Problems with batch rename in 1.4.1

[DavidB]

New camera, new version of BB Pro. This may be my cack-handedness but ...

For my EOS 5D, which is using firmware version 1.0.3, have set the file name in Downloader to '%y%m%D_%T_%q-%r', giving a name in the form '060217_5D_100-0127'. This works fine in Downloader.

In BB Pro batch rename, I have a custom style set to the same format, using the same tokens (you never know when you may want to revert to the number you first thought of). Here, however, the %q and %r tokens do not 'take', but act as if I had set '...000-%n', with %n starting at 1, and so giving a name '...000-0001' and so on.

The problem seems to be related to the fact that, whereas my previous camera (a D60) recorded the image serial number in the EXIF data, the 5D does not do so. At least BB Pro shows no such number in my 5D EXIF data (IrfanView does show a number, but it appears to be entirely spurious).

If the situation is as I have described, do I now have to give up using %q-%r for batch renaming? And is there any means of automatically recording the folder and image numbers in the EXIF or IPTC data when the file is downloaded, ideally in a form in which they can then be used in batch rename ... ?

[DavidB]

In my last post, I asked:

" ... is there any means of automatically recording the folder and image numbers in the EXIF or IPTC data when the file is downloaded, ideally in a form in which they can then be used in batch rename ... ?"

With a bit more work, I have now determined that the answer to this question is a qualified 'yes'.

The facilities for editing IPTC data, either of single images or in a batch, are pretty powerful. In particular, the availability of HTML tokens and the ability to save and reload a 'skeleton' set of IPTC data make it possible to record the original filename (less extension, token @fileNoExt@) in an IPTC field (there are several suitable ones to choose from, but I use the Original Transmission reference), and then to use the token for that field in the batch rename. I've tested this approach and it works well, provided of course that the IPTC data is set before the folder and image numbers are lost.

The process would be made even easier if:

(1) There were a more user friendly means of viewing IPTC data; could the 'Full Details' window be made to toggle between EXIF and IPTC data?

(2) The existing (push button) settings to make the caption, date and time settings match their EXIF counterparts were explicitly saved in the .ipt file; if they are saved, this is not obvious.

I hope Chris will forgive me for straying across forum boundaries, but it seems to me that BBPro/Downloader integration would be improved even further if the existing facility in Downloader for adding data (including data defined by tokens) from an .ipt file to downloaded images could become an optional part of the fully automated download sequence. The extra step I currently need to add to my BB Pro workflow would then be unnecessary.

These changes would provide a recovery path from Canon's (to me) incomprehensible decision to remove the folder and image numbers from the 5D EXIF data at the very time when they are giving users more control over folders in the camera itself.

[Chris Breeze]

Unfortunately Canon are not very consistent with what is stored in the shooting data. The 1D series cameras have never stored the folder and image number in the shooting data but do store the shutter activation count. The 5D doesn't appear to store either the folder and image number or the shutter activation count. Other EOS cameras store the folder and image number but not the shutter activation count. Nikon, on the other hand, store the shutter activation count and sub-second timing in the shooting data in all recent DSLRs from the basic D50 through to the top of the range D2X.

You can display IPTC data fields in the status line in BBPro by editing for status line format string in preferences under the "Caption" tab e.g. you could use @IPTC_objectName@ to display the object name field.

[DavidB]

With Canon, ours not to reason why, I suppose. It's just that I cannot imagine why they would think that the omission of that rather significant data is at all sensible. But then I was always told that, if stupidity can be the cause, you should suspect that first.

Thanks for reminding me about the use of IPTC tags in captions which is, I agree, a useful facility. Whit I had in mind, however was the kind of quick lookup that the 'Full Details' window gives for EXIF data. I think that the way in which BB Pro combines the different forms of metadata into a what is almost a single set is really useful; the extension of 'Full Details' (in tabbed form?) to encompass IPTC data would be a valuable further implementation of this same approach.