Format card in camera?

Hello all,

I switched to a DSLR (from Nikon N65) earlier this year. Sometime back in Feb/March I found these forums to learn about digital - I knew zero about digital photography. I vaguely remember reading where it was best to format your card in the camera each time, as opposed to deleting them individually, or through the computer when downloading.

I shoot RAW, and I'm not someone who keeps several hundred photos on my camera at any given time - well, I can't anyway, with those RAW files taking up so much room. Each time I import the originals to my computer and then burn them onto CD, I then put the card back into the camera and format the card.

Is the best way to handle it? I know someone who never formats the card - her photos are numbered in the thousands, which makes it easy to find them, I guess. Mine always start at 1.

Any thoughts?

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Originally Posted by OBie

Hello all,

I switched to a DSLR (from Nikon N65) earlier this year. Sometime back in Feb/March I found these forums to learn about digital - I knew zero about digital photography. I vaguely remember reading where it was best to format your card in the camera each time, as opposed to deleting them individually, or through the computer when downloading.

I shoot RAW, and I'm not someone who keeps several hundred photos on my camera at any given time - well, I can't anyway, with those RAW files taking up so much room. Each time I import the originals to my computer and then burn them onto CD, I then put the card back into the camera and format the card.

Is the best way to handle it? I know someone who never formats the card - her photos are numbered in the thousands, which makes it easy to find them, I guess. Mine always start at 1.

Any thoughts?

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I always use the camera to format my cards. I figure that the camera knows just how to do it to please itself. If you format from a computer then you have many choices (FAT16, FAT32, NTFS) most of which are not right for the camera.

The photo numbering thing in an option you can set (in Nikons anyway). My D200 and my D70 are set up so that they will always produce different filenames and there is no risk of my accidentally overwriting something.

Charles

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The photo numbering thing in an option you can set (in Nikons anyway). My D200 and my D70 are set up so that they will always produce different filenames and there is no risk of my accidentally overwriting something.

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I've suspected as much. My project for today - researching that capability on the D50.
Thanks Charles.

I found where I can set the D50 to keep track and not start from 0001 with each format, in fact I had it set to do just that. However it doesn't seem to be working. With each format I end up with file numbers starting at 0001.

Guess a trip to Wolf (Ritz) Camera is in order, unless someone here has a suggestion?

make sure that you "ok" the option to keep the file numbers going instead of starting over each format ...

it does work .. i have it that way on my d50

Thanks Ben. I discovered that it was set that way after all! I was looking at the file numbers on the screen, not the actual file numbers. When I looked at the last photos I had downloaded onto the computer, they were high numbers - so it was working. Except that I had 'reset' the darn thing trying to 'fix' it.

Um - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Yes, format in camera before you shoot. I don't format until I shoot the card again, that way I have another backup copy for at least a few days if there was a problem downloading the images. Never needed it, but it's there if I do. Plus, you always know the card's ready to shoot when you do it this way. Another tip, I put my "used" cards in the wallet with the labels down so I know which ones are full and which aren't.

Thanks AV. At this time I only have one card - so there's no chance of me mixing cards up! (My backup CD's tend to be on the 'empty' side...) But here's a question - when you have mulitple cards - what do you store them in? Is there a special 'wallet' you can buy?

Thanks!

Interesting discussion. I was wondering about this as the filename has been starting over in the D50 I just got for Christmas. Nice camera by the way. I used Nikon for my film camera as well, so I don't have to get new lenses. Even the remote shutter release works :)

Problem is that I don't seem to have the menu option to change the sequencing. When I RTFM, it shows where it should be, but the option isn't there. Am I missing something? Is there a firmware upgrade I don't know about and where do I check? Nikon's website says there's no updates.

Thanks gang. I've been lurking here for a while and posted a few times before. I hope to get a bit more active since I have the new toy. This site is a constant source of education and inspiration for me :)

Never mind. Figured it out :D

Haha Kball! You're just like me. Post a question, then figure it out on my own. LOL.

I think the question has been ask and answered, but just another reinforcement. At the Nikon School I attended last January they recommend very strongly that the card be formated before each new use in the camera. I a have been doing that ever since with no problems at all.

Thanks OT - always best to get the info straight from the manufacturer.

Pretty much any camera company will advise you format the card in camera. That's good advice.

As for file names, my camera is set for consecutive file names, no matter what the card has on it. So I always know how many photos I've taken with the camera, for whatever that's worth.

I batch rename all my files in a format that gives me the year, date, and time the image was taken. I don't generally shoot bursts, so it works. Format s LDG_YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS. LDG are my initials, and the rest is so I know the origin of the file.