Saturday, January 31, 2009

Canon A540 camera problem

Hi there

I'd like to talk about files...

I have a camera Canon A540 and when I get files to PC, they have name like img_XXXX.jpg

this is bad name for image because there is no information in the name. It doesn't contain when and where the photo was taken.

Other problem occurs when I try to remove some small defects (red ayes for example) I am losing last modification date and then I don't know when the photo was taken

If my camera is more smart I won't have this problem

So I decided to create a console application for changing file name. And the main task was to add date, time and prefix to filename. Sure I understand that if I change filename the last file  modification date would be changed. So I add a file description to do reverse operation if there is a need.


Finally I have finished the program. It was not difficult to implement but I have no free time for that game.

So about program:

NameChanger - if you need one just mail me

You should use program with arguments:

-r - recursive search in sub-folders

-d -t - rename fonded file and insert date and time in file name

-pimg - insert prefix img in file name so all you files will start from this prefix. it is convinient when you just download photos from camera and wanted a prefix (for example: my_summer_holidays )

-ejpg - rename files only with jpg extension

-iimg - ignore files started with "img"

So in general you could use this command tool like bellow:

NameChanger.exe -d -t -r -pparty -ejpg


I have used it and noticed that some files have the same file modify date and time. In this case NameChanger add a letter to the resulted name. For example if you have three files with the same date and time then you will have 

summer_2009_06_01_13_27_10.jpg

summer_2009_06_01_13_27_10A.jpg

summer_2009_06_01_13_27_10B.jpg