Camera Image Numbering (wasted digits)

The cameras I have owned have a very inefficient and limited numbering scheme.

Examples: DSCNXXXX IMG_XXXX DSC0XXXX P000XXXX

My Canon cameras (SD-1100 + SX10) appear to allow only 9999 images because of the IMG_ prefix. On an earlier camera, I began to write over older images I saved and had to make separate folders to isolate them.

The wasted prefix digits put the user of new cameras which use 4GB~8GB memory cards in danger because they can store so many images and these will likely be transfered to the computer --- danger of overwrite!

At least the Olympus C2100-Uzi made use of the prefix by assigning the date of each image:
P612 XXXX (June 12) and PC19 XXXX (December 19).

First, am I correct here or is there something I don't understand? Should camera manufacturers use up fewer of the prefix digits to allow more uniquely numbered images?

Your thoughs...

The DCF specification tells digital camera makers how to lay out and name their files and folders.

The basic requirements are these:

There will be a folder in the device root called DCIM.

Inside the DCIM folder will be "roll" folders, each having names of exactly 8 characters, no more, no less, starting with a 3-digit roll number which must be in the range of 100 to 999, followed by any 5 capital letters, digits, and/or underscore characters.

Each JPEG file will be stored in a roll folder. Its file name will be exactly 8 characters plus an extension of ".JPG". The 8-character file name must consist of a capital letter or digit (for sRGB JPEGs) or an underscore (for Adobe RGB JPEGs), followed by any 3 capital letters, digits, and/or underscore characters, followed by a 4-digit picture number which must be in the range of 0001-9999. Picture numbers must not be duplicated within a given roll folder—all files with the same picture number are assumed to be related to a single photo.

So there you are. DCF says that picture numbers run from 0001 to 9999 within a roll folder. It's not something that the manufacturers get any choice over.

The proper thing to do is to not worry about it. The DCF naming system is just a way to identify the photos while they're on the flash memory card. You should rename your photos when you download them to your computer.

By the time you take a 1000 shots I'd hope you'd have dated folders for them. What I do is make a folder called 2010. Then I make a folder inside of that called Jan04-2010 (or whatever the date is) and dump the photos from that day in there. No channce of overwriting and better organized than a photo software can do.

...its either that or come up with a way to recycle those "wasted digits" to save the enviroment. ;-)

--
CPS G11
http://www.pbase.com/ajuett/g11

'A single photo speaks 1000 words and is timeless. A video needs 1000 frames just to show 30 seconds of time.' - Andrew Juett

Well doggone!

Thanks Doug for the naming regulations. I had no idea (which you must have guessed). There did seem to be a strange similarity to the various numbering/naming from the different cameras.

I do a lot of time-lapse videos and the numbers can get eaten up fast.

Do you think Doug, that a new convention could ever be considered?

Am I being picky?

Well, I thank you for your clear, thorough response.

Fred

Fred Hall (NH) said:

Do you think Doug, that a new convention could ever be considered?

Click to expand...

Probably not. There's no real need, and DCF is a specification with tremendous inertia. All of the photo-lab machines and kiosks expect that memory cards will be laid out in DCF, as do many miscellaneous devices such as my digital TV set, my Wii game system, digital photo frames, etc.

This is not something that will be futzed with arbitrarily. CIPA put a lot of effort into making sure that DCF 2.0 didn't break DCF 1.0 in any way.

Fred Hall (NH) said:

Am I being picky?

Click to expand...

I would say that you are. You just need to let go of the notion that the original camera-generated file names mean anything. There's nothing sacred or special about them.

You really should rename your photo files when you download them. That way you won't have naming conflicts between photos taken by various cameras as you progress through life, and with any luck you won't have naming conflicts between your photos and somebody else's. There is much to be said for assigning a unique and permanent name to each photo file when it's initially downloaded; you'll always be able to find it by name.

A popular naming system for photo files goes something like:

• a hopefully unique version of your name that nobody else is likely to use
• the date the photo was taken, year/month/day
• a simple marker for which camera took the photo (optional)
• the 4-digit number from the original file name.

For example, one of the photos that I took on March 31, 2009 with my 1030SW has the name DPardee_090331_SW0267.JPG, while a photo that I took on April 25, 2009 with my Rebel XT has the name DPardee_090425_5705.JPG.

This naming system is pretty much guaranteed to produce unique file names, since you're extremely unlikely to ever take 10,000 photos with one camera in one day. Once the file is named, never change that name and you'll always be able to find it. Even if you later change your naming scheme, leave the old files named the way they were.

Thanks for the naming suggestions. I understand better now why the convention should not be changed.

Fred