Card reader not loading images from SD card properly.

<p>Okay, I'll try to explain this the best I can. We bought 2 new 16 GB San Disk Extreme HD Video cards (level 10's) for our Alaska trip. Upon loading them from our card reader, we're having a devil of a time. For some reason they load some of the images with the 'IMG' before the number of each image, but then many of the images load with only the 'MG' part, leaving out the 'I' in front of IMG. This, of course, causes our images to load in the wrong numbered order.</p>

<p>This does not happen with our lower capacity cards. They seem to load just fine without this problem. So first of all, I'd like to know if you think the cards are defective. And secondly, is there any way to prevent this from happening? Thirdly, I can go in and rename all the 'MG' images to 'IMG', and that solves the problem. But it is taking for ever! Is there a way I can do this in a batch by any chance, doing all of them at the same time?</p>

<p>I would greatly appreciate any help you can give.</p>

<p> </p>

First: Did you format the cards in the camera before using them?

 

Second: With regard to the order the files are in ... You can always just sort them by date/time, which makes the file

names and formats irrelevant.

<p>Yes, Matt, we always format new cards or reformat cards we've deleted images on. As for your other idea.......we may not have the most ideal work flow, but at least this time that idea won't work very well. We generally put my images and my husband's images in the same category i.e. 'Alaska'. We know which images are which based on the numbers. His camera is set to use a different series of numbers than mine. If we use the date/time, then all of our images will be combined, which we don't want. Perhaps I need to come up with another way of doing things. :-) </p>

<p>Not that it makes any difference, but there is actually an underscore in front of the 'MG', so it looks like this: _MG instead of IMG </p>

<p>On many cameras, image names that begin with IMG denote jpeg images taken in the sRGB color space. Images names that begin with _MG denote jpeg images taken in the Adobe RGB color space. You probably changed the setting on your camera part way through your shooting session.</p>

<p>If you want to fix the names, it's pretty easy. Assuming you're running windows, open a command prompt, change to the directory where the files are stored, and give a command like:</p>

<p>ren _*.* I*.*</p>

<p>and it'll change that initial character from an underscore to an "I" without affecting the rest of the name. You should be able to do roughly the same on a recent Mac, but I use them little enough that I'll leave exact directions to somebody else (the main thing would be to change the "ren" to "mv", but it might take a little more than that).</p>

<p>Brooks, I'm sure what you're describing could happen, but in this case I had 2 different SD cards that both had the same problem. So I highly doubt that it was something I did in the camera, or it wouldn't have affected both cards. It's nice to know that's something to watch out for though. Thanks so much!</p>

<p>Jerry, Whoa! You're getting in way over my head. :-) I'm encouraged by what you're telling me though, so tomorrow I'll try to get my husband to help me. I don't even know what you mean by 'open a command prompt', so if that tells you anything about my computer skills. :-) I'm running Windows 7, which is new to me, having just switched from XP. If you could tell me how to open a command prompt, then I can snoop around from there and try to do what you suggested. It would save me an enormous amount of time. I've been changing them all one by one, and I have LOTS of pictures. </p>

<p>Thanks to you both!</p>

<p>Hi Christal,</p>

<p>How many SD cards you have is immaterial. The <strong>camera's</strong> naming convention is that the name of any image taken in the sRGB color space starts with the characters <strong>IMG</strong>; any images taken in the Adobe RGB color space will start with the characters <strong>_MG</strong>. The camera does this automatically. It should be in your camera manual.</p>

<p>It is probable that, whether you intended to or not, you were switching between the two color spaces. This switch can be as simple as changing one of the preset exposure modes. If you had associated sRGB with say the <strong>P </strong>mode and Adobe RGB with the <strong>A</strong> mode as you switched between <strong>A</strong> and <strong>P</strong> modes you would also switch between sRGB and Adobe RGB.</p>

<p>In other words there is nothing wrong with your SD cards, card reader, or camera. All are doing their jobs properly. If you examine the EXIF data on the files with names beginning with <strong>IMG</strong>, you will find all of them are in the sRGB color space. If you examine the EXIF data on the files with names beginning with <strong>_MG</strong>, you will find all of them are in the Adobe RGB color space.</p>

<p>Brooks,<br>

I'm out the door this a.m., but I wanted to quickly thank you for your excellent explanation. I'll take a closer look at this when I get back home today. Thanks for taking the time! :-)</p>

<p>Brooks, well, you were certainly correct. I looked at the EXIF data, and indeed the images with IMG had sRGB in the color space. However, the images with _MG were listed as 'uncalibrated'. So there was a difference, as you said.</p>

<p>Is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening in the future? Any setting I can make in my camera (Canon 60D)? This has really caused an awful mess for me trying to organize my images.</p>

<p>Thank you for persisting with my ignorance! :-)</p>

<p>Hi Christal,</p>

<p>The only digital camera I have is a Canon PowerShot Pro 1, so be sure anything I write applies to your 60D. (One of these days I will get a DSLR; until then I shoot film in a Nikon F100 and Bronica s2a.)</p>

<p>Some things you can consider:</p>

<p>1) Shoot everything in the Adobe RGB color space (the "uncalibrated" space) then all your images will start _MG. To do this select each of your shooting modes, A,T,P,M, etc. , go to your menu and select Adobe RGB as your color space. Or conversly select sRGB and all you names will start with IMG.</p>

<p>2) I understand one problem is that you and your husband both shoot and differentiate your pictures by the number sequence. You could simply download to different directories. You can either set them up, or since you are using Windows, if you have different User_Id's, Windows will do it for you.</p>

<p>3) I use the Organizer in Photoshop Elements to catalog and access my photos - digital as well as scanned film and prints. If you have Elements, or an equivalent organizer, just set up a tag to differentiate photographer. It can be as simple a tag as "HERS' and "HIS". Images taken with the Powershop Pro1 go into subdirectores named for the date taken under a root directory C:\CanonPowerShot. Thus all images taken today with the PowerShot would load into<br>

C:\CanonPowerShot\2012_01_10</p>

<p>Then I open Elements Organizer and import the images and tag them with the appropriate tags.</p>

<p>If I shot film today, I would scan the negatives into an appropriate directory say: \ F100\Rollnnn (where nnn is an arbitrary number, one greater than the number of the last roll I shot). Each scan is labeled RnnnFkk, where kk is the number of the frame on the roll; thus the 5th negative on roll 37 would be named R037F05. I file the negatives in a sleeve labeled Rollnnn. I then import the scans into the Elements Organizer and tag appropriately.</p>

<p> Any prints I make are scanned into yet another set of directories, with each print having the same name as the negative it came from e.g. R050F21. These are also imported into the Elemets Organizer and tagged with the same tags as the negative plus a tag of "PRINT".</p>

<p>I am not suggesting you adopt my filing system. I simply give it as an example.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Brooks, With regard to your #2 (creating different directories), the other problem with that is that it's not as simple as it sounds. I have my camera (Canon 60D), and my husband has his little camera (Canon G11). We sometimes switch cameras, especially when my husband wants to put on a long telephoto (he primarily uses it because it's heavy). So we end up having some of each of our pictures on each camera. That's why I like to put all of the images together. But I can clearly see this is causing me grief and is not the best way to organize. Thanks for sharing what you do.....it is illuminating. We will read the manuals (again) with regard to the color calibration stuff and rethink our organizing methods.</p>

<p>I have so many new things to deal with right now. My computer crashed back in the summer, so I finally have a new computer with Windows 7 (new to me). There is a learning curve with that. Also, now that I have a new computer, I've loaded 2 new photo editing programs on (Adobe Photoshop 10 and Lightroom 3). I understand that they're better for organizing than the ancient program I had before. But I need to learn both of them as well. </p>

<p>So I have my work cut out for me. I'm signing up for an online Lynda.com class to get me started. But it's comforting to know that I can always turn to Photo.net and have people like you generous enough to assist. Thanks so much for all of your help. </p>

<p>Hi Christal,</p>

<p>When you write Photoshop 10, it must be Photoshop Elements 10, which has the Organizer.</p>

<p>You do not need two different directory systems. Just make a Key Word Tag of "Photographer" and under that sub tags of "HIS" and "HERS" (or your names or nick names) and simply tag each image as you download them.</p>

<p>By the way. I am running Windows7 x64; my Significant Other runs Vista. We both have Photoshop Elements on our machines and use the Organizer extensively.</p>

<p>I have never used Lightroom. I understand it is even better at orgainzing images the Elements.</p>

<p>Okay......got it! I'm going to take your notes and suggestions and take my laptop with me to my photo club. There are some friends and 'techie' types who will help me with all of your suggestions. I'll get organized yet! :-) Thanks again!</p>

<p>Hi Christal,</p>

<p>Let me know how things turn out, please.</p>