Canon Zoom Browser: organizing photos by time shot?

In photographing events I use 2-4 camera bodies with different lenses. All have the time set on them within a few seconds

for accuracy as close as I can get it.

 

How do I organize the photos in the computer after the event so they automatically go into place according to the time taken

during the event rather than by file numbers or size?

 

I use the Canon program because the thumbnails are clear on the computer setup I use. Tried the Digital Photo Pro

program and it does not show the thumbnails (any size) sharply. This had me deleting many while thinking the camera was

way off on focus. Canon checked and said it was the program, that 'it happens' and 'just live with it'. So I don't use the

program.

 

I want to be able to edit a take from an event quickly and having it all in time order would make it a lot easier to work with as

the event unfolded from start to finish. Would also save a lot of time in changing and moving photos back and forth. Time

better used elsewhere.

 

Is there a way to organize the photos this way with the Canon program?

 

I don't really want to buy another program again. Have done this too often in the past few years only to find I wasted the

money as they too often don't solve the problem I bought them for.

 

I do know Canon has no way to set the default quality control when saving the photos in Zoom browser after a change or

tweaking. You have to manually change each one, one at a time. A real pain to deal with after an event where you have

500+ photos to look at and many require small tweaks. If anyone knows a way to make the default SAVE quality move to

the highest setting, let me know. Why Canon would think people don't want the highest quality is beyond my understanding.

[[is there a way to organize the photos this way with the Canon program? ]]

 

View --> Sort By --> Shooting Date

 

 

 

[[Tried the Digital Photo Pro program and it does not show the thumbnails (any size) sharply. This had me deleting many while thinking the camera was way off on focus]]

 

I find this statement very odd. Why would you delete a photo based on a sharpness criteria without actually looking at a larger version of the image.

Do you have ACDSee? This is one program (I'm sure there are others) where you can do the following:

 

1. In the Explorer type interface set to sort files by time/date.

 

2. Select all files and then start the batch rename function.

 

It will look at the pattern of the name, say a name prefix and numeric suffix, and re-order them, according to the

displayed order (time/date). You can also

change the name pattern as you wish, saying revising the prefix, or changing the number of digits in the suffix, or

the starting

number in the suffix.

Just to summarize the above, what you're doing is renaming all the files so that their alpha/numeric name order matches their time/date statistic.

I'd suggest using Adobe Lightroom instead of Zoom Browser. It handles all this stuff and won't choke on a couple thousand photos at a time. I can rank and rate a hundred shots in a few minutes with the Library view, and it automatically applies metadata tags as you import.

 

<Chas>

"I find this statement very odd. Why would you delete a photo based on a sharpness criteria without actually looking at a larger version of the image."

 

Have you ever come in from shooting seven baseball games and two hockey games in a day and a half and had to do an edit of the images? Over 2000 images? A quick edit based on obvious out of focus, poor composition, faces turned away from the lens? Looking at each one at a time is too time consuming for the first quick edit and choice for the local and regional papers. So, the Canon program to take a quick look, delete those unsharp and unacceptable, choose three to twelve for quick dupe/resize/email to editors and then look at the others closer for final edit/work/delete decisions before posting to the website for all of them for sale.

 

If any actual work needs to be done other than a quick crop and overall exposure tweak they are opened in photoshop and looked at. Am trying to avoid a bunch of programs on the computer with limited space.

 

Since we shoot with Canon gear and are set with the large jpegs on 30D and 40D for cameras it makes sense to use Canon programs to short circuit the glitches as much as possible. Want quick edit and then a bit of control for final image setup. Not long and involved/expensive add on programs. Just what will work, edit on time to organize so it makes it a lot easier to get the sequence of the game or event by time. Trying to match kids or athletes after the fact is almost impossible when dealing with hundreds to a few thousand photos.

[[Have you ever come in from shooting seven baseball games and two hockey games in a day and a half and had to do

an edit of the images? Over 2000 images?]]

 

The problem, Al, seems to be that you think deleting images as a way of sorting and organizing is the only option.

 

Why not use the tools the software provides to rank your images and then sort accordingly? When you think you

are missing some or want to see if you have a better shot somewhere else, you look to your lower-ranked images to

see if you mistakenly marked some as bad.

 

I stand by my statement that judging critical focus off a thumbnail, and then deleting the images, is a very poor

workflow.

 

Deleting of any images, if done at all, shouldn't happen until you have given files to your clients.