Today’s post by David Zimmerman, with Joe Farace
If you read my previous post, Avoiding Memory Card Problems, you know that if you shoot a lot, and maybe even if you don’t, it’s inevitable that you might run into some problems that could cause you to lose some of your photographs. Here are some tips from an expert on avoiding this kind of loss.
- Take your time. When you click the shutter to take a photograph, the camera needs time to write and organize the image file. Pause a minute after taking a series shots to be sure that you don’t cause file errors or formatting problems for the entire card.
- One card per camera. You should have one dedicated memory card for your camera. Every device has a unique numbering and formatting procedure, so you want to avoid corruption problems that can come with mixing cards. Using just one card also helps you avoid accidental deletions or losing the card as you move it from place to place. (from Joe: I don’t always do this…)
How I made this shot: I photographed this McLaren at the Cars & Coffee event in Parker, CO using an Olympus E-M5 Mark I with Olympus 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II R lens and an exposure of 1/640 sec at f/11 and ISO 250.
- Don’t get them wet. Similar to the infamous “Gremlins” from the movie, you don’t want to get your SD cards wet. Keep liquids and food away that can ruin the gold-plated contact points and the inner workings of the cards. Be careful when making pictures in rainy weather and avoid transferring files while sipping on your morning coffee or tea.
- Watch the camera’s battery power. Avoid taking pictures while on low battery, because this can cause errors in how files are written to the card. It takes power to run all of the camera’s processes, so don’t risk having a problem. Have a backup battery to ensure you aren’t caught facing that perfect shot and discover you’re our of power. They’re not that expensive and having a back is more useful than just minimizing memory card problems.
- Pay attention when deleting and formatting. SD cards hold a tremendous amount of photo and video files, so you shouldn’t delete pictures manually to free up card space. Some devices use a destructive form of deletion, which can overwrite an entire picture’s data, making it impossible to recover. Leave the deletions and formatting actions to your computer’s photo management software, so you avoid file corruptions or accidental deletions.
- Use a card reader. Looking for an easy to use, reliable, and cost-effective device to help you manage your digital photos? You need a card reader that enables fast file transfers from your memory cards to your computer. These products are inexpensive, convenient and help avoid any “low battery” issues
David Zimmerman has been in the hardware/software industry for more than 30 years and the data recovery software market for 18 years. This experience has made him uniquely familiar with the data recovery business. LC Technology International, Inc makes data recovery products for most of his competitors.