How to Recover Deleted Photos from Nikon cameras: DSLR, Coolpix, and Mirrorless

Many professional photographers and camera enthusiasts prefer Nikon for its wide range of camera lens & accessories, durability, and ease-of-use. The brand continues to dominate the industry, offering precision DSLRs, digital, and mirrorless cameras for every skill level.

However, there’s an important aspect where most modern cameras fail or partially deliver – reliable data storage and recovery. Yes, photos and videos stored in your Nikon camera SD card can be lost due to accidental deletion or a sudden technical glitch, leaving users lost and confused.

If you are reading this, you’ve probably lost or deleted photos from a Nikon camera, or your memory card isn’t showing the stored pics. But don’t worry, those deleted photos are probably still there in your SD card waiting to be recovered. Let’s figure out how photos disappear from an SD card and step-by-step solutions to restore them.

How Did My Nikon Photos Disappear?

Since Nikon, or any other camera for that matter, does not have an internal storage system, they utilize an external SD card for storing photos and videos. Here are a few common reasons why photos and videos may sometimes disappear from a camera SD card.

• You accidentally clicked the Delete All option instead of deleting a single image from your SD card.
• Mistakenly formatted the memory card inside the camera menu.
• The camera lost power or was turned off abruptly while saving a file.
• Files were deleted from the memory card while it was connected to your Windows or Mac.

The question is, what happens to those photos? Are they gone permanently? Can they be recovered? Let’s find out.

Can Deleted Nikon Pics Be Really Recovered?

Yes, deleted Nikon camera photos can be recovered unless they are overwritten. To avoid overwriting on the SD card where those photos were stored, stop using your device immediately. Next step is recovery, where you can simply check SnapBridge, the Nikon’s native cloud app, and look for back up. If backup is unavailable, you may get help of a specialized recovery tool.  

Recovery largely depends on how the photos were lost in the first place. See the below table to find the recovery method applicable in different scenarios.

Do This First Before Trying Recovery Methods

Once Nikon photos are lost from the SD card, do not attempt recovery immediately. Do these four things first (in the listed order), to avoid corrupting the SD card.

1. Stop using your camera immediately because every new photo risks overwriting.
2. Power off the camera and safely eject and remove the SD card, do not try connecting the camera itself to your computer.
3. Don’t reformat the card or run CHKDSK on it yet – because in case of a damaged card, this can make recovery of photos impossible.
4. Connect the card to your computer using a proper USB card reader instead of plugging in the camera via a cable.

Recover Deleted Nikon Camera Photos from SnapBridge App

Do you know your deleted Nikon Camera pics might be safely stored in cloud via SnapBridge? If enabled, SnapBridge automatically uploads photos from Nikon devices to the cloud service – Nikon Image Space. However, it works only if photos were uploaded before you lost them.

• Open the SnapBridge app on your phone and go to Account and check Nikon Image Space.
• Browse the folder for the uploaded images – Nikon Image Space gives you 2GB free storage, or 20GB for registered camera owners.
• Now, click on the backup folder and restore the deleted Nikon camera photos on your smartphone device.

This only works if auto-upload was enabled or your photos were backed up before they disappeared from your Nikon camera SD card. If it wasn’t, try recovering Photos via Windows or Mac.

Recovering Deleted Nikon Photos from SD Card Via Windows

When you delete a photo directly from your card while it is plugged into a Windows PC, the files bypass the Recycle Bin. They are not stored in your Windows trash.

However, the images and videos are still there on the card waiting to be recovered. You can easily recover them on your Windows PC using a compatible photo recovery tool.

Recover Nikon Photos Using Photo Recovery Software

To get deleted photo or video files from an SD card back on Windows, there’s a step-by-step approach.

The first step is to lock the card’s physical switch. For that, look at the left or right side of your SD card for a lock switch. Slide the switch down into the Lock position. This ensures that the card stops writing any temporary data over your lost photos and videos.

Once you have secured your card, move to recovery. A specialized photo recovery tool like Stellar Photo Recovery works best in such scenarios as it easily recognizes Nikon RAW files and recovers them from any SD card.

• Download the Stellar Photo Recovery tool on your Windows PC.
• Use a card reader to connect your SD card from where you lost photos to the Windows PC.
• Now, select the type of file you want to recover. E.g., Photos.

• Next, select the drive showing external storage (your SD card) from where you want to recover data.

• Let the tool scan the SD card for your lost photos & videos. Once the scan finishes, look through the photo file previews.

Select the images you want to recover and make sure you save them to your computer hard drive, and not on the same memory card.

Recovering Deleted Nikon Photos from SD Card on Mac

When you delete a photo directly from your card while it is plugged into a Mac, the recovery process varies. As in Mac, there is .trashes folder present that retains that deleted data.

Trash folder recovery from SD card on Mac

The macOS creates a hidden folder on the card itself called .trashes. It moves your deleted SD card photos there, but that folder is only visible when the card is connected to that specific Mac. If you eject the card, you won’t be able to see the Trashes folder.

Plug the card back into the same Mac. Open your regular Trash bin on the desktop. If you see your Nikon files sitting there, simply right-click on them and choose Put Back. They will instantly return to your card safely.

Using Recovery Software on Mac

If you deleted the pictures directly inside the camera menu, then the hidden Mac trash recovery option will not work because the Mac was never involved in the deletion process. In this case, you must use a Mac photo recovery software that can help you get those photos back from the SD card.

• Download, Install, and Run the Stellar Photo Recovery for Mac software.
• The tool works similar to the Windows version – You need to connect the SD card to the Mac, select the drive, and then run a scan on the external SD card or storage drive.

• The software will look for the deleted JPEG, or RAW (NEF, NEFX, NRW) images and lost videos.
• You can preview the deleted files and save them directly onto your Mac storage. Do not store them in the same SD card to avoid the risk of overwriting.

So, here’s the thing, if you deleted photos directly from the SD card on your Nikon camera or formatted the SD card on your camera, you will need a photo recovery tool. If you deleted photos from the SD card while it was connected to a Mac, you may find those photos in the trash folder.

Recovering Photos from Nikon Z-Series Cameras (XQD and CFexpress Cards)

High-end Nikon Z-series cameras (Z9, Z8, Z7, Z6, D5, D4) and some modern DSLRs use CFexpress Type B or XQD cards. There are also several types of flash storage that need distinct and dedicated PCIe-based card readers like ProGrade Digital CFexpress reader, Angelbird AV PRO, Sony MRW-G1, or other compatible card readers.

While Z5 and ZF utilize distinct SD/microSD configurations, you can still follow standard recovery process for retrieving photos, only if the card gets mounted.

Common Camera SD Card Problems and Fixes

Below are some common SD card problems and fixes that help with most digital camera photo recovery, and even for Nikon Coolpix cameras and DSLRS.

How to Fix Recovered Deleted Nikon Photos Not Opening?

Sometimes, you might run a recovery scan and get your photos back, but when you click to open them, it says the “file format is unsupported or corrupted.”

This often happens with large camera files. Nikon cameras write heavy image data and long video streams in separate fragments across the card. Sometimes, recovery tools are unable to align these random data fragments together. This corrupts the file header and metadata. Hence, the gallery apps cannot process the data to open them properly.

If your recovered photos open up as blank screens or your camera videos refuse to play, you need a tool that can fix file structures. You can upgrade to the Stellar Photo Recovery Professional tool as it features a built-in repair feature for recovered JPEG and RAW files, including NEF, NRW (Nikon RAW format). It automatically fixes broken image headers and metadata to make the photos viewable.

This tool combines recovery of deleted photos and repair feature for corrupt JPEG and RAW camera files.

How to Prevent Nikon Photo Loss?

• Do not ever pull the flash storage card out while the camera’s access light is still blinking.
• Try to quick format your card inside the camera, and not on your computer. 
• Transfer photos using a card reader, avoid plugging the camera directly into your computer.
• Keep your laptop fully charged to avoid a mid-transfer disconnect.
• Always purchase SD card from brands like SanDisk, Lexar, Sony, Kingston, etc.
• Do not fill the SD card or flash storage device – leave at least 10 -15% empty space.
• Charge your camera batteries before shooting long projects.
• Always store your flash storage in a proper water and dust-proof case.

FAQs