Two bodies

[divory]

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I have just bought a second body as I am going shortly on a long trip to a fairly remote part of the world and would like backup in case any of any camera failure (which I have failed to experience myself) but occasionally read about here.

 

One of the restrictive aspects of the present software is the inability to rename either folders or files, for if I take many images with both there may well be a number with identical names. Will LR distinguish between identical named images with differing dates or times? If not, what should I do?

 

Help please,

 

David Young

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[cam2000]

Good luck on your trip David..... and here is a link that will help you .

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/digital-forum/17375-m8-default-file-name-change.html

[divory]

Jacques,

 

Thanks very much, I appreciate your help and my problem is now solved. If only all problems had such quick solution!

 

David

[Shootist]

I have a updated method of setting a second body to another folder/file naming convention.

I too have 2 M8's and I have set one body to record images as L200 xxxx and the other is set to the standard L100 xxxx.

This should work fine until I take 999,999 (or is that 9,999,999) images with the first body. Which at the rate I'm going I'll be dead before that happens.

Also you need separate SD cards for each camera, OR get in the habit of ALWAYS formatting the card when you first put the card in each body.

 

Here it is.

 

1. Set the Picture Number in the menu to "Standard".

2. Format the SD card in camera.

3. Reset the File Number in the menu. It actually says “Reset fold. No”, that is the one you want.

4. Set Picture Number back to "Continuous"

5. Take one image

6. Shut off camera, remove SD card and place in card reader attached to a computer.

7. Access the image in your Finder or Explorer (Mac or PC); rename the image number to whatever file number/image number you want. I would suggest Lyyyxxxx, with "y" being your preferred folder number (See Note Below) and "x" being the frame number you want to start with. (You are making these changes to the file name on the card in the card reader.)

 

NOTE

If you want to change the first or second digit of the L100 (Lyyy above) in the file name, like to L200 or 120 or 220, then you have to change the folder name also.

The directory/folder structure on the card when in a card reader is Drive Letter:\DCIM\100LEICA\. You need to change the 100LEICA to whatever you want the file number to start with. Like if you want it to be L200xxxx then you need to rename that folder to 200LEICA. If you want L120 then you need to change that folder name to 120LEICA. It would look like this [drive letter]:\DCIM\120 or 200LEICA.

 

8. Properly remove card from card reader and return to camera.

9. Turn the camera on and press "Play". The file will now display with newly renamed folder and file number. (Use "Info" to see this data.)

10. Expose another image to confirm and check file numbers.

11. Format SD card, and you are good to go from that point on.

[andybarton]

Nothing complicated there than Ed

 

There must be a easier way that that

[Shootist]

Not to complicated, just a lot of steps. I haven't found one easier and I've tried.

[jonoslack]

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THE EASY WAY

Hi There

First of all, you MUST distinguish between the bodies - I did a trip to Greece under the same circumstances, and overwrote a whole bunch of files.

 

When you put the SD card into the computer, there is the DCIM folder

under that is the xxxLEICA FOLDER where xxx is 100 or 000 or whatever

the file name is made up from Lxxx0001 where the xxx is a number from the folder and 0001 is a consecutive number.

 

I've called one of my cameras '3' and the other '5' (you could be sensible and use '1' and '2') - I'm using the other two digits to represent the month, so, currently my black body makes files like:

L5071234.dng and the silver:

L3071234.dng

 

on august the first I'll simply reformat a card, put it in the computer, and change the

307LEICA to 308LEICA

 

Ed is right with his procedure, but this is the EASY way!

assuming that you'd like the month in the name and you want to call your cameas 1 and 2.

 

FIRST CAMERA

1. format sd card in camera

2. put in computer

3. rename folder under DCIM to 107LEICA

4. put SD card back in camera

5. take photo - it'll be called L1070001.dng

 

SECOND CAMERA

1. format sd card in camera

2. put in computer

3. rename folder under DCIM to 207LEICA

4. put SD card back in camera

5. take photo - it'll be called L2070001.dng

 

from that point on, it's safer to remember to reformat each card when you put it in the camera (so that if you move a card from one camera to another it doesn't pick up the numbering from the other camera).

 

I hope this helps

[marknorton]

Leica could have made this all much easier by allowing the user to specify their own prefix by camera. Perhaps they never thought anyone would buy two cameras, let alone three.

[jonoslack]

Leica could have made this all much easier by allowing the user to specify their own prefix by camera. Perhaps they never thought anyone would buy two cameras, let alone three.

Hi Mark

I hope you're well (is that rebuilt body behaving itself?)

I do agree.

However, I find it really simple to manage (having once got my head around it). I guess it would have been nice to be able to change the prefix from L as well - I did try renaming folders:

307SEICA - hoping to get S3071234.dng (for my silver body)

507BEICA - hoping to get B3071234.dng (for my black body)

Unfortunately it didn't work!

[carstenw]

What happens if each card has a folder with each name on it, that is, one card has both 107LEICA and 207LEICA folders on it, and you then put it in the one camera, take a picture, and then put it in the other camera? Where does the second picture land, and is the sequence broken?

[jonoslack]

What happens if each card has a folder with each name on it, that is, one card has both 107LEICA and 207LEICA folders on it, and you then put it in the one camera, take a picture, and then put it in the other camera? Where does the second picture land, and is the sequence broken?

Hi Carsten

Do you want me to try it? Is it the sort of thing one might do (i.e. why would you put both folders on a card?)

[carstenw]

Because then you can use all cards with both cameras, switch back and forth and not worry about anything. I don't have a second body yet, so it is not a concern for me at this point, but hopefully will sometime in the future. I don't like the idea of always formatting, because even full cards can be formatted. I prefer formatting at home or when I have lots of time, and to use my cards without thinking about it when I am shooting. Having one of each folders on all cards would allow blind insertion, yet never any lost data. The lock on the SD cards might offer another solution, but then you have to remember to set it, and even then, sometimes it moves position inadvertently.

[divory]

There is really no need to date the folder - Lightroom does it for you by timestanping the images when you upload from any folder. My original concern was to stop images being overwritten if they had identical numbers.

 

A 4gb card holds about 370 DNG images and not many days out would run into two cards. SD cards are reputed to be good for over 100,000 formats so it is probably good practice to go out with reformatted cards every day.

 

It may sound complicated but it is so much simpler than with film. At least you always know the order in which you took the pictures!

 

David Young.

[jonoslack]

There is really no need to date the folder - Lightroom does it for you by timestanping the images when you upload from any folder. My original concern was to stop images being overwritten if they had identical numbers.

 

A 4gb card holds about 370 DNG images and not many days out would run into two cards. SD cards are reputed to be good for over 100,000 formats so it is probably good practice to go out with reformatted cards every day.

 

It may sound complicated but it is so much simpler than with film. At least you always know the order in which you took the pictures!

 

David Young.

 

Hi David

Actually, it's quite useful to have the month in the filename - when someone orders a picture off the net simply giving you a filename for instance - of course, you can search for it easily enough, but it's not useless, and gives you an instant idea of where to look.

 

I use a card reader:

 

take photos

put sd in card reader

download photos

put card in camera

format

use again!

 

I also have two types of cards

 

SanDisk (black) go in my black body

Lexar (blue) go in the silver body

 

simple, and it works!

[jonoslack]

Because then you can use all cards with both cameras, switch back and forth and not worry about anything. I don't have a second body yet, so it is not a concern for me at this point, but hopefully will sometime in the future. I don't like the idea of always formatting, because even full cards can be formatted. I prefer formatting at home or when I have lots of time, and to use my cards without thinking about it when I am shooting. Having one of each folders on all cards would allow blind insertion, yet never any lost data. The lock on the SD cards might offer another solution, but then you have to remember to set it, and even then, sometimes it moves position inadvertently.

 

Hi Carsten

No

It uses the highest numbered folder for both cameras,

So, if you have:

107LEICA

and

207LEICA

 

It will always put pictures into 207LEICA and number them accordingly.

 

Generally speaking I don't format a card until I put it back in the camera for re-use, and then I check it quickly to make sure the photos have been downloaded - that's all fine and works well.

[carstenw]

Okay, thanks. What a shame.

[Shootist]

Because then you can use all cards with both cameras, switch back and forth and not worry about anything. I don't have a second body yet, so it is not a concern for me at this point, but hopefully will sometime in the future. I don't like the idea of always formatting, because even full cards can be formatted. I prefer formatting at home or when I have lots of time, and to use my cards without thinking about it when I am shooting. Having one of each folders on all cards would allow blind insertion, yet never any lost data. The lock on the SD cards might offer another solution, but then you have to remember to set it, and even then, sometimes it moves position inadvertently.

 

The camera remembers what the folder name & number is. So if you put a SD card from the camera 1 that uses L10x xxx in camera 2 that uses the file name L20x xxxx and format that card it will get the L20x xxxx file names and the 20xLEICA folder name under the DCIM folder.

 

Tha bad part of this is if you use SD card from camera 1, L10x xxxx, in camera 2, L20x xxxx, and it has images on it and view one of the images then camera 2 will start using the L10x xxxx file names.

 

The good part is you can use any card in either camera IF you remember to FORMAT IT FIRST when putting it in a camera.

[jonoslack]

The camera remembers what the folder name & number is. So if you put a SD card from the camera 1 that uses L10x xxx in camera 2 that uses the file name L20x xxxx and format that card it will get the L20x xxxx file names and the 20xLEICA folder name under the DCIM folder.

 

Tha bad part of this is if you use SD card from camera 1, L10x xxxx, in camera 2, L20x xxxx, and it has images on it and view one of the images then camera 2 will start using the L10x xxxx file names.

Hi Ed

Are you sure about this (I'm bored of testing!). I thought you had to take a shot before it started using the other numbering system (rather than just viewing a file).

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[Shootist]

Hi Ed

Are you sure about this (I'm bored of testing!). I thought you had to take a shot before it started using the other numbering system (rather than just viewing a file).

 

Yup I'm sure. I just tried it with a 1GB card. I put that card in my chrome body, L100 xxxx file naming and 100LEICA folder name, and formatted it in that body. Looked at the card in a card reader and it had the DCIM\100LEICA folder. Took it out of the reader and put it in my black body and immediately formatted it. Took it out of the camera and put it in the reader and the folder name was DCIM/200LEICA.

 

It has to work that way. Otherwise the camera would always format a new card as DCIM\100LEICA even after you took 9999 shots. The camera also keeps track of the last file/image name (number) so when you take that 10,000 image it flips the folder and file names up one digit. So after you take shot 9,999 it will start naming the files L101 xxxx, more then likely it will start with 1 or 0001

[jonoslack]

Yup I'm sure. I just tried it with a 1GB card. I put that card in my chrome body, L100 xxxx file naming and 100LEICA folder name, and formatted it in that body. Looked at the card in a card reader and it had the DCIM\100LEICA folder. Took it out of the reader and put it in my black body and immediately formatted it. Took it out of the camera and put it in the reader and the folder name was DCIM/200LEICA.

 

It has to work that way. Otherwise the camera would always format a new card as DCIM\100LEICA even after you took 9999 shots. The camera also keeps track of the last file/image name (number) so when you take that 10,000 image it flips the folder and file names up one digit. So after you take shot 9,999 it will start naming the files L101 xxxx, more then likely it will start with 1 or 0001

 

NO NO

I put the question badly

You are quite right with what you say above (and quite right too - it means that you will keep your naming correct as long as you format a card after putting it in the camera), what I was questioning was:

 

.

 

Tha bad part of this is if you use SD card from camera 1, L10x xxxx, in camera 2, L20x xxxx, and it has images on it and view one of the images then camera 2 will start using the L10x xxxx file names.

 

I've just checked this, and it is NOT the case - the camera doesn't pick up the naming from the inserted card until you take a photograph.

 

this means that when you put a card in the camera it's okay to check if there is anything vital/missed etc. on it before formating.