Sandy Seitz - PMA - Jackson, MI, USA and Mike Woodland - Dan's Camera - Allentown, PA, USA

Sandy of PMA suggests that dealers need to educate their customers about the dangers of file corrumption

"Digital camera users might not be aware that memory cards which store photos are susceptible to a situation known as corruption."

After repeatedly shooting photos, erasing a few, shooting more photos, erasing a few - the user ends up with lots of small amounts of information spread around the flash memory card. At some point, the information may be so spread out the camera or computer will not be able to re-assemble the photos.

This error, which sometimes is shown as "Cannot Read Card" error, is the sign of a corrupted card.

The consumer needs to be proactive and periodically copy all of their images from their camera to the computer, according to Mike Woodland, co-owner of Dan's Camera City, Allentown, Pa., and U.S. national chairperson, PMA. This is especially true in today's era of multi-gigabyte memory cards, which can store hundreds of pictures and videos.

"You need to organize them as you wish and back them up either to a second hard drive, online storage site , or removable storage such as a DVD," suggests Woodland. "After ensuring you have copied off all of your images, and successfully backed them up, use a feature in your camera called 'Format.' This function erases all the information on the card, and resets the electronics on the card."

Woodland is quick to point out, once the user formats a card, they have most likely permanently erased those images. "Formatting is different than erasing selected photos, and even different from choosing an option some cameras have called Erase All," he said. "When you format a card, you also reset the electronic controller, or brain, on the card itself. " And it's better to format cards in the camera instead of the computer.

Other advice to consumers, from Woodland, in dealing with corrupted digital image files includes:

• When (not "if" but "when") corruption occurs, remove the card from the camera and do not try to use it. There are several options to attempt to recover your photos. All of the options have a cost, so on the off -chance the only images on the card are not important, you can skip trying to rescue them.
• To recover the images from the card you need to rebuild the data on the card, or fix the electronic controller, depending which is the cause of the corruption. This is done using specific software. Your choice becomes installing this software on your computer, taking the card to a local photo expert, or sending the card to a service provider.
• There are no guarantees a corrupted memory card can be recovered. And there is often no way to predict the likelihood of success. This means you will have to try to see if it is possible. Even when successful, there is also the chance not all of the images will be recoverable, or the images themselves may only be partial photos, not the whole picture. The good news is the vast majority of cards are fully recoverable when done correctly.

Woodland also pointed out a big advantage in going to a local photo retailer to do the recovery process - they can likely also test the card to let you know if it is safe to use it again, or if you should purchase a new one. "The best choice of all is to be sure to practice the good habit of backing up your images, and then formatting the card," he added. "This greatly reduces the chances of an issue occurring."

Teri Welch - Forrestfield Photographics - Perth, Western Australia http://www.forrestfieldphotos.com.au

Hi Guys,

This is a very simple but very effective way of a little upsell. We print our passport photos in lots of 4. We offer an extra set at half the price - therefore instead of getting say $15.00 for a set we get $20.00

it isn't much but if you do as many passport photographs as we do in a day then it makes the average per customer go up quite nicely - we explain to the customer that it is always a great idea to have extras

• Just in case the person endorsing the photo mucks up the first lot.
• It is always a good idea to travel with an extra couple of passport photos. One just never knows if one will need them.

We have about a 65% hit rate on this offer.

We also take babies' and children's passport photos. Every child gets a set of stickers after their passport is taken. We charge more for a baby/child's passport photograph as they can be sometimes extremely difficult to keep still long enough, but with the packs of stickers that we give out our mums and dads think that we are great.

This is the last week this link will appear in the MMIE, so we recommend you click on the site and mark it in your browser as a favorite. The handouts are available on line at http://www.pmai.org/pma2010sessionhandouts/

May 4, 2010 - NY/NJ PMA Division offers Insights, Solutions and Answers For Profitable Spring/Summer Sales. Begins with Dutch Treat lunch at Ft. Lee Doubletree 12:30 PM. PRO and IPI will have members-only meetings 2 pm-6 pm. Dinner 6:30 pm, followed by Spring Ahead - Catch The Cash Industry guru Bill McCurry reveals what's new that's working from around the world. He also uncovers the gems from the past that are still working and shouldn't be overlooked. Fort Lee, NJ, USA. For further information or to register contact Alan Neiderman alan.niederman@kodak.com

June 3-6, 2010 - PMA Australia, Melbourne http://www.pmaaustralia.com.au/

June 11-13, 2010 - Save the Date for Dixie Division of PMA. Atlanta, GA area - details to follow!

June 21-24, 2010 - IPI Members' Retreat and Supplying Partners Trade Show, Henderson, Nevada. By invitation.

July 16-20, PRO Members' Convention and Trade Show, Cleveland, Ohio - By Invitation

November 15-17, 2010 - 6Sight Conference - San Jose, CA, USA - http://www.pmai.org/6sight_09.aspx?id=15274

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