D-Lux 4 Image Numbering

[baci]

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Long time lurker - first time poster!

 

I have just moved from a D-Lux 2 to a D-Lux 4. When I take images off the camera's card I dump them onto a hard drive before importing the images I want to keep into Lightroom. It has just occurred to me that the way the D-Lux 4 numbers images is (I think) the same as the way the D-Lux 2 did. Which means I think that new image files may have been overwriting the older ones.

 

Is there a way I can change the way the D-Lux 4 numbers it's files? What if I had two D-Lux 4s - how would I manage the files then?

 

Thanks!

 

Michael

[MPJMP]

Save the new images to a different folder on your hard drive. As long as you don't have LR configured to where it actually moves the files when importing you should be OK.

[Claw]

Save images in new folder... Lightroom will archive the rest!

[ho_co]

Michael, welcome to the forum! Good question by the way, one that I'm hankering with.

 

If I'm not mistaken, all the Leica cameras use similar numbering with the exception of the extension, be it RAW, RWL, DNG or whatever.

 

You can change the file numbering by changing a folder number, but so far as I can tell, eventually you'll still end up with overlapping numbers, at least theoretically.

 

 

From page 46 of the instruction manual for the D-Lux 4:

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From page 73:

 

 

Ed Chatlos posted instructions on the forum for renumbering M8 files at http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m8-forum/26464-update-file-numbering.html. It's a short thread and may help with what you and I want to do (though I confess I haven't tried it yet). See particularly the second post in the thread.

 

Out of laziness, I haven't worked through the details; so if you or someone else works out a better idea, let us know!

[Shootist]

Howard, funny that the Leica manual says (dot).RW2 for the RAW file extension.

Can you confirm that the DL5 saves RAW files with the DNG extension! And that sidecar XMP files are not created when editing those DL5 RAW files.

 

If sidecar XMP files are created when editing the DL5 DNG files then Leica is playing the Renaming game on what otherwise are Panasonic RW2 RAW files.

 

Oh that's the manual for the DL4. But could you check the DL5, if you have one.

[baci]

Thanks for your replies - the devil, as always appears to be in the detail! As you know, the D-Lux 4 writes a JPEG file with each RAW file. With my previous camera, I would simple open the card on my desktop, sort by file type, scoop off the JPEGS and put them on backup/archive disk where my partner could access them (pictures of the kids, etc), and put the remaining RAW files in a separate folder for importing into Lightoom.

 

The appeal in having all the files in one folder is that it’s simple to cruise through the thumbnails and find the image you’re looking for. (Remember this is a domestic setup taking at best 50 images a month – so the quantity of images being produced is manageable). Now that the numbers are repeating, I will create another folder for each file type – that’s a straightforward work around that had simply not occurred to me. Thank you!

 

Howard, thanks for your response – I should have read the manual more closely. I followed the “Reset No.” instructions but that quite literally resets everything to 000 and I wasn’t given the option for assigning another number as the instructions suggest. Not sure what I’m doing wrong there! I also tried the method in the thread you linked to but it doesn’t work for the D-Lux 4. I rename the folder to 333Leica, but the image files are still written as 1000XXX.

 

An additional quirk: I can rename the images on import into Lightroom and export the files from there. But I found that if I only want to import the RAW files there is no way of doing this automatically. So I decided to sort the files on the card, move to a folder on the desktop and import the RAW files from there into Lightroom. The problem is when importing from a folder (instead of a drive) Lightroom won’t do the renaming for some reason!!!

 

Interesting and frustrating!

 

Thanks again for your suggestions.

 

Michael

[ho_co]

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Sorry, Ed, I don't have the D-Lux 5.

 

Someone in another thread said it's DNG, so I'm making that assumption. And your discovery that the Panasonic writes "almost-DNG" files made me think that it probably does.

 

Still, you'd think Leica would trumpet it if that were fact, wouldn't you? And yet the D-Lux 5 brochure just refers to RAW and JPG.

 

So you're right, I'd like to have it confirmed as well.

[ho_co]

Michael, it looks like I threw you a lot of stones instead of bread crumbs. Sorry.

 

I've never read the Leica D-Lux 4 manual because it's confusing. I had never before seen anything that suggested that there'd be a prompt to choose folder till I saw that in the picture I posted. Maybe that happens if you have two different folders on the card? Like 100LEICA and 200LEICA, maybe?

 

BTW, with the D-Lux 4 there's no need to make JPGs with the .RW2s unless you want to. (You had to do that with the D-Lux 2, I remember.) Under QUALITY in the main menu there are five choices. The middle one is RAW only. (The pictographs take a little getting used to.)

 

 

The D-Lux 4 is a super little camera that I carry everywhere on my belt, but it is also amazingly complex. It took me about two months to get it figured out well enough to use it comfortably, and now after two years it still surprises me occasionally.

 

I've generally found the Panasonic manuals easier to comprehend than the Leica ones (though that's not saying much ). One or more of these addresses for downloading Panasonic manuals may still be usable--I got them from this forum quite a while ago:

 

 

GERMANY:

Support - Downloads - Deutschland & Österreich

 

 

UK:

Support - Downloads - UK & Ireland

 

 

US:

Operating Manuals for Panasonic Products

 

 

I hope something here puts you on track.

 

Otherwise, just try what the other threads suggested:

--Format a card in the camera

--Take a picture

--Put the card in the computer and rename the folder to something the camera will accept

--Reinstall the card in the camera

--Take a picture

 

You may need to do that a couple times to get it where you want it, but you've already found that on the D-Lux 4 some of the names suggested in the other thread won't work, so you definitely understand the process involved.

 

Good luck.

[baci]

Howard - thanks so much for the tips! I'm sitting here literally face-palming because I didn't realise the "4" could save just RAW files and not the associated JPEG image. That makes life significantly easier! I guess it's one of those things where the menus on the "4" are so close to those on the "2" that I assume things are one way when in reality they're a little bit different. I agree with you about the complexity - or maybe nuance is a better word - of setting up the "4". In the late 80s I was well into photography as a hobby, left it as the digital revolution changed the mechanics of producing images, and now find myself drifting back. When the time came to replace the D-Lux 2 I almost went X1 but opted for the smaller camera while I made sure that taking images was something that really was going to stay with me. In the meantime, as my photographic "senses" come back, so I need to work more with the camera settings to see just how far I can go with the"4".

 

Believe me, your input today has been very helpful, and much appreciated.

 

All the best

 

Michael