[K-Three]

Not sure what to think about this, but thought I would poll the collective wisdom of this group.
K3 with all Firmwares, except this most recent one for the new lenses. Been a good steady workhorse for me, never any real trouble. Issues with have been user/operator error not hardware. It's been with me every day for the last 3-years or so.
Running with a couple of SanDisk 32GB Extreme cards. I usually download things once a week or so and reformat the card to clear it. I typically only write to Card1, with Card 2 set to roll over when card 1 is full. Mixture of Jpegs and RAWs,

For the last month or so, for various reasons, I have not reformatted the card, and been carrying a random bunch of images some downloaded, some not
I think I have partially edited the card by trashing full folders of images in the two computers I use it with (iMac at home, win 7? at work)

Last night I was shooting my son's band concert, everything seemed normal and fine, I was chimping previews, and it appeared fine. If there were any warnings or indications, I must have missed them. The camera was turned off at the end of the evening to transport home, and not restarted until I realized there was trouble.
When I got home to download, there were no images on the card from the evening. All the old stuff was there. The card was nowhere near full.
Shot some more tests last night and was able to review multiple images in the camera, going back and forth with the toggle buttons. Checked the card again this morning , and nothing from last night was saved on it. Everything I was seeing must have been in the buffer.

Cleaned off the card and reformatted it this morning, and all seems to be fine now. Been able to shoot, turn off the camera, and then read files off the card from with either the camera or the computer.

I know intermittant failures are difficult to diagnose, but thought I would ask if anyone else has seen similar behavior.

Appreciate any thoughts or suggestions as to what I could do to eliminate this.

[Adam]

Something like this happened to me when I accidentally pulled out the card while the camera was still writing to it. Your best bet is to be very careful, and also format the card and/or try a different card to make sure there's nothing wrong with the camera (which there probably isn't).

[UncleVanya]

Since you have the k-3 - try using the dual slot write option for a while until you are sure it is reliable.

[ffking]

I had two occasions where the K-3 failed to write to the card, but turned off then on the next day, and no problems, so I never got to the root of what happened. Both were in cold weather, but well within the camera's operating range (though it might have been cold enough to make me clumsy in some way)

[Auzzie-Phoenix]

Could also be a failing sd card, dirty contacts, etc... I have one card that sometimes doesn't want to read/write probably. It was my main card for over 3 years now. I'm assuming the card is failing as it sometimes fails to be recognized on the pc's card reader. Solution, I relegated it to slot 2.

[pasorro]

May be your photos are in the 2 card.

[aleonx3]

May be your photos are in the 2 card.

Agree that it is highly possible that the image is written to the 2nd card instead of the 1st. Once you take the card 1 out (forgot to insert card 1 back) before you turn the switch on again, then the camera will switch over to the other slot until you change it. So, if you take card 1 out, don't close the door until you re-insert card 1 back, then, the camera will continue to write to card 1.

[slip]

I had this once. could see the pics on the camera but not on my windows 7 machine. for whatever reason, when the files were written, instead of being xxx.dng or xxx.jpg. it just wrote the file name without the extension. what I did (with jpgs anyway) was rename them xxx.jpg (xxx w the original name) the all was right in the world.
I don't know if this would work on a mac, though

Randy

[Take-5-JB]

I had this problem during a trip to the mountains in October. If I erased the card using the computer (no reformatting) and put in the K-3 it thought there were pictures on it. If I reformatted in the camera or erased in the camera, all seemed ok and it would wrap to slot two when one filled.

JB

[K-Three]

Sorry I have not replied to al your comments and suggestions, have had some real life turmoil that has kept me away from Pentax (real and virtual) for a while.
*I did check both cards when I noticed the trouble, nothing from that night was on either card.
*The weather was cool (mid 40's) and raining, though I was out in it, I don't suspect that was an issue. One of the reasons I shoot Pentax, is for the weather resistance.

I've not shot much since due to other matters, but it seems to be behaving itself so far.
I did change to writing to both cards for now, that seems to be working,

Thanks for the thoughtful replies and suggestions

[csa]

I'm assuming the card is failing as it sometimes fails to be recognized on the pc's card reader. Solution, I relegated it to slot 2.

Same here; so I'm ordering new cards.

[FilmORbitz]

I had this problem during a trip to the mountains in October. If I erased the card using the computer (no reformatting) and put in the K-3 it thought there were pictures on it. If I reformatted in the camera or erased in the camera, all seemed ok and it would wrap to slot two when one filled.

JB

While the thread is a bit stale at this point, for future readers the moral to your story is to delete/format IN THE CAMERA ONLY. And you proved it.