Nikon file naming assistance requested

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soundbyte

soundbyte

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On my Nikon cameras I have the file naming set to the default _DSC.

This morning whilst checking out an issue with a file _DSC5148.NEF being incorrectly dated on my hard drive (my fault) I noticed after a search for the incorrectly dated file name, that I had two files with the same name in different places, I store my files in directories/folders named by year, eg 2018, 2019 etc.

It seems that file naming does not increment to _DSD when it has reached 10,000 images as I expected.

None of the Olympus cameras in the house do not repeat the file name when going over the 10,000 limit, they increment one character at each 10,000 image number transition.

Am I doing something wrong or is the default not to increment the file name from _DSC to _DSD?

What do others do about this weird file naming situation?

The D500 manual pages 283, 288 are of no assistance.
 
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After doing a bit of searching and a phone call to my camera supplier, Nikon cameras do in fact start renumbering without incrementing the default characters or any other character that I might select, so you will end up with potentially many files with the same name, BEWARE.

One of the best articles that addresses this issue is here:- https://blog.nikonians.org/digitald...ons-file-naming-and-file-number-sequence.html.
Now to start to refresh all my backups to reflect this change, the renaming was done in seconds with 1-4a rename here:- http://1-4a.com/rename/.
 
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soundbyte said:
After doing a bit of searching and a phone call to my camera supplier, Nikon cameras do in fact start renumbering without incrementing the default characters or any other character that I might select, so you will end up with potentially many files with the same name, BEWARE.

One of the best articles that addresses this issue is here:- https://blog.nikonians.org/digitald...ons-file-naming-and-file-number-sequence.html.
Now to start to refresh all my backups to reflect this change, the renaming was done in seconds with 1-4a rename here:- http://1-4a.com/rename/.
Click to expand...
FWIW, I use the custom file naming feature on all my Nikon DSLRs. For instance my D5 file prefix is set to D51_ (the 1 is just to fill out the third character), my D850 is 850_ and my D500 is set to 500_. It would take some attention to file numbering but as you approach a roll over point you could manually adjust the prefix lettering/numbering. It's awkward but it could be one way to deal with unique file naming.

If you use a tool like Lightroom or PhotoMechanic to cull and import your files you can set up custom file renaming logic to handle these kinds of file naming issues as well.
 
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DRwyoming said:
FWIW, I use the custom file naming feature on all my Nikon DSLRs. For instance my D5 file prefix is set to D51_ (the 1 is just to fill out the third character), my D850 is 850_ and my D500 is set to 500_.
Click to expand...

I'm doing something similar to this but use my asset number (eg GC1, GC2 etc), helps deal with having 2 or more of the same body.
 
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Hi there,

The incrementing that yo ask for is done by means of automatic changing the folder name on the memory cards.

In the menu you can set two things.
  1. The directory prefix which is 100 per default. I have set this to 100, 200 or 300 depending on the body
  2. The filename prefix which is DSC per default. I have set it to my initials with a number, i.e. TN1, TN2 or TN3 depending on the body.
This helps distinguishing pictures from different bodies on folder as well as file level and avoids mixing up pictures and accidental overwriting on the memory cards as well as during manual file management on the computer. E.g., I had a situation where I had a FX and a DX body with me and forgot the spare cards at home. After I needed the reach and only had taken a few photos with FX but the card of the DX body was full, I could just take the card from the FX body and continue shooting with the DX body on this card without affecting the other images.

The overwriting of pictures is avoided by the camera itself ! If the folder reaches the limit of 9999 pictures the camera creates a new folder by incrementing the prefeix mentioned above by 1 and starts storing píctures there beginning with 0001 again. This function is alway there, but the behaviour can be customized in both my D750 and D7200 in menu option d6 "Shooting/display". I am not sure about which option it is in other bodies or if the option is there at all, bu to my knowledge all Nikon DSLRs are do increment the folder name on the card in this way.

Just in case ... sorry for my English grammar, it might need some polishing :)
 
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@Woodpecker
I understand what you have said but that does not help when you are like me and put all one years shots in one directory/folder (2019) on your backup HDD, if you have more than 9,999 shots for that year, you will have a problem.
For example I had 2 files named _DSC0001.NEF, one taken 05/OCT/2018 and one taken 11/MAR/2020, so if they were taken the same year and I copied them to my backup I would have a problem.

Not sure the camera takes note of the 9,999 when making new directories/folders, I have listed the directories/folders that have been made this year.
Seems that the camera limit is 999 per directory/folder, see list below.
Not sure what was happening with the first two?

107ND500 822 files
108ND500 519 files
109ND500 999 files
110ND500 999 files
111ND500 999 files
112ND500 999 files
113ND500 999 files
114ND500 181 files and counting.

The camera increments the number after the first three characters (that can be set) regardless of which directory/folder, then once the camera has taken 9,999 it just starts at the beginning numbering again at 0001 without changing the first 4 characters in whichever directory/folder it is writing in at that time.

I have now fixed my filenames by renaming any that were taken before the rollover to _DSB, a few seconds to do and no common filenames. ;)
I will check to see if that has any effect on the EXIF information.

Must keep an eye on the file numbering in future on my Nikon, then when the time comes, set the default name to the required value, probably _DSD for camera one, ASI for the second.

Olympus cameras I have do automatically update the filename, there seems to be a large limit (with 26 alphabetical and 10 numerical characters it would be a large limit).

No need for apologising I understood quite well. (y)
I know I could not make myself understood in any other language than English, I have a hard enough time with that!
 
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Right, now I got your point. I probably overlooked the thing with having all pictures of one year in one directory. In this case the automatic increment of the camera is useless because the information in the foldername of the card is lost.

I also have date-realeted folders in my archive on the computer, but I use the date when I transfer the files from the card to the PC and separate them per camera. For keeping the originals it looks like this (processed output pictures for different purposes have separate folders on this level with the same structure underneath:

Level 0: Processing Stage --> Folder 1_Origninal
Level 1: Source --> Folder 11_DSLR (I got a couple of different source types like e.g slide scanner)
Level 2: Camera --> Folders D750-1, D750-2, D7200-1
Level 3: Transfer Date --> e.g. Folder 200825
Level 4: Photos --> e.g. _TN38246.NEF

The naming of the files contains the camera as redundant information, but this stell helps in cases where I accidently grab some files and drop in the wrong place.

I know that there are many ways to do it and it all depends how people work. May be @Steve will spend some time to let us know, how he is doing it. As he usually comes home with tons of images he must have come across this issue. Apart from that I have read a couple of interesting things at Photographylife,
which was my primary source of information of this kind before I found Backcountry Gallery. If you just do a search for POST Workflow you'll find a couple of interesting articles. Most of it goes around Lightroom and Photoshop, but as your problem is not software-related that shouldn't matter.

By the way, after I learned here in Steve's forum that there is a software that uses the original conversion algorithms for raw processing from Nikon (as Capture NX-D). I just started testing Capture One in the Nikon-only version and I found out that I have to look closely to the folder structure anyway due to the way Capture One handles catalogues and sidecar files for the POST settings. If I get new ideas related to a workaround for your problem, I come back.

Until then, good luck for not overwriting pictures and always a bag of spare light in the backpack :)
 
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When I import, I have the files name automatically changed to Year-Month-Day-time_originalfilename. I also have them go into folders by Date. I do this to ensure there are never duplicate file names. I use multiple bodies at many events, so so the "time" option is a pretty granular number.
I use LightRoom for this on import, but there are free programs/scripts I've used in the past on both Windows and Macs to bulk rename images like this.
 
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Capture One can do this on importing as well, with very good flexible rules for renaming pictures. For example, it will start a sequence with 0001. After importing 345 files, the next import will start at 346, unless you reset it. That makes it very easy for a trip when importing from multiple cards or cameras.

photomechanic is probably the most used standalone ingest tool, but I find it too cumbersome, and C1 gives me enough flexibility.
 
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I rename all files to date and time to the second with a camera last 3 digit serial number as a prefix. when you are shooting more than 1 frame per second "Bulk Rename Utility" appends as a suffix 1,2,3 etc. to indicate the sequence within the second.
Note; if you have more than one photographer shooting the same event try to sync the clocks as close as possible. gives you a really easy way to sort by event action.
 
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Thanks to everyone who has replied with so many good suggestions.

Promapper said:
I rename all files to date and time to the second with a camera last 3 digit serial number as a prefix.
Click to expand...
Windows names used in the following.
Which date / time attribute is used with the rename function you use - Date modified, Date created, Date accessed, or something else like using the EXIF date / time information?
If you are using Windows the three attributes listed can/will be different and misleading in relation to date / time of any file, especially so with date / time critical camera files.
Date modified seems to correctly relate to the EXIF information.

A few lines in a Windows batch file can get the date / time down to milliseconds for renaming if anyone is inclined to do that, I rename some files that way.

My file copy method.

Copy files from the camera card using Supercopier 3.0.0.3.

I use the Date modified attribute and change all the date / time attributes to that date / time, as well as make all files Read Only using Attribute Changer here:- https://www.petges.lu/download/. Beware, this software does do some odd things like missing a file with some options, that is outlined in the manual.

I then backup all image files to 3 HDD's using a batch file with Robocopy arguments.
One backup goes into a sealed bag and goes out to the shed, another into a fireproof safe, the last of 3 other stays in a USB HDD reader on standby, every 5th time I do backups I rotate the HDD's placements.

Only then do I start looking at what images I have.
 
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Promapper said:
I rename all files to date and time to the second with a camera last 3 digit serial number as a prefix. when you are shooting more than 1 frame per second "Bulk Rename Utility" appends as a suffix 1,2,3 etc. to indicate the sequence within the second.
Note; if you have more than one photographer shooting the same event try to sync the clocks as close as possible. gives you a really easy way to sort by event action.
Click to expand...
Breeze Systems' Downloader Pro has a similar feature. I could not tell if Photo Mechanic also offered something similar, but it is useful if you soot bursts a lot.

--Ken
 
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I really like some of the previous contributor's solutions to the file numbering issue.

For what it's worth this is what I do. I use Lightroom as my image management tool. Upon importing files they are renamed. Lightroom only alters the file name prefix. i.e. Nikon file _DSC-1234 becomes _D8501-1234... After those 10,000 images this goes to _D8502-1234 etc. It is not highly technical but does allow me to easily differentiate my D850 & D750 camera bodies, as well as never having 2 files on my system with the same file name. I do not alter the Nikon file numbering convention within the cameras or cards.

I do not shoot huge quantities of images per year, this file numbering system combined with my storage Directory/Folder setup allows me to easily locate what I'm looking for within the Lightroom catalogue and addressing your matter, suffer no duplicate file names.
 
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