Wher Have My Pictures Gone?

[Playbill]

I have nearly always downloaded photographs from my Panasonic Lumix camera to my PC, laptop or memory stick. Now I find that whenever I download them the originals seem to be automatically deleted from the SD card.

I like to keep at least two copies of all pictures, not least because from a computer they can easily be sent to other people.

Is there any way to get them back onto the SD card?

[bhg481]

Put the SD card into your computer and drag-and-drop them onto it.

I always get my photos from my camera to the computer by taking the card out of the camera and connecting it to the computer. If your computer doesn't have a slot for SD cards you can readily buy one quite cheaply.

[jno]

instead of downloading them, copy them (Ctrl A, Ctrl C, Ctrl V), which should leave the originals in place.

Have you changed anything that they've suddenly started being deleted?

[Playbill]

Thank you bhg. I have a plug in card reader and tried doing what you suggested because that sounds like the best way. But although I have burnt the photos to a CDR I cannot get them back onto the original SD card. I will get a new card and try again.

[Playbill]

jno, i will try that next time. As far as I know nothing has been changed. But I have found other sites where people are having the a similar problem.

[Tuvok]

You should be able to put files on an SD card.

Are you using a programme to download them, or just using Windows?

One way to avoid them being wiped from the card is to lock the card first - look for the slider and move it, remember to unlock it before you put it back in the camera.

[Playbill]

Tuvok, thank you very much.

I do use Windows to download using a plug in cable.
I have just tried locking the SD card as you suggest and downloaded one photo to my PC - it has remained on the card!
I am going to take a few randon pictures to make sure.

Thanks again.

[bhg481]

If you take the card out of the camera to lock it, you'd be better off reading the card with your PC SD adapter as it's likely to be faster.

[Playbill]

The download speed does vary a lot. I will use the adapter in future.

[bhg481]

Once the card is out of the camera it's entirely under your control as to whether the originals are deleted or not; the camera software is no longer involved and it is that which deleted your originals. That means you do not need to lock the card when dropping-down the pictures.
Out of interest I have two Panasonic cameras, I have always removed the cards to drop-down the pictures and have never had any problems with pictures being deleted. The only time I lock the card is when it is full; at that point I use a fresh card and leave the first one locked until I need to use it again several months later.

[Playbill]

A very simple solution to the problem to either lock the card or remove it to download, but it worked.

I still wonder why it has occured. I have had the same camera for many years and have downloaded thousands of pictures to my PC from it without this happening before. I am going to find my older cards to see if they all have locks on them.

[Old_Geezer]

Did you accidentally choose move rather than copy ?

[bhg481]

I've never seen an SC card without a locking device on it. I once had the movable bit fall off a card which was then useless because it could no longer be written to. That's one of the reasons I use the lock as little as possible.

[bhg481]

Incidentally, when I have the card out of the camera I rename the directory containing the latest photos. If you open the card on you computer you will find it contains three directories DCIM, which contains photos, PRIVATE,which contains video and MISC, which never seems to contain anything.
If you go into the DCIM directory you will find your pictures in a sub-directory called 100_PANA, or something similar. Whenever I download the photos I rename this directory to, say, 22-11-29 garden ie, today's date (year month day) followed by the subject, and then copy that directory to my PC. Next time you use the card in your camera it will automatically re-create the directory DCIM - you do NOT need to do anything to make it. When you next take the card out of your camera the DCIM directory will contain two sub-directories, 100_PANA + 22-11-29 garden. Once again rename the 100_PANA directory to reflect that day's subject. That way the pictures on your card are preserved in a separate dated directory for every photographic episode; the drawback is that you can no longer view the photos in the camera, as the camera only looks for a directory called 100_PANA.
I take video with my camera and use the same trick on my video files - PRIVATE/AVCHD/BDMV/STREAM is the directory to rename.

[Playbill]

Whenever I connect the camera to the PC only DCIM and MISC appear. I from DCIM to 100-PANA - I am actually up to 123-PANA - and all photos and videos appear there. I haver never seen 'PRIVATE'. MISC, as you say, is always empty.

[bhg481]

Which camera do you have, playbill. I have a GH5 and a G9, both of which do video, so perhaps yours doesn't.

[Playbill]

It's a Lumix DMC-FZ8. I must have had it for more than fiteen years. It does do video, and that is another question for you ;-) Video playback on the camera is fine, but downloaded it is jerky and often without the sound. I expect this is something to do with the PC. Or is it?

[bhg481]

What software do you use for playing your videos on your PC? I use VLC - a free download recommended by Buenchico several years ago and my videos are jerk-free with no sound problems. I edit them and produce BluRay discs with Pinnacle Studio, software which came with the first PC I bought about 20 years ago, although I've updated it since; it's not cheap but it suits me.
Judging by the age of your camera (the latest review I came across was 2007) it's probably time you updated it; you'll be amazed at the improvements in ISO rating and image stabilisation both on stills and video. I bought my first digital camera in 2003 and I cringe when I compare the quality of those photos with my current ones.

www.dpreview.com

is a good site to look at for what's available.

I like Panasonic because they offer a 50/25 fps video - many brands only offer 30/60 fps video which results in mini-jerks when you display it on a 50 Hz TV screen - American TVs are 60 Hz so you can see why that is. I was watching a video of a local lake on Breakfast TV this morning and, as they panned along the lake, you could see a twitch every second as the 60 frames on the video was corrected for the 50 frames on the TV.

[Playbill]

Old_Geezer.
I simply did what I usually do. Same camera; same PC.

[Playbill]

My partner bought a new FZ-72 last year. She prefers to take photographs with her iPhone so she can send them to friends and family instantly. The camera it is practically unused so I may make her an offer for it!

[bhg481]

That sounds like a good idea.