How to avoid double filenumbers

[Giedo]

I own 2 Canon 20D's and use 4 CF cards with them. When changing cards between the camera's, I sometimes have sequential shoots with similar file numbers... With the risk over overwriting and lots of annoyance when cataloguing!
How can I avoid this problem?

[RonBoyd]

Giedo,

I ran into a similar situation. I have a Canon G6 for "point and shoot"; among other things such as photo copy. I once ran out of CF space and simply "borrowed" the card from the G6 -- it was empty -- and used it in my 20D. When I got home I didn't really notice that both cameras were in synch numberwise.  In fact, I didn't find this out until several weeks later when I used the G6 and discovered that the new images shared the same numbers as the 20D. (albeit different lead-in and trailing characters, e.g., img_1234.cr2 vs crw_1234.crw.) Worse yet, I did it twice before what happened sunk in.

My solution, since Canon didn't feel it necessary to let me set my own numbering scheme, is to make sure that I format every card immediately upon inserting it in the camera -- no pre-formatting. (Extra caution is in order if you must change cards in a hurry.)

So do as I did, grit your teeth and just move on. (Or better yet, write to Canon and thank them for making life such a joy.)

Ron

[mikeseb]

I rename my files based on date and time taken. This way, even with multiple cameras, no two files will receive exactly the same file number. Plus I can tell at a glance when they were taken.

[willow]

Giedo

When you download them to your PC, make the files “ read only “in properties/attributes also rename them with a utility program like BRU

www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/

this can overright wrongly named files at a snap.


Willow

[Tim Gray]

check out http://www.breezesys.com/Downloader/index.htm   this is a great downloader utility.

[Giedo]

Thanks guys.
Looks like really helpful information.
I think I'll do the automatic renaming based on date & time, using the downloader from Breezesys. That application looks very nice.

[budjames]

I ditto Tim's recommendation for Breeze Downloader Pro. It has the most extensive renaming capability I've seen.

As, the sister product, BreezeBrowser Pro, is the fast and best image brower. It's also does RAW conversions based on the Canon SDK. It's fast and have great file batch renaming capabilities.

Both are at a bargain price too.

Bud James
North Wales, PA