Canon 50D - Sometimes JPG/RAW are corrupt

[toddwshaffer]

Gents,

Some months ago I installed Magic Lantern, build unimportant, after going through the whole firmware updating process to 1.0.9 which is the appropriate version for ML on the 50D. Immediately after installing ML, when attempting to import into Lightroom or just plain copy them from the CF card, a high percentage of the files are corrupt. This is not the pink/green corruption problem discussed in many of the posts. These are incomplete files, both jpg (which can be cropped) and RAW (which cannot be recovered in any manner).

I've attempted a complete recursion through the firmware versions, from uninstalling ML, going all the way back to Canon firmware 1.0.7, then back up to 1.0.9, testing shots at each revision. Every time, same problem. I have attempted four cards, formatting in camera, and formatting in card reader. If I had the cash I'd pick up a 5D MKIII and throw this 50D out the window at high speed, but alas, I do not have a spare $3K laying in a bedside table to blow on a body at the moment.

Any advice is greatly, greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Todd W. Shaffer http://500px.com/toddwshaffer

[dmilligan]

build unimportant,

I can assure that the build is extremely important. In fact there's no way to help you until you tell us this. Is there any chance you installed or used "Tragic Lantern" at some point?

[Walter Schulz]

And some details about modules loaded and benchmarks would be fine, too.

[toddwshaffer]

I thought it would be tough to discover which version, but that was pretty easy. Version 2.3, stable. The one from 2012. As far as modules loaded, I'm not entirely sure what that means, I just installed it and didn't really mess with the configuration of it.

[toddwshaffer]

Also, a definite no to Tragic Lantern, didn't even know it existed until earlier today when I finally sat down to attempt to resolve this once and for all.

[Walter Schulz]

Sounds like a card going down the drain. Is this the only one you own?
Replace it.

[ayshih]

What you are describing is highly unlikely to be related to ML, and instead sounds like some sort of hardware problem.  ML doesn't intercept the normal recording of photos by the camera, and it also doesn't affect the transferring of files from the CF card.  Since you've tried four different cards, I'm inclined to suspect the card reader.

When you look at the files in camera, do they look corrupted at all?

(There are no modules in the ML version 2.3, so don't worry about that question.)

[toddwshaffer]

This happens across four cards, one that I had shipped in two days ago. Definitely not the card :\

Photos do not appear corrupt in camera which is one of the more baffling issues. Also, regardless of how many attempts at transferring it's consistent for which files do not transfer. I tested to try to pull one file 15+ times because I really wanted the image but failure was consistent. Based on my hardware troubleshooting experience, this would also put the card reader out of the running in that case as at some point the file would come across. I'll wire up the camera directly and attempt a transfer to see what happens, I'll see if I can rule out the reader as a possible culprit.

[toddwshaffer]

Also, I just wanted to say, I really appreciate your guys efforts in assisting in me hacking this problem apart. I also know that it seems that this is not a magiclantern problem, but it happened immediately upon installing ML which for all my years in technology (by trade I'm a systems engineer) seems to be a little too coincidental to be pure coincidence.

Thanks again guys.