gbraker

I have a Canon EOS 7D, and I suddenly realized that I will shortly be out of 4 digit numbers for the camera to assign. It started at 2000 and it may have already over-written I'm not sure. Can someone tell me what the rules are for the numbering or where to go look?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

The numbers cycle over at 9999 back to 0001. On your camera cards, the camera will create a new folder when that cycle-over occurs. So, if you should have 10,000+ image files on a single card, you won't over write any existing images, because the new 0001 cycle is placed into a new folder. More details about image names and numbers are covered in your user manual.

Bill_de Loc: US

First place I would look would be the owners manual. If you don't have one, download it.

My wild ass guess would be that it starts over at one, and may create a new folder on the card.

---

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

I'm not sure about Canon, but with Nikon there is a user modifiable prefix for the numbers. I set this to "A" or "B" to represent the camera and then when I get to 9999 I change the prefix from A000 to A001 so the numbers will then be A0010000 , A0010001, etc. This allows importing into LR where I have set it up to avoid duplicates. Another alternative is to rename the images when you import into your Post processing flow, or to set your camera to save with the date as part of the image name (if this is possible). Just ideas. You'll have to study the manual.


A couple of links:
How to Manage Image Files on Your Canon EOS 7D Mark II
Storage and archiving: File numbering and naming]
File naming and folders - A Canon Video

Caveat: I'm a Nikon/Hasselblad shooter so this is what I do with Nikon, but after looking at several of these videos and reading the EOS manual, I'm not sure you can rename my way on your camera.

gbraker

Luckily I have left all the storage cards alone and installed new ones when they got full so everything is saved somewhere, but there is going to be a lot of work to store things on my computer in smaller groups of PIX. Computer and camera is running very slow with the 64 gig card installed. Never going to use anything bigger than 32 Gig again.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

Are you storing images on a computer or keeping them on SD cards? Your last post is puzzling.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

I rename my files when I download them, so it’s not an issue to me.
While I’m shooting, my Nikon makes a new folder when the “image odometer” starts over.
The number the camera assigns means nothing to me. I renumber with a date, ie: today’s photos would be 191004_001, 191004_002, ...etc. The photos go into a folder with that date and a very brief description of the contents. That way every photo gets a unique file name.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

We all have our own method of prevent duplicates. Yours works. The important thing is consistency IMHO.

gbraker

I do both. Looks like I have to make some changes though.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I highly recommend changing your file names on download. Use meaningful names for your image files, e.g. Suzie's Birthday 20191004 101506 (name+date+time). The name tells you what the file is about, the date and time ensure that you will never have duplicates. (Actually I use the time to 1/100 second since I sometimes do bursts of shots at 12 frames/second). (PS: writing date as YYYYMMDD allows the date to sort both numerically and chronologically the same).

There are several ways to automate name changes on download. My favorite is Downloader Pro, which only needs you to specify the name. The date and time are extracted from the EXIF data in the file. If you use Lightroom, you can download directly from the card to your computer through LR, which has the ability to change the name at that time.

Some people depend on the date to sort their photos. I work the other way. I can never remember the date I took some photos, but since the date is in the file name I can look at the file and figure out what the date was.

I think it makes a lot more sense to sort images by subject rather than date, but that's me. YMMV.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

There is the correct answer from a UHH Pro. What more needs to be said?

khorinek

The camera will reset to 0001 when it gets to 9,999. I carry 2 cameras and run into duplicate file numbering issues all the time. Occasionally I will reset a camera back to 0001 to avoid duplicate file numbers. Another idea, with Canon, you can use custom file names.

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

What I do is use an alpha/numeric system: A 1- 999, B 1-999, etc. When all 26 alpha caps are used I can the switch to lower case or alter the sequence - 1A -99, 1B -99, the lower case, then 11A1, etc. Haven't tried to ascertain how many I can number but I expect the total will exceed my remaining usage.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

If you're going to change the file names, why not make them mean something?

What is 12J-43 a photo of?

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

I very rarely name files. The numbering is the numbering for its own sake as the coding requires. I file images according to venue and then date