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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
File Names when using multiple cameras
Michael Myers, Photographer
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Miami Beach | FL | USA | Posted: 8:15 PM on 02.14.05 |
->> Let's say you go to an event with two or three cameras. You've set the "date" on each so they are in sync. You then shoot a few cards worth of images from each camera, using different lenses on each to get different effects.
Now, you're back at home, trying to organize your images. Perhaps it was several contests, and you want all the images from each contest to be in one folder.
My question is what is the best way to do this? My answer so far, is to use a utility from http://storcksoftware.com/ called "set name to time" which renames all the images to the time they were taken. Not only does this help determine what images belong in which folder, but once they're there, if you look over all the images, they will be in order (based on the order in which you took them).
Does anyone have a better way to do this, and if so, what is it? |
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Worth Canoy, Photographer
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High Point | NC | USA | Posted: 8:49 PM on 02.14.05 |
->> Michael,
I use Iview Media Pro for all my cataloging.
Working with two cameras all the time, the catalogs can be arranged by date modified, meaning hour and minute, etc.
I keep my files ordered thusly,then lastly rename them all with the event name and numerically. |
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Bob DeMay, Photographer
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Akron | OH | United States | Posted: 9:08 PM on 02.14.05 |
->> Michael - use Photo Mechanic and toggle to sort by capture time. After the files fall in to place rename the files accordingly. Using the formula {dats} slug {seqn} in the rename dialog box.
The filename then would read 050214 Lakers 001.jpg and so on. |
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Jason Jenkins, Photographer
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Las Vegas | NV | USA | Posted: 1:57 AM on 02.15.05 |
->> I use the Downloader Pro program from the Breeze Browser folks. It allows me to rename files on the fly as I download them and combined with the Delkin Cardbus adapter... the downloads are now a fraction of the time that it used to take.
The Downloader Pro program really allows you to customize directory and file names to a point that multiple camera downloads are a snap.
http://www.breezebrowser.com/ |
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Vern Verna, Photographer
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Taylors (Greenville) | SC | United States | Posted: 2:09 AM on 02.15.05 |
| ->> i use photomechanic. it is the best i have seen, when i shoot a bb game with 5 cams,(3 remotes) everything is d/l to a folder then i rename a file as say jamesL{frame} for lebron james and it keeps the file number from the camera from 1to 9999. when u do it sequential and add a frame later, it seems it is hard to get the next number without having to go thru the folder. when i shoot a whole season of baseball and have ton of chipper jones when i shoot 60 braves games and keep dropping chipper in every game then it will all have jonesC{frame} (by the way the brackets are on purpose as that is the photomechanic command to rename and keep the frame number) then i rarely get duplicate numbers, when i do it adds a letter ie jonesC4444a.jpg. also as bob says u can sort by filename, date or a number of different options. for 150 bucks or thereabout it is a great deal. |
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Dirk Dewachter, Photographer
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Playa Del Rey | CA | USA | Posted: 2:16 AM on 02.15.05 |
| ->> Photomechanic works well - BUT be careful that you sync your cameras to the same date and time. At one time I forgot to reset the daylight savings time on one of my cameras and the images from both cameras were an hour apart, it destroyed the continuity of my renaming option in Photomechanic. |
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Stanley Leary, Photographer
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Roswell | GA | USA | Posted: 8:05 AM on 02.15.05 |
| ->> Nikon View allows you to import and rename using date and time so after ingesting all your cards all the images are in order, as long as both cameras are set properly. |
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Kevin M. Cox, Photographer, Assistant
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Round Rock (Austin) | TX | US | Posted: 11:21 AM on 02.15.05 |
->> I also use Photo Mechanic to sort by date and then rename them in sequence using my own filing convention (which guarantees I'll never have a duplicate filename). I almost always put every image from an event (no matter which camera shot it) into the same folder.
Dirk, I've had that problem before, but usually my cameras are just a few minutes off each other. My solution is to take a photo with both camera at the exact same time (once I'm home) and figure out the offset. Then I use this great little freeware program on my PC (http://www.exifer.friedemann.info/) to sync the images from one camera to the other. It works perfectly. (Now I just need a similar program I can use on my Mac.) |
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Vern Verna, Photographer
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Taylors (Greenville) | SC | United States | Posted: 11:29 AM on 02.15.05 |
| ->> u can set canon cameras by plugging them into ur computer and hitting the set time option. then they have the same exact time. i set mine in dec and they are all still very close, maybe a couple of seconds difference in any on all 5 of them. (31d, 2 markII) |
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Kevin M. Cox, Photographer, Assistant
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Round Rock (Austin) | TX | US | Posted: 11:48 AM on 02.15.05 |
| ->> Ya, the problem I have is that for some reason my 1D and my Mark II seem to drift apart fairly quickly. They'll be over a minute apart within three weeks if I don't re-sync them again, which of course I always forget to do until after a game when I shoot 500+ images. |
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Michael Stevens, Photographer
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Phoenix | AZ | USA | Posted: 12:57 PM on 02.15.05 |
->> I use a program called PIE from www.picmeta.com. It allows you to set the filename based off of a bunch of different EXIF data including, but not limited to, date shot, time, aperture, & shutter speed.
It has worked flawlessly until I got my laptop with XP on it. For some reason XP sees all kinds of different times in the EXIF data so when I do a batch rename on the laptop everything gets FUBARed. I wait until I'm home on my 2000 machine to rename.
One of these days I'll drop the $150 on PhotoMechanic ... |
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Stanley Leary, Photographer
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Roswell | GA | USA | Posted: 1:11 PM on 02.15.05 |
| ->> The cool thing with using Nikon View and naming the file by date and time they are all unique numbers and can all be put into a database. If you rename them in sequence then you have the same numbers and cannot put all of them into the same file to be searched. You would have to create folders to use the sequencing numbering system. |
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Delane B. Rouse, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Waldorf | MD | US | Posted: 3:19 PM on 02.15.05 |
->> We use downloader Pro, it's been great and gives you a LOT of options for renaming both files and FOLDERS (creating folders on the fly if/when necessary).
As Vern said, the key is that the cameras HAVE to have the clocks synchronized else things won't "fall into place". If you shoot with multiple cameras or multiple photographers at an event you should make this a part of your workflow. It will make your day a lot easier when you get back home. |
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Mitchell Clinton, Photographer
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Carlsbad | CA | USA | Posted: 3:37 PM on 02.15.05 |
| ->> Nikon Capture will sync the camera time and date to the computer time and date. Both Nikon View and Capture will allow you to rename using the time and date the image was shot. |
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Dirk Dewachter, Photographer
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Playa Del Rey | CA | USA | Posted: 7:05 PM on 02.15.05 |
| ->> I've received some information that PM is looking to add a feature that will allow you to sync images from multiple cameras that were captured at the same event but slightly un-sync'd. |
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