??'s Downloading from camera to computer

[Michele]

Anyone else have this problem. The computer doesn't pull the pics off my card in order. I have folders already setup on my computer by date. For instance, in My Pictures there are family pictures then year folders and month folders inside them.

I just use the Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard to download, I choose pics, give the group a name, tell it which folder to put them in. It automatically #'s the pics but they end up on the computer all mixed up, not in the same order I took them.

Along the same lines, another problem I have is with Windows XP folder options. I would think that I might be able to solve the out of order problem by choosing to sort the pics by date picture taken. However, for some reason this option is not always available in my folders.

Ideas?

 

[JR6ooo4]

right click a blank white area, then choose view, then details. you should then see the top column lables like name, location, file type, size. Clicking "name" will sort the files. Click once will sort and click again it will invert the sort, handy if you are looking for something starting with "z".

Mikeeee

 

[Michele]

right click a blank white area, then choose view, then details. you should then see the top column lables like name, location, file type, size. Clicking "name" will sort the files. Click once will sort and click again it will invert the sort, handy if you are looking for something starting with "z".

Mikeeee

Yes, they are sorted by name now but I want to sort them by date picture was taken and that is not an option. I have this option listed in some folders but not in all of them.

 

[Charade]

General purpose folders like the ones used in Windows can only sort by certain characteristic such as name (alphabetically), file size or date.

If the original date of your images is not modified (changed to the date/time of the importing/renaming task), you should be able to sort on the time/date column by clicking on the top of that column.

I have found that some folders do not show the same (normal) fields but never needed to investigate why.


Make sure you're selecting the "details" view for the folder your pics are in.

 

[JR6ooo4]

If you are copying the files from your camera memory then the file placed on your hard drive will be a new file. So they will all have dates of when they were transfered. Unless of course the transfer program used reads the EXIF when importing and sorts the files using each specific photo file embedded information. Maybe a catalogueing program will do want you want.
I do not use one so others will have to comment.

Mikeeee

 

[Charade]

If you are copying the files from your camera memory then the file placed on your hard drive will be a new file. So they will all have dates of when they were transfered. Unless of course the transfer program used reads the EXIF when importing and sorts the files using each specific photo file embedded information. Maybe a catalogueing program will do want you want.
I do not use one so others will have to comment.

Mikeeee

That doesn't sound right to me but if that's the case, then a memory card reader would be the solution. If the file is copied from a memory card reader, it will retain it's original time/date stamp.

 

[Michele]

That doesn't sound right to me but if that's the case, then a memory card reader would be the solution. If the file is copied from a memory card reader, it will retain it's original time/date stamp.

These files are retaining their original date information. If I do as you recommended in previous post, list folder as details and sort by date, that uses the uploaded date not the date of picture.

In most of my folders where I view as thumbnails if you go to the top menu File, View, Arrange Icons by....there are 6 options, Name, Size, Type, Modified, Date Picture Taken On, and Dimensions. But in some of my folders, Date Picture Taken on is not an option. I can't figure out why it wouldn't always give me that option.

 

[JR6ooo4]

set your folder view to "details" mode
then right click on the bar where it says name, file type etc
the right click menu will show many other options that can be displayed. Choose "date created" and you should now see that column heading and the date matches the EXIF info stored in the picture file.
then of course click that column heading to sort, earliest or again for latest. Or is it the other way around? latest then earliest.

you may also rearrange the column headings by dragging them left or right, like if you wanted the date taken to be the column just to the right of the file name...

that should do it,
Mikeeee

 

[Groucho]

First off, skip the MS Scanner/Camera wizard. When you plug in your camera, just use Windows Explorer to move the JPG files off your memory card onto your hard drive. They will already be numbered in sequential order by date. When you're done moving, hit the button in the system tray (by the clock) to safely remove hardware. When it's says it's safe to do so, unplug your camera from the computer.

Now, for the EXISTING photos... grab Irfanview (see the link in my sig) and launch Irfanview Thumbnails. Go to the folder with all your pictures, hit ctrl-A to highlight them all, then right-click and go into Rename (or just hit F2).

This will open the Batch conversion dialog, set for batch renaming. You should see all your photos in the list on the left. Next to the list, click the Sort Files button. Select "by Date (ascending)". The list will sort how you want in. In the lower left, you can change the Name pattern or just leave it be. By default, it actually makes copies of all the files into the specified output directory, leaving the originals alone - I usually go into the Set rename options and tell it to rename them in place. There are also a ton of other more advanced options.

If the dates on the JPGs themselves are wrong, that's also easily fixable, but one step at a time.

 

[Groucho]

That doesn't sound right to me but if that's the case, then a memory card reader would be the solution. If the file is copied from a memory card reader, it will retain it's original time/date stamp.

I missed this... you're right, that isn't the case. Copying or moving a file will keep its original time/date. Doesn't matter if it's coming off the camera or a memory card reader. (The exception might be Canon and their extremely annoying habit of not letting most (all?) of their cameras behave like a standard removable drive when connected to your computer.)

Saving a file off the internet will give it a new time/datestamp, though.

 

[caniswolfie]

Actually Canon cameras (at least the 3 of them I have used, Powershot A95, Powershot G3, and Digital Rebel XT) will let you hook up the camera and use it like a drive. The trick is, it's not by default. You have to go into the camera menu and change the PC connection setting to allow it to connect as a drive. Other than that it works normally and you don't need any software on a Windows XP computer.

On the Digital Rebel XT (since it's in front of me) you go into the menu and the last tab Yellow #2, you go down to the communication option and change the option from PC connection to Print/PTP. You can then hook up the camera with the USB cable and Windows XP will pick it up and show it in the My Computer window.

 

[JR6ooo4]

I missed this... you're right, that isn't the case. Copying or moving a file will keep its original time/date. Doesn't matter if it's coming off the camera or a memory card reader. (The exception might be Canon and their extremely annoying habit of not letting most (all?) of their cameras behave like a standard removable drive when connected to your computer.)

Saving a file off the internet will give it a new time/datestamp, though.

COrrect, I checked later and the file date stays the same. But I did not even know about the "date created" file column option until I went looking. I am going to start using that when I have renamed files

Mikeeeee

 

[Groucho]

Actually Canon cameras (at least the 3 of them I have used, Powershot A95, Powershot G3, and Digital Rebel XT) will let you hook up the camera and use it like a drive. The trick is, it's not by default. You have to go into the camera menu and change the PC connection setting to allow it to connect as a drive. Other than that it works normally and you don't need any software on a Windows XP computer.

Ahh, thanks for that tip. We tried hooking in my father's Canon A-something a few months ago and had to go and download a driver just to get WinXP talking to it - very annoying when most just work with no driver needed. I'll have to check those settings on the other Canons in the family...

 

[caniswolfie]

No problem.. It's a pain since they're all different. I can't vouch for the SD## canon models though so I'm not sure all of them work that way. Those darn manufacturers, everyone does it their own way.

 

[PaulD]

One way to avoid these hassles is to use software that takes care of some of these organizational issues at the time of download. There are lots of programs out there that do this with varying levels of success but the best thing I've ever found is Downloader Pro from Breeze Systems (www.breezesys.com). It costs $30 but it'll do almost anything. I've got mine set to save files to a dated folder (i.e. 2006_12_25) and rename the files with the date and image number (i.e. 2006_12_25 img0225). Even if I have multiple days on the same card the images are put into the correct directory. It has endless options for naming and will do things like set the file date/time to match the EXIF date/time, add IPTC info (like keywords and copyrights), autorotate images, attach custom color profiles, and so on...

It may be a little overkill but it's not very expensive. Plus it saves me the time I would otherwise spend moving files and renaming them after the fact.