Corrupted Video File on Nikon D800

mnavarrofilmes

Dear friends,

I really, really, need your help... Last Saturday I was video shooting a wedding with a D800... I was recording, then the battery died... The camera generated a corrupted file with NEF extension (foto extension)... I my card I have files like these 0001.mov, 0002.mov, 0003.NEF (the corrupted one), 0004.mov, 0005.mov ...


is it possible to recover it ? Restore this NEF file as a MOV file (I already tried to change the extension from NEF to MOV, did not work).


Tks a lot for you help!

Ironheart

What is the size of the NEF file? Are you sure the footage isn't in the 0002 or 0004 file? Also, do not write any more info to this card, as you might be able to recover the missing footage from the card itself.

It sounds like you put a new battery in the camera and kept recording? If so, the footage is likely lost as it has been overwritten.

If you are serious about recovering this data, then I will help you, but you need to preserve the card first.

mnavarrofilmes

Hi my friend, tks a lot... A freelancer that was working with me that make the mistake... I'm not so sure bout it (maybe he is lying to me)... I know that he was recording and the battery died (I saw it)... The previous file is _CS87480.MOV (the groom looking at the bride), the next usable is _CS87482.MOV (the father giving the bride to the groom)...

The file middle file is _CS87481.NEF (33.8mb), and it really is a picture and I opened it in Lightroom, with all the Raw Controls... So I believe that the camera man was desperate, changed the batterie and took a picture...

I believe in three options...

1st - the file _CS87480.MOV is the file that has the bride entrance, he did not stop the camera when he turned from the Groom to the Bride, but the batterie died and Nikon save just the beginning of the file, did not save the end of the file (the end should have bride entrance)...

2nd - the "_CS87481.MOV" with the bride entrance is hidden in the card...

3rd - He says that when he turned from groom to the bride, he recorded a little of her entrance, then the batterie died, maybe this information is not true...

If you can help me, I would appreciate it a lot!

Have a great day.

Ironheart

Your next best bet is to run file recovery software on the card. I have used a product called EaseUS and my current favorite is Wondershare photo recovery. Some folks swear by the Sandisk recovery software, but I'm not sure they still support it.

Regardless you will need a program that can do raw recovery (i.e. wondershare). This is not raw like NEF raw, but raw sectors of the disk. You will need to scan the entire card looking for anything that resembles video footage.

Let me know how this goes, or if you have any questions.

Also and for the record, Nikon cameras give ample warning when the battery is getting low, and the camera will power down before the battery is fully cooked, and finish recording whatever is in the buffer before fully shutting down (the green light is still on, even though the camera is "off"). The correct process would have been to wait for the green light to go off before swapping the battery. Something doesn't smell right here.

mnavarrofilmes

Ironheart said:

Your next best bet is to run file recovery software on the card. I have used a product called EaseUS and my current favorite is Wondershare photo recovery. Some folks swear by the Sandisk recovery software, but I'm not sure they still support it.

Regardless you will need a program that can do raw recovery (i.e. wondershare). This is not raw like NEF raw, but raw sectors of the disk. You will need to scan the entire card looking for anything that resembles video footage.

Let me know how this goes, or if you have any questions.

Also and for the record, Nikon cameras give ample warning when the battery is getting low, and the camera will power down before the battery is fully cooked, and finish recording whatever is in the buffer before fully shutting down (the green light is still on, even though the camera is "off"). The correct process would have been to wait for the green light to go off before swapping the battery. Something doesn't smell right here.

Tks a lot... I was thinking about to scan all the card...

He is using generic batteries (it pissed me off), and I did not know about it, maybe with generics the alert messages do not appear...

I will let you know...

Tks again

spraynpray

Third party batteries usually don't last as long on a charge which is a real problem for movies, star tracking and live view intensive use.

haroldp

Were you using card 2 (usually SD) as backup to card 1 (usually CF) ?, if so, does the same corruption appear on both cards ?.

LIon bateries are chipped, and whlie third party batteries may (or may not) have adequate capacity, their chips may not communicate perfectly with the chipset in the device.

mnavarrofilmes

spraynpray said:

Third party batteries usually don't last as long on a charge which is a real problem for movies, star tracking and live view intensive use.

yep...

mnavarrofilmes

t

haroldp said:

Were you using card 2 (usually SD) as backup to card 1 (usually CF) ?, if so, does the same corruption appear on both cards ?.

LIon bateries are chipped, and whlie third party batteries may (or may not) have adequate capacity, their chips may not communicate perfectly with the chipset in the device.

It was just a card

Tks for your advice

airjackali

Ironheart said:

Your next best bet is to run file recovery software on the card. I have used a product called EaseUS and my current favorite is Wondershare photo recovery. Some folks swear by the Sandisk recovery software, but I'm not sure they still support it.

When I searched on Google, there are a couple tools saying they are able to repair corrupted videos. I tried two and none of them worked.