Reverting back to origional RAW file name

worldsnapper

• April 28, 2008 10:31

Hi,

Does anybody know if you can rename raw files back to the origional camera generated filename - e.g _Y3H5008? (They are Canon CR2 files B.T.W)

I decided to rename some RAWs with filenames that would be easier to find, but now want to change them back! Surely the origional filename would be embedded in the metadata, but this is not the case!!

Any help appreciated...

Cheers!

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  David2121

  • April 28, 2008 16:48

  [quote="worldsnapper" wrote:
  Does anybody know if you can rename raw files back to the origional camera generated file name - e.g _Y3H5008? (They are Canon CR2 files B.T.W)

  
  What model camera are you using? Any Canon camera I have dealt with (and that's pretty much the full range other than the 1D series and the high-end Powershots which do RAW) has filenames of the form IMG_1234.cr2 (or, originally, .crw) for RAW files
  
  

  [quote="worldsnapper" wrote:
  I decided to rename some RAWs with file names that would be easier to find, but now want to change them back! Surely the original file name would be embedded in the metadata, but this is not the case.

  
  The file name can usually, but not always, be reconstructed from the metadata, but you need an application that can do this (I use BreezeBrowser Pro). I also use BB Pro's Downloader stable mate to save the original file naming data in IPTC on original download, for just the sort of requirement that you have.

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  Roine

  • April 28, 2008 18:22

  1d serial has a camera unique prefix, not IMG
  
  is5d2816.cr2 for example from my 1Dmk2.
  But a different 1Dmk2 will have a different 4 first.
  
  Roine

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  worldsnapper

  • April 28, 2008 19:48

  Hi Dave,
  
  I am using a 1DS MKII and RAW filenames are definately in the format of _Y3H5009.cr2
  
  I'll give B.B a try, but I have looked at the metadat/exif ect.. and cannot see any reference to the origional filename?! How can B.B reconstruct it?
  
  Cheers!

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  David2121

  • April 28, 2008 22:26

  Thanks to Roine for the info on the 1D series file names, which I didn't know before.
  
  Things are difficult with the 1D series, and BB Pro help usefully explains why. Your file names, based on Roine's information, are of the form {4 digit camera serial number}{4 digit image number}.cr2. In lower-level camera models, up to and including the 5D, the serial number is stored in the EXIF, and BB Pro can retrieve this for file naming purposes. So you could rename files from these cameras in BB Pro with the scheme 'IMG_%r', where the '%r' represents the original file number. In your case, the corresponding scheme would then be '_Y3H%%r'
  
  Unfortunately, I learn from BB Pro Help, the file number is not preserved in the EXIF of 1D series images. If the number is preserved at the end of the current file name, BB Pro will use that as the image number. If it can't do that, it will fall back on simply allocating a 4 digit sequential number.
  
  I shall assume that, in your renaming, you have lost your original file numbers. (Now you know why, even though I use a 5D, I preserve them in IPTC data.) You could possibly order your images by date and time (you can do this in BB Pro), and then allocate approximately the right serial numbers using 4 digit sequential numbering with a defined staring number.
  
  As you will no doubt have deleted some images along the way, the correspondence with the original image numbers will not be exact, but, with a bit of detective work, you could get fairly close. Which is usually the best you can do with lost data.
  
  If you do decide to experiment with BB Pro (which is not the only tool for this job, but which happens to be the one I use and which I know works), and have further queries, please come back to me (same user name) on the BB Pro forum at www.Breezesys.com/forum, and I shall be happy to help.

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