Photos & RAW · time-lapse photo card
Recover missing frames from a time-lapse sequence
How do I recover missing time-lapse images?
Short answer
First map the gap: note the missing sequence numbers and which card should have held that interval. Time-lapse gaps come from card swaps, buffer delays, deletion or skipped imports, and only frames that reached a card can be recovered. Then stop using that card, scan it read-only for JPEG or RAW and check each found frame opens fully.
The situation
A long numbered JPEG or RAW sequence has one or more gaps.
A time-lapse gap is first of all a bookkeeping question: which numbers are missing, and which card was in the camera during that interval. Only once that is settled does scanning make sense, and then only on the card that should hold the missing stretch.
01 / Diagnose
Work out what actually disappeared
Long sequences run across card changes, battery swaps and sometimes several bodies, and each of those events can produce a gap. Deletion and skipped imports leave the data on a card; a swap mid-interval means the frames sit on a different card entirely; and an interval shorter than the write time means some frames were never stored. The numbering continues regardless.
Card swaps, buffer delays, deletion, or import omissions can create gaps with different recovery prospects.
Check the last known path, trash and backups without writing to the original device.
02 / Protect the source
Preserve the best recovery chance
- 1
Write out the full number range of the sequence and mark exactly which numbers are absent from the delivered set.
- 2
Work out from the shooting log or the capture times which card was in the camera during the missing interval.
- 3
Set that card aside unused and scan it read-only for the format the sequence was shot in, JPEG or RAW.
- 4
Export to another drive and merge recovered frames into the sequence by capture time, not by generated file name.
Do not restart the time-lapse on the affected card to produce a replacement stretch, and do not let the camera renumber from one. Both overwrite the interval you are trying to recover. Batch-renaming the delivered frames before the gap is closed also costs evidence.
03 / Choose the method
Match the tool to the source
For stable, readable exFAT, NTFS and FAT16/FAT32 or uncompressed IMG, DD, RAW and BIN images.
Unconfirmed exports are marked .UNVERIFIED.
File Recovery Hero reads exFAT, NTFS and FAT16/FAT32 cards read-only and exports complete frames; it cannot produce frames the camera never wrote and does not repair truncated ones. Where a card was reused for a later run, the older interval is usually gone.
04 / Verify
Check the recovered content, not just its name
The sequence is whole again when the numbering runs without a break, the capture times advance by the shooting interval, and every recovered frame opens at full resolution. A frame whose timestamp does not fit the interval belongs to another run, however plausible its number looks.
Keep the source until two verified copies exist. One working preview is not enough.
Sources and technical references
FAQ
Questions about this recovery case
Can time-lapse photo card be recovered in this situation?+
A time-lapse gap is first of all a bookkeeping question: which numbers are missing, and which card was in the camera during that interval. Only once that is settled does scanning make sense, and then only on the card that should hold the missing stretch. The result still depends on what remains readable on the source.
What should I avoid before scanning?+
Do not restart the time-lapse on the affected card to produce a replacement stretch, and do not let the camera renumber from one.
Does scanning write to my memory card?+
Your memory card is only read. Nothing is saved to it.
How do I know whether the result is complete?+
The sequence is whole again when the numbering runs without a break, the capture times advance by the shooting interval, and every recovered frame opens at full resolution.