File Naming convention for the G7

TomZacc wrote:

What is the file Naming convention for the G7? I have thousands of pictures from my G3, and I am curious if there will be any conflicts. Being that it's the same brand does the G7 use the same RAW/JPG naming convention as the older models? My G3 was up to _1080266/P1080266.

I'm afraid you'll have to start renaming the G3's pictures. My G7 is currently at P1010128, so it looks like the same naming convention. And unlike in Oly cameras you can't change the naming (unless I overlooked it).

TomZacc wrote:

What is the file Naming convention for the G7? I have thousands of pictures from my G3, and I am curious if there will be any conflicts. Being that it's the same brand does the G7 use the same RAW/JPG naming convention as the older models? My G3 was up to _1080266/P1080266.

Seems to be the same all the way from my Panasonic LX3 to now.

On the card you will see a folder named 108 and in that folder the 266 file. The numbers get merged to give the P1080266 filename.

I presume it's still the same where Panasonic rolls over at 999 instead of the usual 9999 of most other cameras, and then in the above case creates a new folder called 109 and starts again at file 0001 in that folder.

The new G7 starts at P1010001 from memory and climbs from there and after a while you will see collisions with the G3 if dumping into the same folders.

I lessen that chance by loading to day dated folders, so there's only a rare chance that two cameras could be crossing the same number set on the same day. Plus of course I use Olympus so I can rename in camera to something that makes sense to me, ie EP5Axxxx and EP5Bxxxx separates the bodies, but they roll over at 9999 so then clashes with the same body could occur, except that I keep them day dated separated.

There's a few Casio cameras in the house that can also clash numbers, so I often prefix my filenames on upload with something that makes sense at the time, like my initials, or the camera model number.

One way to make sure your camera will not clash for a long while is to force the older camera to say P5000001 naming so it's roughly half a million shots ahead of the G7 so no clashes.

It's the older G3 files that may clash if you put new stuff in the same old folders - not recommended. So maybe better to force the new camera to the higher P5000001 number instead.

Cheating the Panasonic file numbering was a pain on the LX3 and I guess it's the same now as it's basically the same firmware http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~parsog/panasonic/24-fileno.html gives an idea of how to attack it.

As an aside, to see the true count of your camera shutter go to http://www.apotelyt.com/photo-camera/panasonic-g-shutter-count

Regards...... Guy

Guy I was forever indebted to your Ricoh kludge where by renaming the last file on your SD card with a new lead number that camera would continue thereafter to follow the new sequence.

This  worrks fine with Panasonic cameras as well.  Now with multiple Panasonic bodies I can have "1" series "2" series, etc files - all done automatically.  I put a little dymo tag on my camera "GM1-1", "GM1-2", etc and this allows the file sequences to be kept quite separately but also to be identified back to the creating camera body.  A a result all images can be thrown into the same directory without any chance of conflict.  They can be sorted in date order of by file number at will.

Simple as and no need for any storage jinking around or renaming.

This system relies on dedicating  one SD card per camera.

The E-M1 at least is different and it allows custom file sequnce renaming in camera under firmware control.

Tom Caldwell wrote:

Guy I was forever indebted to your Ricoh kludge where by renaming the last file on your SD card with a new lead number that camera would continue thereafter to follow the new sequence.

Ah, years back. I'm glad that kludge was useful. Used my Ricoh R3 the other day, all 5MP still working well.

Just for Ricoh interest, while wandering in Okayama or Kanazawa in Japan last November I saw a guy carrying a GXR slung over his shoulder, somewhere in the mess I have a shot of him. Might dig it out later.

This worrks fine with Panasonic cameras as well. Now with multiple Panasonic bodies I can have "1" series "2" series, etc files - all done automatically. I put a little dymo tag on my camera "GM1-1", "GM1-2", etc and this allows the file sequences to be kept quite separately but also to be identified back to the creating camera body. A a result all images can be thrown into the same directory without any chance of conflict. They can be sorted in date order of by file number at will.

Yes, forcing the file number up is the way to do it, but of course never use the reset option of file naming as it starts again from scratch on a fresh card.

The Panasonics if set to P1xxxxx, P2xxxxx, P3xxxxxx file separation would help each time a new camera brought into the house. The file separation of course being 100 x 1000 = 100,000 which is probably enough for normal folks.

Simple as and no need for any storage jinking around or renaming.

Whatever works, some cameras are easier than others to jiggle the file numbering.

This system relies on dedicating one SD card per camera.

Absolutely, never swap active cards between cameras as the numbering just follows on from the highest on the card or last shot taken by the camera so can lead to all sorts of file name screwups.

The E-M1 at least is different and it allows custom file sequnce renaming in camera under firmware control.

Easy peasy with Olympus to edit the first 4 digits to something meaningful in the camera, problem then is that the file numbers roll over at 9999, so if you take 10,000 shots in one day you will get conflicts. So far I have files names of PL1Axxxx, PL1Bxxxx, EP3Axxxx, PL5Axxxx, PL5Bxxxx, EP5Axxxx and EP5Bxxxx all there somewhere.

As I store by day dated folders and never shoot 10,000 in a day, all is good. In fact before a long holiday I may reset to xxxx0001 just to keep a clear idea of how many shots are taken.

Regards........ Guy

alcelc wrote:

Tom Caldwell wrote:

Guy I was forever indebted to your Ricoh kludge where by renaming the last file on your SD card with a new lead number that camera would continue thereafter to follow the new sequence.

This worrks fine with Panasonic cameras as well. Now with multiple Panasonic bodies I can have "1" series "2" series, etc files - all done automatically. I put a little dymo tag on my camera "GM1-1", "GM1-2", etc and this allows the file sequences to be kept quite separately but also to be identified back to the creating camera body. A a result all images can be thrown into the same directory without any chance of conflict. They can be sorted in date order of by file number at will.

Simple as and no need for any storage jinking around or renaming.

This system relies on dedicating one SD card per camera.

The E-M1 at least is different and it allows custom file sequnce renaming in camera under firmware control.

Dear Tom, can you teach me more on this?

Albert

Take the SD card out of the camera.  Upload any images you wish.  Either leave one image on it or take a fresh test one.  Use the computer renumbering to change the first number of the folder that  is currently being used on the card.  If you set this number on the SD card the camera will automatically keep updating from there.  For different cameras use a different start number.

I don't even know if you have to leave even one image on the card but that is how I have done it.

The camera reads the file number from the card and just keeps updating the last number it finds.

This way you can keep the numbering systems apart so that the files will not clash when stored in the same directory.  The side benefit is that it becomes automatic once set up and no further attention is necessary.

I've set colourspace to sRGB, and then replaced the initial character "_" with this year 5 (for 2015), next year 6, etc. - this prevents the annual duplicate fie numbers. This system works for 10 years;<)

tnphoto wrote:

That didn't work on my Panny GX7. I renamed 130_PANA on my Mac, then formatted the card in the camera and shot another image. The folder renamed itself to 130_PANA.

A long time since I fiddled with my LX3 but I did find then there was no easy way except the method on my page http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~parsog/panasonic/24-fileno.html

From vague memory it had to have all the intervening folders present before it would make a new folder with a higher number. It always involved taking a shot then renaming the shot on the card in the camera to xxxx0999, then take another shot to force the creation of a new folder, then rename that shot to xxxx0999 and take another shot and so on.

Of course since then there may have been additions to the file handling firmware, is there some menu item to create a new folder on the card?

Aha! Found it! On my LX3 there is a No. Reset item in the Setup menu, this makes the next shot taken be 0001 and creates a new folder for it. All Panasonic have this menu item. Ignorant me, I could have used that years ago when I wrote that page.

So here's the real way to increase folder numbers properly up to where you need them.

1. Freshly formatted card in and take one shot (that should preserve the folder number).
2. Setup Menu - No. Reset - Yes - OK
3. Take a shot, a new higher number folder is created.
4. Go back to step 2 and keep looping until the folder number is up where you need it.

So it's still not easy, but easier than my page on the LX3, that needs a re-write.

If you do step 2 on the freshly formatted card without a shot on it then the file system goes back to 100-0001, - well, it does on my LX3.

To see the folder number created then review the shot and see on the right the number during this exercise ..... 101-0001, next would be 102-0001, then 103-0001 as you keep looping the above instructions.

Now dammit, I have to take my LX3 back to 109-0001 as I reset the whole darn file numbering during this try.

Summary - thank heavens I use Olympus, they have file numbering and naming sorted nicely. Panasonic is a bit primitive in that regard, sorry folks.

Regards.... Guy

Just now found out a trap that I forgot to mention.

After resetting the camera back to 100-0001 with a fresh card and fiddling it up to 103 - 0001, I then put my old card being used back in and checked its number, the last shot taken on that card was actually 110-0566, so guess what the next shot was when I took it now? It became 101-0001.

What I now have to do is repeat my instructions over and over on this card until I am at 111-0001 before I continue with real shots. The file system looks for the first non-existent folder which because of my earlier reset makes it under the existing 110 folder. It does not take the top folder and number on from there if there's vacant folders numbers available, it starts with folder numbers as low as it can go.

But once I have made all the folders from 101- to 110- then a fresh card will start again from 110- folder number as it thinks all the rest have been used up.

So to force the folder numbers up, all folder numbers must be there on the card. You can't simply rename folder 101- to folder 135- or whatever and expect it to carry on, it will just next make 102- .

Like I said, it's not easy.

Regards.... Guy

Now fixed my LX3.

Put the blank test card in and kept doing my instructions to create folders until it was at 111-0001. Boring time doing that, lots of button presses.

Then put back my working card that was up to 110-0566 and also had that stray 101-0002 on it and now the next shot was nicely 111-0002.

So the camera really does remember what folders it has already used so when a fresh card in in place it starts from that highest number in the camera's memory, otherwise it looks for an unused folder number on the card and which is also unused in the camera's memory.

Use that No. Reset button carefully!

Regards.... Guy

Guy Parsons wrote:

So here's the real way to increase folder numbers properly up to where you need them.

1. Freshly formatted card in and take one shot (that should preserve the folder number).
2. Setup Menu - No. Reset - Yes - OK
3. Take a shot, a new higher number folder is created.
4. Go back to step 2 and keep looping until the folder number is up where you need it.

So it's still not easy, but easier than my page on the LX3, that needs a re-write.

If you do step 2 on the freshly formatted card without a shot on it then the file system goes back to 100-0001, - well, it does on my LX3.

To see the folder number created then review the shot and see on the right the number during this exercise ..... 101-0001, next would be 102-0001, then 103-0001 as you keep looping the above instructions.

Don't know if this will help clarify things, but if I remember rightly, the above method proposed by Guy is the one I've used in the past to increase the folder number for one of my Panasonic cameras to avoid the clash of file numbers.

Each of those new folders created in step 3 takes the file numbers another 999 forward. So for the OP's G7 camera, using a separate newly formatted card, the procedure should be repeated from step 2 until the folder number (the first 3 digits) is well beyond the number (108) which is currently showing on his G3.

And keep those cards separate for each camera.

[Or maybe there's an easier way!]

rambler35 wrote:

And keep those cards separate for each camera.

Oh, yes, absolutely.

[Or maybe there's an easier way!]

I've got things to do today but later will experiment more with my LX3.

I cannot see why I can't create a "master set" of numbered folders in the PC then copy them as appropriate to a card and then the camera should carry on with the top folder number.

Such as - make a set 100- up to 200- by ones (painful but possibly easier in the PC than in the camera) then keep that forever to copy portions of it to whatever camera. Example - copy 100- to 130- to one camera to force it to shoot from 130- up, maybe the next camera copy 100- to 150- to force it to be 150- and up, then a third camera copy 100- to 180- to force it to be 180- up.

The painful master set would only need to be made once for each brand of camera, such as 100_PANA series and 100OLYMP and 100CASIO series etc, using how their folders are actually named on the cards themselves.

Here's how my card looks from the LX3 after doing the instructions a few times, that would be a nice master set start for future fiddles so I will copy it to somewhere safe and expand it later.....

Not tested yet but am not sure whether an actual shot needs to be in each folder, they maybe all could be empty or maybe just each folder with a single 0001 shot in it. I'll find out later.

The MISC folder is not essential, it gets created anyway on the first shot.

Oh, yes, set the camera to a small highly compressed jpeg to make the master set of folders, I had left mine on large files and raw as well so a huge mess to tidy up in the master set. Swap back to proper jpeg and raw etc once the numbers are where you need them.

Regards....... Guy