Canon EOS 50 D looks quite similar to its predecessor EOS 40 D, but there are significant improvements in the new innovation. With 15.1 megapixel CMOS sensor, latest DIGIC 4 imaging processor, much-improved 3 inch LCD with Live view mode, the camera promises impeccable photo quality. The EOS 50 D is a perfect camera for an amateur and a seasoned professional alike. The camera uses a Compact Flash card to store photos. Though, these cards store countless number of photos, they can render photos inaccessible due to various reasons like file system damage, interruption in read/write errors and virus attacks. Therefore, a user is recommended to keep backups in good shape so that he can compensate data loss when the need arises. If somehow a backup becomes corrupt or unavailable, a user can blindly trust a photo recovery software to recover deleted photos.

As a practical case, a user may not be able to view saved photos owing to the following error when using a CF card that is greater than 32 MB with Canon EOS 50 D:

“CF card error”

The above error will render the previously saved photos inaccessible and a user will not be able to click and save new photos from his Canon EOS 50 D.

Cause

The error indicates that the CF card is either corrupt or not properly formatted for use in Canon EOS 50 D.

Resolution

There can be two ways to resolve the issue:

• If a user is formatting a CF card greater than 32 MB in size in Windows, he should change the file system to FAT. A card formatted using this format works without error in Canon EOS 50 D

• Alternatively, a user can reformat a CF card using his Canon EOS 50 D. For formatting, he should refer to the camera manual.

Since formatting erases all the photos stored on the CF card, it is suggested that a user should use a photo recovery software immediately. Any delay or use of the card before the retrieval can hamper the prospects of successful recovery. A third-party photo recovery utility can be easily downloaded from the Internet.

Stellar Phoenix Photo Recovery is an excellent software which recovers photos from multiple camera brands (Canon, Nikon, Sigma, Sony etc) in almost all data loss situations. The photo recovery software, which has a simple graphical user interface, recovers all photo formats including JPEG, RAW, Exif, Tif, PNG etc.