I visited Dorea recently and although the camera was working fine, I reformatted the card before use, and images were showing up fine when I reviewed them the camera as I was shooting, everything kind of just went to hell after we left the location. When I tried reviewing the photos again in the actual camera after we left, the "Card Empty" message kept coming up, when I plugged it into a Mac it said it couldnt recognize the card at all, and on PC is said it needed to be reformatted. I ran several data recovery programs and a few of them said the card did in fact have a bunch of stuff on it but nothing could actually be retrieved.

Just wondering if anyone has ever had similar problems, and if so was there anything you could do to solve it?

Make sure the card is fully compatible with the cam.

Use a low level formatting utility NOT the one on Windows or MAC to do a low level format of diagnostic on the card.
Lexar has one of the best.
If the utility can't format it or if it shows bad sectors and indicates replacing it, do so.
Then always format only in the cam you're shooting in. Format in the cam before each shoot.
Never switch cards in use between cams;this can corrupt them.

ESD
Never touch the card or cam contacts with your fingers!!!
Always protect cards from ESD; avoid exposure to any static electricity. It's preferably to touch a chasis grounded part of the cam when inserting or taking out a card such as the metal around the cam card holder to bring the cam to the same ground potential as you before you insert/remove.
If you can feel or see static electricity it's more than enough to destroy a card.
Keep cards in the original container or a ESD wallet when not in the cam. Don't carry them in your pockets.
Be extra careful of ESD in dry environments under 40% humidity.
ESD events can be cumulative and failures can be instant or take weeks months, or years to surface.

SIM cards can easily be damaged like this as well. Treat these devices like you should a RAM stick; zero exposure is best. Static charge can build rapidly especially in dry environments, even paper can build enough of a charge if being handled to cause damaged.
Touching an earth grounded object will dissipate an ESD charge on your skin. I do this before and as I'm handling SIM cards or RAM sticks.
Never had one fail yet.

Yeah i had an issue with one of my cards a while back. When i plunged it into my PC sometimes the card would lock up when reinserted into the camera. ALWAYS check that your camera and card is working before you leave.

Posted by OH_ZOG_NO Yeah i had an issue with one of my cards a while back. When i plunged it into my PC sometimes the card would lock up when reinserted into the camera. ALWAYS check that your camera and card is working before you leave.

One of the reasons you format the card in the cam.

Posted by OH_ZOG_NO Yeah i had an issue with one of my cards a while back. When i plunged it into my PC sometimes the card would lock up when reinserted into the camera. ALWAYS check that your camera and card is working before you leave.

Yea I do always make sure everything is fully functional before leaving the house, happened once or twice where I didn't think of t and really paid the price! Now I even make sure I reformat the card while I'm still home in case something happens and I need to grab a different spare, lesson definitely learned. Kinda why I'm confused about what could've gone wrong this time. Thanks for the help though!

Posted by blackhawk Make sure the card is fully compatible with the cam. Use a low level formatting utility NOT the one on Windows or MAC to do a low level format of diagnostic on the card. Lexar has one of the best. If the utility can't format it or if it shows bad sectors and indicates replacing it, do so. Then always format only in the cam you're shooting in. Format in the cam before each shoot. Never switch cards in use between cams;this can corrupt them. ESD Never touch the card or cam contacts with your fingers!!! Always protect cards from ESD; avoid exposure to any static electricity. It's preferably to touch a chasis grounded part of the cam when inserting or taking out a card such as the metal around the cam card holder to bring the cam to the same ground potential as you before you insert/remove. If you can feel or see static electricity it's more than enough to destroy a card. Keep cards in the original container or a ESD wallet when not in the cam. Don't carry them in your pockets. Be extra careful of ESD in dry environments under 40% humidity. ESD events can be cumulative and failures can be instant or take weeks months, or years to surface. SIM cards can easily be damaged like this as well. Treat these devices like you should a RAM stick; zero exposure is best. Static charge can build rapidly especially in dry environments, even paper can build enough of a charge if being handled to cause damaged. Touching an earth grounded object will dissipate an ESD charge on your skin. I do this before and as I'm handling SIM cards or RAM sticks. Never had one fail yet.

Yea when I first picked up the card I was using a canon 7D and have since switch models, however it wasn't that card's first time in the new body. I reformatted the CF in the camera before I left and test shots were fine too.

Thank you very much for all the insight on how static electricity can be passed on to cards, definitely some great food for thought.

So here's a hope-against-hope kinda question; I haven't since formatted the card. Do you think there's any way to retrieve anything from it or it's pretty much wiped at this point? And do you think the card could be useable Again, or would it be better to avoid potential headaches and just grab a new one?

Posted by brain-vomit Yea when I first picked up the card I was using a canon 7D and have since switch models, however it wasn't that card's first time in the new body. I reformatted the CF in the camera before I left and test shots were fine too. Thank you very much for all the insight on how static electricity can be passed on to cards, definitely some great food for thought. So here's a hope-against-hope kinda question; I haven't since formatted the card. Do you think there's any way to retrieve anything from it or it's pretty much wiped at this point? And do you think the card could be useable Again, or would it be better to avoid potential headaches and just grab a new one?

Try to find out why it lost the images.
The images may be recoverable but they will be out of sequence with no time or date stamps.
An app like I was telling you about will run a card diagnostic test.
After you recover the images or whatever do a low level format on the card. This can salvage corrupted cards; DO NOT use it for shooting again until you do.
The cam doesn't do a low level format nor Windows, Mac... get a dedicated app that made to do this.
Free.
http://www.dev.usb...-rescue-4-software

When in doubt retire it.

It's very possible to have an ESD event plugging the card into the card reader of a computer. They are either direct earth grounded or neutral wire earth earth grounds.

Buy cards from a good manufacturer and handle them carefully, and follow protocols.
Avoid exposing them to sweat, that can screw up the contacts.

The only card failures I've ever had were my fault for switching a card to another cam without a format.
LOL, it blew all those images to hell.