How do I prevent glitchy photos when transferring from SD cards to PCs?
August 10, 2015 2:05 PM Subscribe
I'm not a photographer, but I have a DSLR and I take a lot of bad photos. Sometimes I want to transfer said photos to a PC. But almost every time, when I put my SD card into a USB adapter, I get a few photos that get imported that look "glitchy" -- as in, half the photo looks like a negative and the colors are inverted or off in some way. How can I prevent this?
Is there a way for me to reliably transfer pictures without manually double-checking to make sure none of my photos are corrupted? I've tried several different brands of SD cards and a couple different USB adapters with no luck. Is there software to catch these photo glitches, so that I can at least know instantly when I've got a corrupted photo to re-import (out of the hundreds of photos I took)?
Typically, I *am* able to re-import the corrupted photos, and they look fine on the 2nd try. So I have no idea why this problem happens randomly.
Is there a way for me to reliably transfer pictures without manually double-checking to make sure none of my photos are corrupted? I've tried several different brands of SD cards and a couple different USB adapters with no luck. Is there software to catch these photo glitches, so that I can at least know instantly when I've got a corrupted photo to re-import (out of the hundreds of photos I took)?
Typically, I *am* able to re-import the corrupted photos, and they look fine on the 2nd try. So I have no idea why this problem happens randomly.
Best answer: This happened to me a while back. I can't fix it for you, but these are the steps I took, and it no longer happens:
- I upgraded my SD cards (both, my DSLR has dual slots) to what Wirecutter recommends.
- I bought this card reader on Amazon (highly, highly rated and tiny).
- I import through Windows, not proprietary camera software.
- I reformat both cards every so often, and I let Windows delete the files from the cards once the import is complete.
- Camera's firmware is up-to-date.
I don't know why it happened to begin with, but it's not happening now, and I shoot roughly 200+ pictures a week.
posted by Nyx at 2:48 PM on August 10, 2015
- I upgraded my SD cards (both, my DSLR has dual slots) to what Wirecutter recommends.
- I bought this card reader on Amazon (highly, highly rated and tiny).
- I import through Windows, not proprietary camera software.
- I reformat both cards every so often, and I let Windows delete the files from the cards once the import is complete.
- Camera's firmware is up-to-date.
I don't know why it happened to begin with, but it's not happening now, and I shoot roughly 200+ pictures a week.
posted by Nyx at 2:48 PM on August 10, 2015
This really should not happen. Something somewhere in the chain is broken. I've been taking digital photos for about 15 years, and can think of only a tiny handful of times this has happened to me. In all of my cases, it was a failing memory card, but other things could cause it too. The main thing I'd suggest is making sure you use high quality memory cards, stop using them immediately if you notice corruption, and use a quality card reader. If you still have trouble after that, I'd try the same reader on another computer (to eliminate your computer as a possible problem), and try the same card in other cameras (to eliminate the camera).
posted by primethyme at 2:59 PM on August 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by primethyme at 2:59 PM on August 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
I experienced something like this once and it turned out to be due to a faulty SD card.
posted by Dan Brilliant at 3:10 PM on August 10, 2015
posted by Dan Brilliant at 3:10 PM on August 10, 2015
Same as primethyme and Dan. The only time I can recall seeing this is due to a faulty SD card. It could also be a camera issue. prime's other advice is spot on.
posted by cnc at 3:50 PM on August 10, 2015
posted by cnc at 3:50 PM on August 10, 2015
Response by poster: blue shirt -- This problem only happens to me for Windows PCs. I can import to my Macbook without a problem (and also without the USB adapter b/c my Macbook has a built-in SD card reader slot). I don't yank anything out before it's "safe" to do so -- but I don't think that should matter because the photos are corrupted regardless of whether or not the card is still attached to the PC.
primethyme -- I've tried to isolate the problem, and I suppose it could still be the USB adapters I've tried (I'm going to order the one Nyx recommended) -- but ultimately, I'm almost resigned to accepting that this *will happen* from time to time on my PC. And I guess I should have asked the more direct question: "how do I deal with this most conveniently?"
Is there any photo import software that will detect corrupted pictures?
It'd be nice if Google Photos or some other service told me which of my photos were corrupted... are there any cloud-based photo storage sites that do so?
... And I can't (or rather won't) use my Macbook for importing photos because I just don't have enough storage space on it and I want to keep that laptop separate for work stuff.
posted by mhh5 at 3:52 PM on August 10, 2015
primethyme -- I've tried to isolate the problem, and I suppose it could still be the USB adapters I've tried (I'm going to order the one Nyx recommended) -- but ultimately, I'm almost resigned to accepting that this *will happen* from time to time on my PC. And I guess I should have asked the more direct question: "how do I deal with this most conveniently?"
Is there any photo import software that will detect corrupted pictures?
It'd be nice if Google Photos or some other service told me which of my photos were corrupted... are there any cloud-based photo storage sites that do so?
... And I can't (or rather won't) use my Macbook for importing photos because I just don't have enough storage space on it and I want to keep that laptop separate for work stuff.
posted by mhh5 at 3:52 PM on August 10, 2015
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Are you "safely removing" the SD reader, or just yanking it out?
posted by blue t-shirt at 2:47 PM on August 10, 2015