How to Avoid a Photofinisher’s
Worst Nightmare

By Martin Hershenson

Educate Your Customers in Digital Media Care and Learn to Administer Flash First Aid

It’s long been the photofinisher’s worst nightmare: losing a customer’s images. Chemistry goes bad, envelopes and prints are switched, the film comes out blank. Often it’s not the lab’s fault. A customer may have shot the entire roll of film with the lens cap on, or torn sprocket holes prevented the film from advancing. While devastating for the customer, these are relatively low-tech problems in today’s photofinishing lab. In most cases, they are easy to diagnose but nearly impossible to fix.

Contemporary lab owners are now facing a new genre of "lost photo" problems. These occur when digital image files—presumably written to portable storage media (CompactFlash, SmartMedia, etc.)—disappear once they reach the lab. A customer hands you a digital card for processing, or inserts it into a photo kiosk for printing, and to everyone’s horror the preview comes up blank. The on-screen message reads something like: "No Files Found."

In desperation, the customer reinserts the flash card into the camera, and another, even more foreboding message appears: "Picture Error."

"But the card was full," says your customer. "What have you done to my pictures?"

Just like the torn sprocket holes, the problem is most likely not the fault of your staff or equipment, and because the pictures no longer show up on the camera’s LCD monitor, you can rule out file format issues. Chances are the pictures are corrupted, and it probably occurred before the customer ever walked through your door.

Here are some of the most common causes of picture error in digital cameras to review with your customer:

• Removing the media card while the camera is still turned on;

• Turning off the camera while it is saving a file, or before the file is closed;

• Using weak batteries to operate a digital camera;

• Exposing the media card to a heavy static charge or strong magnetic field;

• Damaged or dirty contacts due to improper card storage;

• Exposure to the new, high-intensity airport X-ray machines;

• Removing digital media from a card reader (or unplugging the reader) without first trashing the reader icon (Mac platform), running a safe swap (NT platform), or stopping the card reader (Windows Me or 2000).

• Finally, there’s the most innocent, but potentially deadly sin: Formatting the memory card in your computer instead of the camera.

Most of these errors occur accidentally, when the user’s in a hurry and "forgets" to wait for the digital media to finish processing. That’s why digital cameras have flashing red safety lights, to remind photographers that a file is still active. Once the light stops blinking, the camera must be turned off before the media can be safely removed.

The "computer formatting" mistake is one that few digital camera owners know to avoid. They don’t realize that formatting a card is an important function of logic—it initializes the directory and file allocation table in the card, so the camera knows where to deposit and locate your image files. If you format the card (or even erase files) in your computer, you risk changing the logic makeup of the card. Eventually, the camera may become so confused that it loses track of the files.

Fortunately, all is not lost. Unlike film, a blank screen on a digital camera does not necessarily mean that the pictures are gone forever. Even if the customer accidentally deleted the digital files, they have not been removed from the card, they are simply stored in another location until you record over them with a new set of images. That’s why camera manuals suggest using the "delete all" menu command when erasing images, rather than the "format card" option. (The format option is used after you’ve downloaded all of the images, and the card doesn’t respond to the "delete" command. It’s also a good way to periodically clear out the cobwebs!)

Once you’ve reassured your customer that it is possible to retrieve some or all of the lost files, you can choose from a number of file retrieval programs and/or services available from the Internet. We’ll make a few suggestions here, but we recommend that you do your own Internet search, and try several options before you choose a utility (or outside service provider) that gives you the best results.

Image Rescue, from Lexar Media (www.lexarmedia.com), is a proprietary software program for Lexar Media USB-Enabled CompactFlash memory cards. Consumers can buy the program from Lexar’s Web site for $29.95; it also comes bundled free with Lexar’s new line of PRO digital media. The company offers it to its retail distributors at no cost so they can service customers’ ailing Lexar Media cards. A list of participating retailers is available on the Lexar Web site. (Windows 98 SE/Me/2000/XP and Mac OS platforms.) If you are a dealer who is interested in obtaining a free copy of the software, call 800-789-9418.

PhotoRescue, from DataRescue (www.datarescue.com/photorescue), recovers pictures that have been deleted, erased or corrupted from erased or damaged CompactFlash, SmartMedia, Memory Sticks, MMD, xD, MultiMedia or Secure Digital memory cards. The cost is $29 and it is available through DataRescue’s Web site. (Windows 98 SE/Me/2000/XP and Mac OS platforms.)

ImageRecall, distributed through FlashFixers (www.flashfixers.com), is a software program and professional recovery service lab. A 30-day trial version of the software is available for download, and if you like it, the full software can be purchased for $39.95. A professional service lab is available for particularly difficult file recovery. (Windows 98/Me/NT/2000 and XP platform; a Mac OS X version is in the works.)

Zero Assumption Digital Image Recovery (www.z-a-recovery.com) is a freeware data recovery tool, specifically designed to work with digital images accidentally deleted from digital camera memory. Supported formats include TIFF, Exif, JPEG and GIF. (Windows 98/Me/2000 or XP platforms.)

For additional information on CompactFlash cards and recovering lost data, read "The Mysterious Death of SmartMedia," by Mike Pasini, Imaging Resource News (www.imaging-resource.com/IRNEWS), Volume 3, Number 11, June 1, 2001.

Kim Brady is a freelance photo writer and editor based in Atlanta. She can be reached via e-mail at kbeditor@aol.com.