Image file number sequence elph 100

[JimG]

I need to change the starting image file number of a refurbished Canon elph 100 so it does not duplicate numbers already used.

[Skirball]

I doubt there's anything you can do.  Even on more advanced dSLRs you can't choose which number you want to start at.  The camera just keeps counting up until it reaches 9999, then starts over (in continuous mode, you can also elect to have it start at 0001 every time you put in a card).

It shouldn't matter what the numbers are.  Even operating systems like Windows will simply apply a suffix on the file name if there is a duplicate.

[JimG]

Dear Skirball:

Thanks for the assurance that windows will apply a suffix on the file name of a duplicate.

However, when I copy and paste from the memory card in the camera to my pictures, I get a message that this is a duplicate, and gives me a choice of overwriting, or manually changing the image number.  I have to manually make that change. 

So all the photos I took on another earlier memory card (#1,2,3, etc) are now duplicated when the next memory card is automatically numbered #1,2,3, also.  Seems to me Canon should have thought of this and allow insertion of a starting sequence of the user's choice.

Thanks for sharing,

Jim

[RobertTheFat]

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@JimG wrote:

Dear Skirball:

Thanks for the assurance that windows will apply a suffix on the file name of a duplicate.

However, when I copy and paste from the memory card in the camera to my pictures, I get a message that this is a duplicate, and gives me a choice of overwriting, or manually changing the image number.  I have to manually make that change. 

So all the photos I took on another earlier memory card (#1,2,3, etc) are now duplicated when the next memory card is automatically numbered #1,2,3, also.  Seems to me Canon should have thought of this and allow insertion of a starting sequence of the user's choice.

Thanks for sharing,

Jim

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I assume, from the direction this thread is taking, that you really care about your existing pictures. If so, you're crazy to just leave them on the card. You *really* should copy them to a computer and back them up. And when you do, any photo editor (and most operating systems) make it easy to do a bulk rename of your files and assign them more sensible names than the camera gave them. Which would make your original concern moot.

[JimG]

Robert

Good guess. Yes, it's the existing photos I saved on my hard drive using windows 7, which uses the same file name the camera assigned.  I transfer them same day their taken.  When I use a different memory card, the sequence starts over, duplicating the numbers (not the photos) my camera already took.

Thanks for the assurance that there is a "bulk" re-numbering scheme.  Could you tell me what photo-editing software does that?  Maybe it's in a "photo file management for dummies"  book?

Jim

[RobertTheFat]

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@JimG wrote:

Robert

Good guess. Yes, it's the existing photos I saved on my hard drive using windows 7, which uses the same file name the camera assigned.  I transfer them same day their taken.  When I use a different memory card, the sequence starts over, duplicating the numbers (not the photos) my camera already took.

Thanks for the assurance that there is a "bulk" re-numbering scheme.  Could you tell me what photo-editing software does that?  Maybe it's in a "photo file management for dummies"  book?

Jim

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Digital Photo Professional does it. If you don't have DPP or if it won't work with your Elph, I'd bet that Imagebrowser does it too. (I'm almost sure it's predecessor, Zoombrowser, did.) The good 3rd-party freebies (Irfanview, Picasa, et al) probably do as well.

As for how you might do it in Windows 7, I'd have to think about that. If I figure it out, I'll get back to you. With any luck, someone else knows off the top of his head.

[John_]

Try a system reset thru the menu

[John_]

Oh wait you said 100 not 1...you no can do that !