Files and Folders
You can customize image filenames and folders saved to your computer by using the ‘Folder’ and ‘Filename’ fields in the Settings tab. These customizations are saved to a profile. Images saved to the body memory card only use the default filename settings as defined in the body LCD menu and cannot use the following customizations:
Duplicate Names
If a file already exists, it will not be overwritten. Instead, a new file will be written for the new image with the same name plus a counter added to the end.
Example: ‘MountBaker.jpg’ already exists. A new file called ‘MountBaker-(1).jpg’ will be created. There is no limit on the number of duplicates.
Note: The best way to avoid duplicates is to ensure that the that could be duplicated go into separate folders, or by using the @DT1, @MCT tokens for filenames. Using @DT1 will guarantee unique filenames.
Creating backups
You can create a copy of captured images to another folder, drive or network drive as a backup. Just set the ‘Enable file mirroring’ option in the preferences screen, Misc tab and enter the mirror path below it. Mirrored folders and images use the same naming methods as described above.
Tokens
A Token is a placeholder that you put in a file or folder name. Tokens start with a ”@” and are case sensitive. For example, @DT1 is a valid token, but @dt1 is not.
Folder Tokens
- @D1 – YYYYMMDD
- @EXT – creates subfolders for .nef , .jpg, and .mov
- @JOB – job as activated in the Batch Shooting window
- @BID – batchid as activated in the Batch Shooting window
- @BD1 – batch metadata 1, as entered in the Batch Metadata window
- @BD2 – batch metadata 2, as entered in the Batch Metadata window
- @BD3 – batch metadata 3, as entered in the Batch Metadata window
- @BD4 – batch metadata 4, as entered in the Batch Metadata window
- @BD5 – batch metadata 5, as entered in the Batch Metadata window
- @BD6 – batch metadata 6, as entered in the Batch Metadata window
- @BD7 – batch metadata 7, as entered in the Batch Metadata window
- @BD8 – batch metadata 8, as entered in the Batch Metadata window
- @BD9 – batch metadata 9, as entered in the Batch Metadata window
Filename Tokens
- @DT1 – YYMMDDHHNNSSZZZ
- @DT2 – YYMMDDHHNNSS
- @MCT – main counter – you can change the length of this number (leading zeroes) by going to the Preferences screen, Misc tab, and setting the Main Counter: minimum @MCT length.
- @BIDCTR – batchid as activated in the Batch Shooting window plus a unique counter for this batchid
- @JOB – job as activated in the Batch Shooting window
- @BID – batchid as activated in the Batch Shooting window
- @BD1 – batch metadata 1, as entered in the Batch Metadata window
- @BD2 – batch metadata 2, as entered in the Batch Metadata window
- @BD3 – batch metadata 3, as entered in the Batch Metadata window
- @BD4 – batch metadata 4, as entered in the Batch Metadata window
- @BD5 – batch metadata 5, as entered in the Batch Metadata window
- @BD6 – batch metadata 6, as entered in the Batch Metadata window
- @BD7 – batch metadata 7, as entered in the Batch Metadata window
- @BD8 – batch metadata 8, as entered in the Batch Metadata window
- @BD9 – batch metadata 9, as entered in the Batch Metadata window
Setting the Save Folder
Captured images can be saved to any folder on your computer or network. It is important that that you have adequate permissions in the operating system to allow folder creation and file read, write, delete and modify permissions for the user. The folders are created automatically, so you do not need to create them in advance.
Network Drives and UNC Paths
If you intend to use the Image Browser and you want to save your images to a network drive, you must map a drive letter to the network storage location. For example, referring to the network location as \\MYNETWORKCOMPUTER\Images will not save the image. Mapping \\MYNETWORKCOMPUTER\Images to a drive such as P:\Images will save the image and show it in the Image Browser.
Example 1: Save your captured images to ‘c:\images’
– Go to the Body tab. Enter @MCT as the filename (this will use the main counter to create the filename).
– In the Folder field, enter ‘c:\images’. Do not enter the parenthesis.
You can also click the folder icon to browse for the intended folder.
– Test your changes by capturing an image, then confirming that it went to the intended folder.
Example 2: Save your captured images to a daily subfolder of ‘c:\images’
This requires the @D1 token. It will be a placeholder for the date that the image was captured in the format YYYYMMDD.
– In the Folder field, enter ‘c:\images\@D1’
– Test your changes by capturing an image, then confirming that it went
to the intended folder. If the current day is July 30, 2014, the image
will be saved to
c:\images\20140730
Example 3: Save raw and jpg’s to separate folders
This requires the @EXT token. It will be a placeholder for the file extension. This also works for .mov files.
– In the Folder field, enter ‘c:\images\@DT1\@EXT’
– Test your changes by setting your camera to save as Raw + JPG. Capture
an image and confirm that it went to the intended folder. In this
example let’s also create subfolders for each day. The images will be
saved to
c:\images\20140730\jpg
c:\images\20140730\nef
Example 4: Bind the batchid when batch shooting to subfolders of ‘c:\images’
This requires the @BID token. This token is a placeholder for a batchid
entered or scanned while batch shooting. This and other batch
placeholders can also be used in foldernames, filenames and embedded
into IPTC metadata.
– In the Folder field, enter ‘c:\images\@BID’
– Test your changes by opening the Batch tab. Enter ‘5000’ as the
BatchID and click on the Activate button. The entered batchid will
appear as the Active BatchID. This is what will replace the @BID token
in the folder name. The images will be saved to c:\images\5000
Note: Most workflow tabs have a ‘Use Subfolders’ option. This will create subfolder such as /Bracket_20140608_173048 if you are using HDR. This subfolder is not configurable and is created automatically when this option is set. With the option not set, the images will save to a /Bracket subfolder.
Setting the File Name
IMPORTANT: Make sure the data used does not include any Windows file system reserved characters such as < > : ” / | ? * \ For example, if @JOB = ‘BIRDS\’ the file will not save and an error message will be displayed.
Captured images are assigned filenames based on entered text and tokens.
– Note: If you do not enter anything into the Filename field, @MCT will be used.
– Note: The file extensions of .jpg, .nef, tif and .move are added automatically.
Example 1: Capture an image of a flower and save it with a filename of ‘flower’
– Go to the Body tab.
– In the Filename field, enter ‘flower’. No not enter the parenthesis.
– Test your changes by capturing an image, then checking the resulting
image filename. If you were capturing as a jpg, the filename would be
flower.jpg
– Note: If you capture another image with the Example 1 setting, the
filename may already exist in the folder. Check the Duplicate Names
information at the end of this section for how duplicate files are
handled.
Example 2: Capture multiple images of the same flower, but with a filename counter instead.
This requires the @MCT token, which stands for ‘Main Counter’. This
counter can be set to any value by clicking on the ‘X’ button in the
Filename field.
– In the Filename field, enter ‘flower-@MCT’.
– Test your changes by capturing an image, then checking the resulting
image filename. If you were capturing as a jpg and the counter was reset
to zero, the filename would be flower-000000.jpg and the next capture
would be flower-000001.jpg
Note: If you are stacking and using subfolders, @MCT will be ignored and replaced with a separate focus stack counter which resets to zero at the start of each stack capture.
Example 3: Capture an image of the flower, but with a filename date placeholder instead.
This requires the @DT1 token which produces YYMMDD_HHNNSSZZZ. You can
also use @DT2 which has less precision as YYMMDD_HHNNSS. Shooting in
continuous mode will likely cause duplicate filenames, so use @DT1 or
@MCT instead.
– In the Filename field, enter ‘flower-@DT1’.
– Test your changes by capturing an image, then checking the resulting
image filename. If you were capturing as a jpg, the filename would be
flower-120730_0830225697.jpg
Example 4: Save your captured images of the same flower and include the batch shooting batchid in the filename.
This requires the @BID token. This token is a placeholder for a batchid
entered or scanned while batch shooting. This and other batch
placeholders can also be used in filenames and embedded into IPTC
metadata.
– In the Filename field, enter ‘flower@BID’.
– Test your changes by opening the Batch Shooting window. Enter ‘5000’
as the BatchID and click on the Activate button. The entered batchid
will appear as the Active BatchID. This is what will replace the @BID
token in the filename. – The filename will be flower5000.jpg
Example 5: Save your captured images of the same flower and include the batch shooting batchid along with a counter that resets every time a new batchid is activated. This requires the @BIDCTR token. When you activate a batchid, a dedicated counter for only that batchid is reset to zero, or the next value of the same batchid counter for images in the same folder. This does not affect the @MCT counter.
– In the Filename field, enter ‘flower@BIDCTR’. IMPORTANT! If you use
a ‘-‘ anywhere in the filename when using the @BIDCTR token, it will be
replaced with a ‘_’. You can also change the number of leading zeroes
in the Preferences screen.
– Test your changes by opening the Batch tab. Enter ‘5000’ as the
BatchID and click on the Activate button. The entered batchid will
appear as the Active BatchID. This, plus the batch counter, is what will
replace the @BIDCTR token in the filename. The subsequent filenames
will be
flower5000-000.jpg
flower5000-001.jpg
flower5000-002.jpg
if you then activate batchid ‘5001’, the following filenames will be
flower5001-000.jpg
flower5000-001.jpg
then if you reactivate batchid ‘5000’, the counter will resume on the
highest counter value for images in the folder for that batchid.
flower5000-003.jpg
flower5000-004.jpg
Example 6: Save your batch captured images of the same flower and include the batch metadata as part of the filename. This uses any combination of the @JOB, @BID, @BD1, @BD2, @BD3, @BD4, @BD5, @BD6, @BD7, @BD8, @BD9 tokens. In the Filename field, enter ‘@JOB-@BID-@BD1’. Activate a BatchID and it will fill in the tokens with data.