Hi i have deleted pictures from a canon 40d camera card is a cf card...... i dnt have an actual cf card reader as i use he lead to connect to the pc to down load images unfortunatly i stupidly deleted pictures from this card and i need to recover them .....im panicing :/ can you please help dee :)

check for bent CF pins. make sure there is room on the CF card.

busy is normal

My 40d keep saying the cf card is not formatted. I used three different cards and it says the same thing. Is it anything I can do to fix this problem.

using my computer on a pc open your cf card and then click on 101 directory your photos should be inside this directory.

If you haven't overwritten the space on the memory card, some SanDisk CF cards or Card Readers come with a free Recovery software (on a mini CD). It's worked for me before.

Try NOT connecting your camera to your computer.


The best way to download pictures from your camera to your computer involves removing the memory card from the camera and plugging it into a card reader (either built-in to the computer or connected via USB or FireWire). This is likely to be faster than connecting the camera to the computer, and won't run down your camera's batteries.


Once the card is plugged in, it will appear to your computer as a removable drive. You can use the operating system's drag&drop facility to copy pictures from the card to the computer's hard drive, the same way you copy any other files. Or you can use any photo cataloging program such as Picasa.

First of all, do not save any new file to camera's memory card.

Take out memory card, and connect it to a Windows computer using a card reader. You should see memory card shown as a drive letter (like H:) in Windows Explorer.
Download this camera photo recovery software
http://www.asoftech.com/apr/
Install and open the photo recovery software, select the memory card, and click 'Start' button.

What i find is that the larger the card the slower the write recovery in taking pictures. If you are an action photographer this is a pain as things happen fast . To have the camera take so long to recover from a write leaves you open to losing some excellent shots. So my rule of thumb is use smaller value cards. If you are just a happy shots photographer then this probably doesn't really matter.

Thanks for using Fixya

Try the following diagnosis steps: -

To isolate the cause of the issue, do the following: -
1. Turn off the camera.
2. Remove the lens, battery, and CF card.
3. Allow the camera to sit without power for approximately 20 minutes.
4. Insert only a fully charged battery, and turn on the camera.
5. Depress the shutter button as you would to take a picture.

Does the “ERR 99" message appear? If so, the camera may be faulty and requires a service. If it does not, then: -
1. Turn off the camera.
2. Insert the CF card.
3. Turn on the camera.
4. Format the CF card in the camera.
5. Depress the shutter button as you would to take a picture.

Does the “ERR 99" message appear? If so, then the CF card is faulty. Try a different card. If the message does not appear: -
1. Turn off the camera.
2. Clean the gold contacts on the lens by GENTLY rubbing them with a pencil eraser or soft cloth. Keeping the camera face pointing down, also clean the gold contacts on the camera, being careful that you do not let any debris fall into the camera body.
3. Reattach your lens.
4. Turn on the camera.
5. Depress the shutter button as you would to take a picture.

If the “ERR 99" message only appears when one particular lens is attached, then that lens should be examined by a service technician.
If you see the “ERR 99" with a different Canon lens attached, then the camera is faulty and should be serviced.

Possibly corruption of the card - if you are sure the images are backed up, then format the card.

Try getting a card reader, they are cheap. It sounds like the software is having a problem communicating.