you can use same shutter speed as 4000 but increase ISO to 1000 or so and see what you achieve.
06/05/2016 10:06:33 PM · #6
Originally posted by pgirish007:

I am looking at the EXIF of the dark exposure and there I am seeing that you have Lens:
Aperture: F3.5
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/4000 sec

looking at the shutter speed, it might be possible that it capture dark exposure because of the ISO is still 200. See if you can use same shutter speed as 4000 but increase ISO to 1000 or so and see what you achieve.


The other photo had the exact same settings, so it wasn't a case of my underexposing. The camera was set on aperture priority and auto ISO, so there's no reasonable explanation for what happened.
06/05/2016 10:22:32 PM · #7
Originally posted by GinaRothfels:

The other photo had the exact same settings, so it wasn't a case of my underexposing. The camera was set on aperture priority and auto ISO, so there's no reasonable explanation for what happened.

Every so often a camera just hiccups and an anomalous result ensues. I wouldn't worry about it unless it happens again.
06/05/2016 10:29:52 PM · #8
Originally posted by Bear_Music:

Originally posted by GinaRothfels:

The other photo had the exact same settings, so it wasn't a case of my underexposing. The camera was set on aperture priority and auto ISO, so there's no reasonable explanation for what happened.

Every so often a camera just hiccups and an anomalous result ensues. I wouldn't worry about it unless it happens again.


Okay, I guess I'll keep watching it for a while then. I was just surprised because this has never happened to me before, and the dropped memory card immediately came to mind. It wasn't a problem today, but I'd hate to miss a special shot because of a fault.
06/05/2016 10:35:06 PM · #9
Originally posted by GinaRothfels:

Okay, I guess I'll keep watching it for a while then. I was just surprised because this has never happened to me before, and the dropped memory card immediately came to mind. It wasn't a problem today, but I'd hate to miss a special shot because of a fault.

Hopefully you DO have an extra card with you when you shoot, even if it isn't as capacious as your main card? It would still be a good idea to see if you could duplicate the error with a different card, but it's probably not worth trying unless the glitch occurs again.
06/06/2016 07:28:07 AM · #10
Originally posted by Bear_Music:

Hopefully you DO have an extra card with you when you shoot, even if it isn't as capacious as your main card? It would still be a good idea to see if you could duplicate the error with a different card, but it's probably not worth trying unless the glitch occurs again.


I don't generally carry an extra memory card but I've been carrying a point and shoot camera for those shots that my Olympus lens can't reach, so I guess I could try switching cards.
06/06/2016 07:44:20 AM · #11
Extra card and extra battery are my first priorities when i buy a camera. If I carry a camera I will have them with me. Swap the cards and check.
06/06/2016 07:45:27 AM · #12
Bear_Music I've just thought of something else. I deleted all the photos from my memory card except these two, as I was considering taking them to show the guy at the camera shop. As I'm trying to see whether the problem occurs again, would it be better to delete them or leave them there?
06/06/2016 07:50:27 AM · #13
I would leave them for reference
06/06/2016 07:56:46 AM · #14
Originally posted by Tiberius:

I would leave them for reference


Thanks. I just hope I don't accidentally delete them when I'm downloading photos. I've locked them, but I'm not sure that always helps when using a card reader.
06/06/2016 08:12:55 AM · #15
Originally posted by GinaRothfels:

About two weeks ago I dropped my (SD) memory card after downloading photos from my camera.... The salesman formatted the card, took a couple of photos, formatted it again and expressed confidence that the problem had been some dirt that got into the wrong place.


Just a thought... If some dirt got into the wrong place on the memory card could that dirt have been transferred into the slot that holds the memory card and be intermittently causing a problem? Can you hold the camera and gently blow some air into the slot in such a way that it would dislodge any dirt in there?
06/06/2016 08:15:54 AM · #16
Originally posted by PennyClick:

Originally posted by GinaRothfels:

About two weeks ago I dropped my (SD) memory card after downloading photos from my camera.... The salesman formatted the card, took a couple of photos, formatted it again and expressed confidence that the problem had been some dirt that got into the wrong place.


Just a thought... If some dirt got into the wrong place on the memory card could that dirt have been transferred into the slot that holds the memory card and be intermittently causing a problem? Can you hold the camera and gently blow some air into the slot in such a way that it would dislodge any dirt in there?


Thanks for the suggestion. I'll give that a try.

I hate intermittent problems because they're the most difficult ones to solve.
06/06/2016 09:05:36 AM · #17
Looks to me like a sticking aperture blade, hopefully the problem has sorted itself
06/06/2016 10:05:11 AM · #18
Originally posted by MAK:

Looks to me like a sticking aperture blade, hopefully the problem has sorted itself


Would that be likely to happen for one shot and not for the next one taken a few seconds later?
06/06/2016 10:10:44 AM · #19
Dropping a memory card should not damage it. Plus, the image is fully and accurately recorded and retrieved. A damaged memory card would not likely confine its manifestation to a single image being recorded as darker than expected. I'd expect to see symptoms like "failure to read card" "failure to format", "data error while reading image" - those kind of things. (By "accurately" above, I don't mean "as expected" - the image is all there, the sky, the trees, the cloud, etc.)
06/06/2016 10:24:03 AM · #20
Originally posted by dtremain:

Dropping a memory card should not damage it. Plus, the image is fully and accurately recorded and retrieved. A damaged memory card would not likely confine its manifestation to a single image being recorded as darker than expected. I'd expect to see symptoms like "failure to read card" "failure to format", "data error while reading image" - those kind of things. (By "accurately" above, I don't mean "as expected" - the image is all there, the sky, the trees, the cloud, etc.)


That's true. It's not what I wanted to hear, but it makes a lot of sense.
06/06/2016 12:56:32 PM · #21
Originally posted by GinaRothfels:

I hate intermittent problems because they're the most difficult ones to solve.


Yup. And there might be no problem at all, just a coincidence of things all happening at once.

However, regardless of what you shoot, and what your photography goals are, you should ALWAYS have an extra battery and memory card. They both "go bad" after a while, and you definitely don't want that to happen when shooting something important to you. Besides, you can get memory cards online for SO cheap these days, there's no real reason to not have an extra one handy.
06/06/2016 05:41:58 PM · #22
I always carry a spare battery, but I need to do something about a memory card. Of course having one in the point and shoot helps, but it doesn't have the same capacity as the one in my OM-D.

As for what MAK said about a sticking aperture blade, I suddenly realised that casts doubt over my lens too. Looks like I'll have to keep a close watch over everything for a while, but it rather sounds like the memory card isn't the culprit.
06/07/2016 08:16:50 AM · #23
I really wouldn't worry about it, especially if it was just the once and you got a decent shot 2 sec later. I've seen software do some pretty screwy things over the years - things that weren't even supposed to be possible.
06/07/2016 09:01:54 AM · #24
Originally posted by dtremain:

I really wouldn't worry about it, especially if it was just the once and you got a decent shot 2 sec later. I've seen software do some pretty screwy things over the years - things that weren't even supposed to be possible.


I guess all I can do is wait and see. I only took three photos that day and haven't used my camera since.
06/07/2016 12:37:00 PM · #25
Personally, my money is on the fact that the shots most likely involved the electronic shutter, and it was a software/sensor communication glitch.

As Bear said below, glitches happen. Nothing to worry about (especially since with a mirrorless, you see the problem right away.)

Otherwise, it could be time to buy a new camera, and send me the old one ;)

Pages:  
Current Server Time: 03/28/2024 02:39:10 PM

Please log in or register to post to the forums.


Home - Challenges - Community - League - Photos - Cameras - Lenses - Learn - Prints! - Help - Terms of Use - Privacy - Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2024 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 03/28/2024 02:39:10 PM EDT.