LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

Could you attach one of the "grey boxes" that you have downloaded onto your computer. Perhaps that will give us some answers. Have you checked the file size of the downloaded files and compared it to the file size of the photos you can view? Have you checked the file extensions of the downloaded photos you can't view?

MDI Mainer

What programs have you tried? When I've used RescuePRO the recovered files are Numbered File001, File 002, etc. I'm not sure if the thumbnails you've showed us are really the recovered files,

drlballa Loc: chicagoland

So as I was looking at your issue, I wasn't sure if your headers on the files were from the recovery program or just the original file. Its apparent that some files loaded properly, and many didn't. Suggestions as cleaning contacts are a good start, but I think more is happening under the hood, like corruption of the jpeg stream. Perhaps you started the camera up "funny" or static charge hit something , or the memory had bad blocks. Unfortunately, these devices are in themselves static devices that make them rewriteable, and they work nicely MOST of the time.
A good source for further reading would be at

www.disktuna.com/corrupt-jpeg-files

The author is detailed about recovery methods and architecture of jpeg files. VERY informative if you want to understand anything related to file structure of jpegs.
Now if you want to delve under the hood for yourself and see if there is any data in those empty files and are willing to experiment, here is what you can do.
Find this app, "HxD hex editor", install it on your PC, enable the write protect on your flash drive, attach the flash drive to your PC and open the empty file in this HxD program.
You will see various columns, starting on the left you will see "Offset (h)" then a series of addresses as "00 01 02 03 04 ..." and so on. Below those are hexadecimal values. The first one should read " FF D8 " This signifies the start of the file. All of the beginning file will be the metadata, such as date, location, camera stats, called the Header. The majority of the file is the stream comprising the photo. It is in this portion that you can see if all those dark spaces have any data. If you see long stretches of "00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00" that means you have nothing to recover. Make sure you are not in the Header (in the first 10% or so) of the file, as Headers can also be filled with null data.
This author also uses custom software which he apparently sells. His videos are worth a peek. (I have no affiliation)
I thought they were worth my time.
Good luck

CharlieDutch Loc: Illinois

thanks for the advice. I'll give it a try. I'm not real tech smart, but if there's a walk thru I might figure it out. Thanks again.

guitarpicker1151 Loc: Lower Left Side of OHIO

GOOD IDEA! Quick and Easy...
also, IF your camera has a USB port AND you have the correct cable to fit the USB port on your computer, try that.

If your SD card got pretty warm, you may have lost the photos...
I left my camera bag on the back seat in the car, windows up, on a HOT OHIO day.
The camera was OK, but the 4GB SD was toast.