Number continuing

<p>Well I start to face the huge problem since I shot 40,000 pics and stole in Lightroom together. The maximum number is 9999 which means there should be several same files with same number. I'm really worry about this problem when I backup files in Lightroom that same files with same number delete other file. Is there any way to maximize the max number like more than 100,000?</p>

<p>I have about 40,000 photos in my Lightroom library and have no duplication problems. If you don't put them all in the same directory on the hard drive you won't have to worry about collisions at all.</p>

 

+1 for Charles. I must have several duplicate filenames but never faced a problem because of this. LR has no problems

with this, probably because it uses other filedata (date/time) as well. You may consider changing the filename on import

but it's not strictly needed, only for your night's rest.

<p>Well the file data does not apply outside of LR. I'm still worry about this. </p>

<p>You should not be worried about this unless you are not putting your photo files in folders or directories. If all your files are in one big folder called something like MyPictures, you need to solve that problem first and Lightroom can help you with that.</p>

<p>Benjamin,</p>

<p>I prefer unique filenames for all of my photo's as I sometimes export for web usage or submissions. With each camera I change the in camera file numbering to the camera model and alpha on the iterations. I.e. 5D3A-xxxx for first time around, 5D3B-xxxx for second time and so on. Light Room allows you to easily change to this numbering on existing files as well. Not a big deal but it gives me the added bonus of not having to look at EXIF data to see which camera was used. If you have identical models of cameras all you have to do is get creative with the first 4 alpha-numeric setting allowed by Canon cameras.<br>

Hope this helps.</p>

<p>Gary</p>

<p>I really don't understand your problem - why not rename your files to something that makes sense and not just a list of consecutive numbers that would need a key for you to know what they are? Then you have no chance of duplication. I name mine pics, for example: "job title+month+year+shot number". You are making life difficult for yourself.</p>

There are many ways to rename your files. You just need to set that to how you like it in Lightroom and then don't worry about it.

 

No doubt all the Lightroom book offer some suggestions and I am sure there are a lot ideas can be found by internet search.

 

One place I would start with:

http://thedambook.com/blog/

 

This is what I use. I like it for me, but everyone has different preferences.

An example of the last photo that I imported in Lightroom:

GRIMKA_150605_104.CR2

last name, first and middle initial, year of photo, month of photo, date of month. 104 is the 104th photo imported that date, and CR2 is Canons RAW file ID. If I add more photos from the same date they will start as 1-1, 2-1, 3-1, etc...no file number duplications. But all of this may be worthless unless you assign keywords.

 

In Scott Kelby's book he stresses that Lightroom can do a brilliant job keeping you organized as long as you follow one critical rule: keep all you photos inside one main folder. Within that folder you may have many folders...but one main folder. I call mine Lightroom Pictures.

 

You have a lot of photos, it is worth the effort to purchase a book or two regarding digital management.

<p>Lightroom's Import dialogue allows you to automatically change the file name at the time of import. I have mine set up to add "DM852-" then the date in Year-month-day format to the file name; EG DM852-2012-02-19-5367.CR2.<br>

When the camera does finally loop around to 5367 again the year will be different so the file names can never clash (unless I get a job photographing for Time Traveller Weekly).</p>

<p>My 7D has counted from 0001 to 9999 nearly 8 times, and I've not had a problem. Like others say, use Lightroom (I use Aperture) to rename all the files as you import them.</p>

<p>For me, I use location and date in the file name, with a sequential number, e.g. Yellowstone_2015_06_11_0001.jpeg. If I were to go back tomorrow, it would start off: Yellowstone_2015_06_12_0001.jpeg.</p>

<p>You would need to figure out what works best for you.</p>