Contest: FREE RescuePRO software

slomojoe · 11-18-2008, 10:26 AM

I have recently bought two Sandisk SD cards, and they both came with a little CD with the RescuePRO file recovery software, so I have an extra one. Although I haven't had a chance to put it to the test yet (thankfully), it is apparently a pretty nifty utility. I see the disks can go for a few bucks on ebay, but I thought it'd be more fun to have a contest here.

I will send the disk for free (yes, I'll pay shipment too, regular mail in a standard padded envelope) to the board member who can come up with the most heart-breaking/pitiful/humorous story of photographic file loss.

The story can be completely fictional, for all I care, but please say so if it is (there is a bonus for real stories). Comments and votes for or against candidate entries are welcome, but the final decision will be mine, totally arbitrary, unappealable and quite possibly controversial. Deadline for submission will be midnight (2400h) GMT November 28, 2008 (ten days from now).

Good luck to all contestants.

*sureshgvv* · 11-18-2008, 02:36 PM

Alright, here is a real story. One of my friends birthday, we all celebrated in Tampa, FL at a bar. Took a bunch of pics, had fun. While driving back, the birthday boy who was totally drunk started viewing the pics, and accidentally accessed the Menu, and formatted the memory card.

BBear · 11-18-2008, 02:57 PM

My story, which I had the police report for years... but no longer can prove it: Brazil, 1995, I'm around 15, went on my first carnaval trip with my cousin... I broght like 3 24-pics disposable cameras... had pictures of women that I could not wait to develop and "enjoy" them...

Heading back home after a week, drop off the bus on the highway and I have to walk like 15 blocks to my home.... two guys with a knife show up out of nowhere, and steal my backpack.... nothing valuable inside it, but my 3 rolls of film!

no pictures, no backpack (damn thing took me about a year to save money to buy it) and my f*cking cousin wanted to beat me for "losing" the pictures.

*daacon* · 11-18-2008, 03:10 PM

15 year old boy with pictures of naked woman lost - that's gonna be hard to beat .....

*daacon* · 11-18-2008, 03:14 PM

Oh and my best picture lost story - shorly after I got my K100D - was all exictited Two new sigma lenses - went to the local wetlands , spent almost 2 hours snapping birds , grass, anything and everything - came home to upload the pictures ..... Well no SD card in the camera ...... doooooooooooooooooh I am sure I had some national geographic quality ones there but we’ll never know now

bigben91682 · 11-18-2008, 03:52 PM

The following is based on a true story

It was early April, sometime around the first, and a local paper (The New York Times) was offering a $100,000 reward for anyone who could capture a recognizable picture of the illusive "snipe" which had been spotted numerous times in the upstate NY area despite having been thought extinct, it was even recognized by the NRIC (National Registry of Instict Critters).

After calling around, and mostly getting laughed at, I finally got a hot tip from a adirondack park ranger (who in retrospect seemed a little slow). I packed my gear and headed into the mountains, ready to bag me a snipe. I strapped the FA 250-600mm onto my K10D not expecting to get very close to the snipe, I had heard they are very skiddish.

I arrived deep in the woods, all signs pointed to snipe. I found droppings I couldn't identify, scratches on the trees, and the squirrels seemed irritable. I set up a blind, and set to practicing my snipe call, which is a combination of noises I can only describe as wet flatus (farts for those not in the know).

After 2 days of sitting in a cold blind, and only pictures of squirrels giving me the evil eye to show for my patience, I was ready to call it. Perhaps the snipe would illude me this time. But wait, across the clearing something stirred. I saw plumage first - silver and red permiated with sharp yellow spines. His horns were magnificant, I think it was a 12 point snipe, quite breathtaking. His duck bill was highlighted with sky blue, and his white eyes turned toward me.

I raised the camera and squeezed off a shot, a quick chimp and I verified clean focus and perfect composition, that $100k would surely be mine. I looked back, expecting him to have run off with the sound of the shutter, instead he glared right at me, almost looking right through my camo. He raised up on his hind legs to a stature I didn't think possible in nature. No less than 12 feet tall he broke into a run directly at me, me teeth bared and razor sharp talons drawn. I was frozen where I sat. He reached me with amazing speed and stopped suddenly. With cat-like reflexes he snatched the camera out of my hand, and with unnatural precision he opened the memory card door. He removed my card and popped it into his mouth like it was popcorn and he was at the movies. As shocked as I was, it wasn't over yet. He reached into the soft fur of his belly and produced a SD card and placed it into the camera. He handed it back to me, and took off in the direction he came. I raised the camera and tried to catch him as he ran - MEMORY CARD FULL!!!

I hit the play button, and there they were.....the squirrels. They must have been friends with the snipe because half of them looked posed, I could swear they were dancing a waltz in one of the frames....

I returned home defeated, I never spoke to anyone about the incident because I didn't think anyone would believe me. I gave up photography and forgot about my experience until this thread....

*daacon* · 11-18-2008, 04:03 PM

Ben now that is tragic - had that same thing happen to a friend of a friend of mine

- 'cept it was the Sasquatch all they manged to capture on film was a few empty Kokanee's

slomojoe · 11-18-2008, 04:23 PM

Bigben, that would be totally credible, if it weren't for the FA*250-600 thing. Fess up: you never owned one, you used your Tammy with a converter, and the pics were so soft you couldn't tell if the subject was a snipe or a wild turkey.

*Dhruba* · 11-18-2008, 04:36 PM

I do not need the software, but here is my sob story. Recently, my wife and I visited my cousins we have never seen before. They have a six-year old kid named Neal. He is quite a handful, running around all the time! Anyway, after a long wait, he settled down enough so I could take some pictures. I was looking forward to the opportunity of taking his pictures. The light was absolutely glorious, late afternoon rays coming in through their bay window. I took some of his pictures. Then the sun plunked down.

Then I took time to look at the previews in the LCD of my K100D . One of those shots had good potential, nicely spot metered on a highlight on his forehead, it needed just a wee bit tweaking in Photoshop Elements for exposure. And then it happened. Mr. PQI suddently decided to become unreadable. I swapped him with SanDisk Extreme III, and took some more shots, but how can you compare with that sunlight! I was really disappointed.

bigben91682 · 11-18-2008, 06:06 PM

Originally Posted by slomojoe

Bigben, that would be totally credible, if it weren't for the FA*250-600 thing. Fess up: you never owned one, you used your Tammy with a converter, and the pics were so soft you couldn't tell if the subject was a snipe or a wild turkey.

Damn! I knew I couldn't slip one by you.....

Techiechick · 11-18-2008, 07:40 PM

Not my story, but my daughters. She was backing all of her images on her computer to a DVD. She looked at the DVD and they appeared to be there, so she deleted the files from her computer. When she went to open the DVD to look at the pictures, it a error came up and said that her files were corrputed. She lost most of her 2 years worth of picutres.