Why do some photos from my Fujifilm FinePix Z5 look corrupted on my computer but still display on the camera?
Asked 12/5/2011
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2 answers
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I have a 2GB xD card with a few hundred photos taken on a Fujifilm FinePix Z5. Since I no longer have the camera’s USB cable, I’m using a card adapter on my PC to copy the images. Some files are unreadable on the computer, even though the camera can still display them. Looking at the files in a hex editor, the JPEG structure seems wrong: the header appears in the middle of the file, and the usual end marker isn’t at the end. Is this more likely to be a card-reader problem, camera/card corruption, or the camera only showing embedded thumbnails? Is there any realistic way to recover the images?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
14y ago
2 Answers
1
It sounds like an issue with your card reader. The internal card reader in my laptop does something similar, corrupting any large file (not just pictures) when copying then from a card to the hard drive.
You could try to verify this by copying some pictures (e.g. full-sized-straight-out-of-someone's-camera pictures you download from the Internet) onto an SD card (preferably with a different reader or from a different computer), then try to copy them back with your reader. You could also try copying pictures from your camera onto another computer with another reader (e.g. at work or at a friend's house or Internet cafe, or at one of those print-your-own-photo machines at drug stores (common here in the US, but I'm not sure how common they are in France)) and see if the pictures are corrupted there.
It may also be worth spending a few dollars to buy a new USB cable for your camera; a used or third-party cable should work just fine and be relatively cheap and easy to obtain.
Originally by user2910. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user2910
14y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
This is most likely either:
- a faulty/incompatible card reader corrupting files during transfer, or
- genuinely corrupted image files on the card.
The fact that the camera can display them does not guarantee the full JPEG is intact—many cameras can show an embedded thumbnail even when the main image data is damaged.
A good first test is to try a different reader or another computer. If files copy correctly elsewhere, your current reader is the problem. You can also test the reader by copying known-good large image files to a card with another device, then reading them back through your current reader.
If the files are already corrupted on the card, repair may not be possible. Your best option is to use photo/card recovery software to copy whatever intact image data remains from the memory card and work from those recovered files.
So: stop using that card until you’ve tried recovery, test with another reader/computer, and assume the camera preview may only be showing thumbnails, not the full original image.
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