If I was Hilaire Belloc, the following would rhyme. I’m not: it won’t…

Yesterday evening, after ensuring I had two backups of the files on my data drive, I formatted the memory card for the camera which accompanied me today, my Lumix GX80. On today’s walk I made almost 90 exposures – but when I tried to download them onto the computer, only the last 29 appeared to be on the card. Where were the others?

I installed and ran ‘Recuva’*, which after about 40 minutes found almost all the photos which had been on the card when I formatted it – over 2,000. It also found 28 more from today’s outing – but there was no sign of the first 30. (I’m going by the consecutive file numbering, based on the last photo I took yesterday). Could it have been anything to do with the formatting?

I love the little GX80. It’s great for carrying on a walk. However, in the two years I’ve had it, it’s caught me out several times. Carrying it over my shoulder, the buttons on the back sometimes get pressed when it bumps against my hip (it happens with other cameras too), selecting something I don’t want. Could I have accidentally formatted the card again? I pressed the menu button on the back, and there it was – the Format option ready to use in the Tools menu, exactly as I’d left it yesterday. Formatted after taking 58 shots, the next ones saved over the first 30 I’d taken today; the remainder recovered perfectly.

The moral in this tale:
– turn the camera off between shots? (I’d rather not…)
– don’t leave it on the Format menu! Leave it on something harmless!

*Recuva: great free software! https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva Usual disclaimer applies…