Multiple cameras and Lightroom

Zafar Iqbal · 07-10-2012, 12:46 PM

I have a large number of shots, shot using K-x and K-r.
I noticed after import to Lightroom, that some of the photos had been renamed with a "-2" at the end of the filename. The shot numbers crossed on the cameras were overlapping.

No biggie I figured.

Now I just noticed, per chance, that some of the photo's weren't imported at all. Just tried again and LR ignores them because it thinks they had already been .

So, what do I do?

The folder I need to import from contains 2300 photos. I can't (or rather, really don't want to) go over them one by one to identify the ones that weren't imported.

Importing all of them seems trivial as well. Anyone got any smart ideas? Someone must have had similar problem before.

rawr · 07-10-2012, 01:14 PM

Do you have the 'Don't import suspect duplicates' box ticked on the import screen?

I would also suggest storing your photos on disk in a separate hierarchy (folders for each shoot or each year/month, or each body) then importing from disk into LR either at the top of each disk folder hierarchy (ie syncronise), or just go and manually add each folder you want to import images from into your catalog.

Zafar Iqbal · 07-10-2012, 01:27 PM

Originally posted by rawr

Do you have the 'Don't import suspect duplicates' box ticked on the import screen?

Originally posted by rawr

I would also suggest storing your photos on disk in a separate hierarchy (folders for each shoot or each year/month, or each body) then importing from disk into LR either at the top of each disk folder hierarchy (ie synchronize), or just go and manually add each folder you want to import images from into your catalog.

My photo's are neatly separated - not several days bunched together in a single folder. If LR was flexible enough then I could have added "Camera Model" as top level but as it is now, photos from both cameras, shot on same day, gets thrown into the same folder.

not sure what you mean about synchronizing.

Zafar Iqbal · 07-10-2012, 01:38 PM

Nevermind. I'll go ahead a do a complete re-import.

RollsUp · 07-10-2012, 02:17 PM

In the import dialog window at the bottom, what have you chosen in the "sort:" drop down menu? I have capture time chosen and don't have any problems importing from 2, sometimes 3, different cameras.

Zafar Iqbal · 07-10-2012, 02:23 PM

I have capture time as well.

I should have mentioned - original photos come from a total of 4 SD cards. All shot during the same day. Now I don't even remember it but I might have imported the photos from each card one by one. could thins add the chance of the kind of problem I had?

Bob from Aus · 07-10-2012, 02:56 PM

I think this can be done. You could get around the problem by changing how one of your cameras writes its file names so it can never overlap with the other camera.

I download my images to a file on the hard drive and then import it from the file. I don't care what it is called on the hard drive as the information I want is the file name and the date.

Zafar Iqbal · 07-10-2012, 03:14 PM

My transfers from SD to PC.
K-x goes into K-x -> Year -> quarter of year -> month number -> original folder name
K-r goes into K-r -> Year -> quarter of year -> month number -> original folder name

Files from those folders gets imported to LR. LR creates new copies on a different drive.

Lightroom doesn't care about cameras when it creates hierarchies though. so, it will mix the files within same folder, if shot on same day.

My LR renaming scheme was: ziYYYYMMDD_PHOTONUMBER.dng
Changed it to: zi_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS_PHOTONUM.dng

Don't think I'll be changing cams within a sec - but could happen!

The problem in this case was a bit special though. It imported some files with dupe filenames but not all. I'm beginning to think I might have changed something by accident in one or more of the exports.

07-10-2012, 12:46 PM	#1
Zafar Iqbal Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,229	Multiple cameras and Lightroom I have a large number of shots, shot using K-x and K-r. I noticed after import to Lightroom, that some of the photos had been renamed with a "-2" at the end of the filename. The shot numbers crossed on the cameras were overlapping. No biggie I figured. Now I just noticed, per chance, that some of the photo's weren't imported at all. Just tried again and LR ignores them because it thinks they had already been . So, what do I do? The folder I need to import from contains 2300 photos. I can't (or rather, really don't want to) go over them one by one to identify the ones that weren't imported. Importing all of them seems trivial as well. Anyone got any smart ideas? Someone must have had similar problem before.

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07-10-2012, 01:14 PM	#2
rawr Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 11,913	Do you have the 'Don't import suspect duplicates' box ticked on the import screen? I would also suggest storing your photos on disk in a separate hierarchy (folders for each shoot or each year/month, or each body) then importing from disk into LR either at the top of each disk folder hierarchy (ie syncronise), or just go and manually add each folder you want to import images from into your catalog.

07-10-2012, 01:27 PM	#3
Zafar Iqbal Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,229 Original Poster	Originally posted by rawr Do you have the 'Don't import suspect duplicates' box ticked on the import screen? Originally posted by rawr I would also suggest storing your photos on disk in a separate hierarchy (folders for each shoot or each year/month, or each body) then importing from disk into LR either at the top of each disk folder hierarchy (ie synchronize), or just go and manually add each folder you want to import images from into your catalog. My photo's are neatly separated - not several days bunched together in a single folder. If LR was flexible enough then I could have added "Camera Model" as top level but as it is now, photos from both cameras, shot on same day, gets thrown into the same folder. not sure what you mean about synchronizing.

07-10-2012, 01:38 PM	#4
Zafar Iqbal Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,229 Original Poster	Nevermind. I'll go ahead a do a complete re-import.

07-10-2012, 02:17 PM	#5
RollsUp Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: AK USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,766	In the import dialog window at the bottom, what have you chosen in the "sort:" drop down menu? I have capture time chosen and don't have any problems importing from 2, sometimes 3, different cameras.

07-10-2012, 02:23 PM	#6
Zafar Iqbal Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,229 Original Poster	I have capture time as well. I should have mentioned - original photos come from a total of 4 SD cards. All shot during the same day. Now I don't even remember it but I might have imported the photos from each card one by one. could thins add the chance of the kind of problem I had?

07-10-2012, 02:56 PM	#7
Bob from Aus Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Australia Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,094	I think this can be done. You could get around the problem by changing how one of your cameras writes its file names so it can never overlap with the other camera. I download my images to a file on the hard drive and then import it from the file. I don't care what it is called on the hard drive as the information I want is the file name and the date.

07-10-2012, 03:14 PM	#8
Zafar Iqbal Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,229 Original Poster	My transfers from SD to PC. K-x goes into K-x -> Year -> quarter of year -> month number -> original folder name K-r goes into K-r -> Year -> quarter of year -> month number -> original folder name Files from those folders gets imported to LR. LR creates new copies on a different drive. Lightroom doesn't care about cameras when it creates hierarchies though. so, it will mix the files within same folder, if shot on same day. My LR renaming scheme was: ziYYYYMMDD_PHOTONUMBER.dng Changed it to: zi_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS_PHOTONUM.dng Don't think I'll be changing cams within a sec - but could happen! The problem in this case was a bit special though. It imported some files with dupe filenames but not all. I'm beginning to think I might have changed something by accident in one or more of the exports.