Pictures Offload from Camera out of Order

[trowand]

I own two digital cameras and take TONS of pictures. For as long as I can remember, whenever I offload my photos to my computer running XP, they end up in the folder in a completely screwed up order, including the numbering. Does anyone know why the heck this is happening? I think I remember that they used to show up in chronological order but not anymore. Maybe it was pre service pack 2? I use Win XP's camera and scanner wizard to save them. It's getting really annoying. THANKS!

[Panama Red]

When you open the folder are the files named with an image number? If so, you should be able to click on View and select "Arrange icons by > Name". That should restore the numerical order. I always number my pictures within a folder to keep them in chronological order. I use 1a, 1b, 1c.....2a, 2b and so on followed by the description on each picture.

[trowand]

Originally Posted by Panama Red When you open the folder are the files named with an image number? If so, you should be able to click on View and select "Arrange icons by > Name". That should restore the numerical order. I always number my pictures within a folder to keep them in chronological order. I use 1a, 1b, 1c.....2a, 2b and so on followed by the description on each picture.

Yes, they are all given a number from XP's Scanner and Camera Wizard but instead of getting numbered in chronological order they end up in the folder like this...

1 Last Week
2 Last Week
3 Today
4 Last Week
5 Last Week
6 Yesterday
7 Last Week
8 Yesterday
9 Yesterday
10 Yesterday
11 Yesterday
12 Today
13 Today
14 Today
15 Today
16 Yesterday
17 Today......

[Panama Red]

I guess I don't see the issue cuz I don't use the Scanner and Camera Wizard. I simply slide the SD card in the card reader and copy the single folder to the area of my choice. Guess I don't understand how or why yours is doing that.

[trowand]

The wierd thing is when I view the folder of pics in Picassa (which I LOVE), they show up in the proper chronological order. Probably b/c Picassa orders them by date and time they were taken. Maybe I can just choose to view them in XP's My Pictures by date & time taken (and not date & time saved to PC). I'll see if it's an option.

[Statica]

You can sort them by "date picture taken".
1) Open the pictures folder
2) Change view mode (View menu) to Details
3) Right Click on the column header (for example Name) and select MORE... to add another col. header
4) Check mark Date Picture taken and click OK
5) You should now see a new detail column .. click on it to sort your pictures correctly.

I take a lot of pictures as well, and I find the best way to catalogue my pictures is by using the EXIF headers into the file name. So in essence, my folder of pictures from last month are named:
2006-02-10 13-56-52.jpg, 2006-02-10 13-57-42.jpg, 2006-02-10 14-32-30.jpg etc etc.
To automatically rename the files, you will need a 3rd party software. I use ACDSee, which I wouldn't recommend anyway, but am mentioning if you have an old version sitting around you could use it to batch rename files. THE Rename seems a very promising freeware that will do much the same.

[glc]

I do believe Irfanview can batch rename files too.

[Statica]

Originally Posted by glc I do believe Irfanview can batch rename files too.

G - I tried to see if Irfanview does it (I use Irfan view for batch resizing a lot) but it doesnt seem to batch-rename from metadata.

& speaking of metadata, start paying extra attention to your file metadata you Windows users .. it is going to become vital for searching and cataloguing in upcoming versions of Windows. So be it your MP3s or your Images or even Office documents, it's highly recommended that you spend an extra few seconds making sure that the metadata is as it should be.

[trowand]

METADATA: Data about data.

[Statica]

Originally Posted by trowand METADATA: Data about data.

exactly

[luisr]

I use cam2PC to download pictures and it pops up as soon as I put the memory card in the reader. It downloads and stores pictures in folders I chose to name after the date the pictures were taken. I really don't like to rename pictures - I keep the original sequentially numbered name given by the camera because it serves as unique serial/number like name. Name conflicts are unlikely. I just put the description in the folder name.

I don't use the camera and scanner wizard either, so I have not experienced this problem.

If you chose thumbnail view in the folder you can order by modified date or date taken, whichever appears in the Arrange Icons menu. The created and modified dates in the picture files should be the same as found in the EXIF info. At least when downloading with cam2PC or copying directly from the memory card, the dates are untouched.