20D CF card numbering question

[Eggle]

My CF card comes up in EOS viewer as
20D
-1
-DCIM
-830Canon
-831Canon ( Each a sub folder )

My question is, it seems to keep making these sub folders 8**CANON, putting files in and then starting another and filling that and so on.
Why does it do this? Can't it just keep numbering them but just put them in, say, CANON?
At this rate, I will have a whole CF card of sub folders I can't erase with out taking the card out of the camera.

[andy-xr]

Is it when it ticks over 10k perhaps? I dont know, the main reason I'm replying is to say try to format your card every so often and that should make them go away

[14-7]

How do you format the CF card? Do you just delete the pics using your computer or actually select format in the camera menu?

[Mr Obertshaw]

My 20D does the exact same thing and I just assumed it was something I was doing wrong. Mine were going 300, 301,302 etc. I went to the settings on the camera and changed file numbering to auto restart rather than continuous and this reset it back to 100, but now it goes up again. I assume it's to make the folder sizes more manageable.

eta: it seems to start a new folder every 100 images so it must just be for management. The problem I have is that if I delete the empty folder they are still there when I next upload.

Edited by Mr Obertshaw on Monday 24th May 09:36

[itsnotarace]

It will start a new folder every 999 images regardless of whether the card has been formatted, or your change cards, it does it sequentially.

Never delete files or folders from within Windows, always copy your photos off and then format the card. You risk corruption otherwise

[Simpo Two]

Nikons (well mine anyway) put 9,999 images in a folder then make a new one (or else they'd have clashing filenames). This caused me extreme horror at a wedding when I reckoned I'd taken about 200 photos but the counter only showed about 80... contain panic, take a deep breath and carry on like it hadn't happened... and of course the 'missing' files were in the previous folder and plain to see once I got back and plugged the card into a computer. Phew.

[LongQ]

As I recall the earlier Canon's mostly created a new folder every 999 images thought the earliest might have been 99 images. More recent bodies in the consumer range have settled on 9999 images. Not sure about the Pro bodies. Presumably these decision were made as memory capacity increased.

I guess there is a reason for the folders and the numbering but whatever it is makes no difference to the way I work with the files. More important is remembering to re-number the files once you have passed the 9999 point to avoid the potential risk of confusing duplication at some future point. Alternatively rename them completely and pay little attention to the numbers issued by the camera. This latter suggestion may be the best option when working with multiple cameras ...

[itsnotarace]

Simpo Two said:

Nikons (well mine anyway) put 9,999 images in a folder then make a new one

Both my D300 and D200 will only put 999 images in any one folder

[LongQ]

itsnotarace said:

Simpo Two said:

Nikons (well mine anyway) put 9,999 images in a folder then make a new one

Both my D300 and D200 will only put 999 images in any one folder

I never get to a folder with 999 files in it with my Canons however if the sequential image count rolls over 9999 it always creates a new folder. I suspect both 999 images in a folder and 9999 image count will geneate a new folder, which folder name will persist for that body until the next occurrence of either criteria.

One way or another it does not matter much to me, especially once the images have been downloaded.