I am having an issue with my D40, and I can’t find anything in the manual about it. When I take the pictures off the camera, the file names go back to DSC_0001, meaning that I now have two or three copies of files such as DSC_0132 (for example). Is there some way to make it start at the next number even after I download the pictures from the SD card? For instance, if I take 250 pictures, is there a way to make it start at 251 the next time, even if I download the pictures from it?
From Ken Rockwell:
File No. Sequence
This ensures your file numbers keep counting up. Set this ON.
If you leave it at default you’ll start from DSC_0001 every time you reformat. Over time you’ll have hundreds of photos on your computer all called DSC_0001. It will drive you crazy if you ever try to use two of them in the same document and it will be too late to do anything about it.
Set it to ON, which should be the default but isn’t.
It so happens I just got this camera.
Go to the Setup Menu (wrench), scroll down to “File no. sequence”, set to ON.
Jesus tap-dancing Christ, I can’t believe it was that easy. I had tried that setting, but noticed that it created a new folder on my camera, and thought that it was all that that option did.
Also when you’re downloading from your camera, put them in a different directory each time - another good tip is to use a good program like Lightroom to manage your library…
I’m a serious Nikon shooter, be happy to try to answer any questions…
Another possible solution is to use a utility that renames the image files according to the date/time each one was taken. I use Namexif.
Is it really feasible to sort photos by date? I don’t know if I’d know when I took a picture if I were looking for it in a couple of years, but if I look in the “cute pictures of my doggy” folder or my “photography project 2” folder, then I’ll be able to find them easier. I ask because my photo professor suggested the same thing.
Nothing to stop you from batch naming them by date/time and then sorting them into thematic folders. Then you can search through them by content or date both.
I’ve taken to using Picasa to do all my stuff.
I use it to take all the pictures off my SD card, because it reads RAW, put them in a folder named what I want (I sort by date).
If only I could get the geocoding to work properly with it.
It’s not ideal, but in my experience it’s not easy to sort by subject either. If you go to the botanical garden with your girlfriend and your dog, do the photos go into the “flowers” folder, or “girlfriend” folder, or “dog” folder?
I usually put things like that in a folder named by location of shoot, then a date subfolder (month/year). If I have a folder like “GF” or “dog” (or, in my case, usually “For Printing”), I’ll copy from the “location/botanical garden/9-2007/” folder - disk space is cheap. This way, when I copy to CD or DVD for backup, I just have to break off the “location” branch and know I’m getting the originals and no dupes. The “themed” folders are also where I’ll do cropping & enhancing, so originals are untouched.
This scheme only becomes a little more work-intensive when I shoot in several locations in one day. But only a little.
I’ve found that keywords (like Picasa uses) works far better than sorting by subject. As you note, it’s just too restrictive and confusing otherwise.