I would use DIY DataRecovery's software. They have free shareware you can use--though you may have to pay to retrieve the actual files once you've found them.
I do not see why ANY software would format your images into another extension or file type, though.
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The images are now rescued by using Image Recall from flashfixers.com. This program worked faster, was more intuitive, and rescued everthing in the original cr2 form. I commend them to anyone. There was a $35 or so charge for it but that was happily paid given the result.
PS. I finally, three days after my request, got a response from Lexar's support group, which basically said here are the directions, try again. Thanks for your thoughts and help.