How does SL2 label files > 9999?

[scott kirkpatrick]

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This is a small but annoying point with the SL, which Panasonic fixed on the S1.  If you reach file L1009999.DNG the SL and the instruction manual for the SL2  both say that now a new folder will be opened, folder L101LEICA.  And file numbering will restart at 0001.  But on the SL, the next file will not show what folder it was created in; instead having file number L1000001.DNG, duplicating an earlier picture. Panasonic offers the option of using the empty three digits in the filenumber for the folder number, so that the next file created is L1010001.DNG. That seems the right way to go, and doesn't waste the three digits.   What does the SL2 do?

 

Edited November 24, 2019 by scott kirkpatrick

[erudolph]

Is it the case on the SL that when, e.g., Folder 101 is created, the file in it is called L1010001?  And so on...?

[scott kirkpatrick]

17 minutes ago, erudolph said:

Is it the case on the SL that when, e.g., Folder 101 is created, the file in it is called L1010001?  And so on...?

no.  I tried to explain to customer support at Leica that this causes duplication, but they gave me a philosophical answer that there was no connection between folder number and file number.  At least Panasonic accepts that thee might be, and offers the option. 

[thighslapper]

Just to complicate matters on the S1/S1R if you use high volume SD/QXD cards, once you pass 999 in camera it opens a new folder as well ...... but at least Panasonic offers a setting that will continue sequential numbering regardless ...... AND it doesn't reset the lot to zero every time you update the firmware.

The file numbering/re-setting fiasco goes right back to M9 days ..... although with the M9 there was a workaround by re-using an SD card seeded with renamed file at the point where you wanted numbering to continue from when you restarted after an update. This partly worked with the M240 ... but only if the image count on the camera was <999 to start with. I have tried to explain this to Leica Mayfair and  by email with the development team many years ago at Solms, but they just couldn't understand what I was going on about so I gave up.  

Edited November 24, 2019 by thighslapper

[erudolph]

But what about this from the SL2 manual (underlining by me):

 

"The file names in these folders consist of eleven characters. In the factory settings, the first file is named "L1000001.XXX", the second "L1000002.XXX", etc. The first letter can be selected, the "L" from the factory settings denotes the camera brand. The first three characters signify the folder number (numerals). The next four digits denote the sequential file number. Once file number 9999 is reached, then a new folder will be automatically created, in which the file numbering begins at 0001 again. "

"When using memory cards that were not formatted with this camera, the file numbering will begin with 0001 again. Should the memory card already contain a file with a higher number, then numbering will be continued from that number."

Edited November 24, 2019 by erudolph

[profus]

On 11/24/2019 at 7:47 AM, erudolph said:

Is it the case on the SL that when, e.g., Folder 101 is created, the file in it is called L1010001?  And so on...?

It is. At least on my SL...

[scott kirkpatrick]

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14 hours ago, erudolph said:

But what about this from the SL2 manual (underlining by me):

 

"The file names in these folders consist of eleven characters. In the factory settings, the first file is named "L1000001.XXX", the second "L1000002.XXX", etc. The first letter can be selected, the "L" from the factory settings denotes the camera brand. The first three characters signify the folder number (numerals). The next four digits denote the sequential file number. Once file number 9999 is reached, then a new folder will be automatically created, in which the file numbering begins at 0001 again. "

"When using memory cards that were not formatted with this camera, the file numbering will begin with 0001 again. Should the memory card already contain a file with a higher number, then numbering will be continued from that number."

I didn't see that.  What page?  Anyway, this is how it should be done.

[scott kirkpatrick]

I see that my discussion with customer support was with my M10-D, which does not put the folder number into the filename...

and as TSlapper points out, Panasonic takes this into even stranger territory if you use the XQD cards, generating new folders every 999 shots.

Edited November 25, 2019 by scott kirkpatrick

[erudolph]

1 hour ago, scott kirkpatrick said:

I didn't see that.  What page?  Anyway, this is how it should be done.

Page 186 of the English manual

[scott kirkpatrick]

1 hour ago, erudolph said:

Page 186 of the English manual

Absolutely right.  Now that Leica is standardizing things, I will go back to Jesko von Oe and ask all the M's to do the same.

[01af]

Am 24.11.2019 um 08:07 schrieb scott kirkpatrick:

... they gave me a philosophical answer that there was no connection between folder number and file number. 

And this is exactly the correct answer. Other (all?) digital Leica cameras do the same. Just because the first four characters in a file name look like the first four letters in a folder name, they still don't have the same meaning. Instead, file and folder names follow the DCF specification. If you don't like it then it's your problem, not Leica's.

Sequence numbers in camera-generated file names go from 1 to 9999. After that, they simply start over. The file names are not meant to be permanent anyway; they are meant to be re-named upon import according to whatever naming scheme the user might employ.

Edited November 25, 2019 by 01af

[scott kirkpatrick]

1 hour ago, 01af said:

And this is exactly the correct answer. Other (all?) digital Leica cameras do the same. Just because the first four characters in a file name look like the first four letters in a folder name, they still don't have the same meaning. Instead, file and folder names follow the DCF specification. If you don't like it then it's your problem, not Leica's.

Sequence numbers in camera-generated file names go from 1 to 9999. After that, they simply start over. The file names are not meant to be permanent anyway; they are meant to be re-named upon import according to whatever naming scheme the user might employ.

The DCF spec gives two examples.  In one of them the first four characters in each file are constant while the numbering cycles through 1 to 9999.  In the other (from Panasonic), the folder number is imprinted in digits 2 to 4 of the filename..  Panasonic S1 and S1R currently give you your choice of either style.

I don't rename my files upon import.

Edited November 25, 2019 by scott kirkpatrick