Mike Chaney's Tech Corner

http://www.ddisoftware.com/flashpipe

v2010.109     09/21/09     

Priority: Low     

v2010.109 includes the following:

    * FlashPipe can now transfer and develop photos and videos from multiple flash cards at the same time: just insert flash cards into empty slots and go!
    * Added the total amount of data (bytes) transferred to the status popup that displays after a transfer.
    * Added four preset "suggested settings" on the auto rename parameter dialog.
    * When manually developing photos using the "Develop" operation in the operations table, FlashPipe no longer responds "Nothing to do" even though there are raw photos in the selected folder.
    * Improved the automatic (subfolder) date generation so that the date is updated even if the computer (and FlashPipe) have not been restarted for days.

Mike

I'm noticing that my THM files are not being included with the CRWs. They do get copied when I set a rule for other files, but then they end up in the misc folder rather than with the raw files themselves.

Mike

Would it be possible to have a 'ping' (optional) when transfers are complete, like QImage when you are using manual job naming? I usually get on with other work when I'm uploading  8 gig cards, and it would let me know when the next card is due.
It would also be very useful for me if 'Raw' and 'Jpg' were added to the Operations>File Type menu, so that I can separate them in one operation.

Brian

I second that motion.!
Especially when Flash pipe is Developing a larger amount of shots to JPG, I need a PING, like Sean Connery sent to Alex Baldwin, in the movie Hunt for Red October.
 :P 8)

Fred

I don't know... that's one line of code.  Might be too difficult to implement.  :D

Mike

Hello.  I've purchased FlashPipe simply because it's a convenient way to rename my files and stick them in the folder I want.  However, my file naming system is based on the EXIF Image Captured data.  It looks like your file naming system is based on the Date/Time File Modified data.  Is there any way to have the option to base it on EXIF rather than MODIFIED?

Also, I name my RAW files differently than my JPEG files.  I merely use the same name as the JPEG file but follow it with _RAW.  That way when I work with the raw file and convert it to JPEG it'll be named slightly different then the image that was originally JPEG.  I'd like to see an auto-naming method that gives different options to JPEG, RAW, and VIDEO.

That's about all it would take for me to absolutely love the program.  :)

Wishing you well,

Long time QImage user,

Paul

Surely you can tell which is which from the file extension  ::)
That's what I do, or put jpeg's into a different folder.
Terry

Set the operations row to OTHER and press GO

Brian,
You can set that up in Edit Settings; Telling Flashpipe to put Raw in a folder called "RAW" or anything you like, and the Created JPGs or Developed JPGS go into a folder called, DEVELOPED or anything you like.
Jpgs that were created by you shooting Raw + JPG can be easily handled by one mouse click on the number of JPGS in the upper section, causing Flashpipe to bracket the number, and ignore the transfer.
Then you simply change the destination folder right on the front panel and click remove the brackets for the second click of GO
See brackets in screen snap.

Fred

It's still two operations - you have to press Go twice for each card. At the moment I'm loading one of our weddings from the weekend - two photographers, eight cards, 1662 raw and 1662 jpgs. One click per card would make a big difference  ;D

Brian

Brian,
Maybe I am missing something.
I just took my camera, set it for RAW + JPG, (It's still dark outside) and shot 6 shots with flash.
I have Settings set to place Raw in a separate sub-folder called RAW. See snap.
All the rest of the JPGs went into the folder that I named !!test 09-21.

So I have a new folder called !!test 9-21 with my JPGs and a sub folder called RAW containing only the RAW files.
This way it's only ONE press of GO, and one operation.

What did I miss?
Fred

Brian,
I was so sure that you knew about the EDIT SETTINGS  allowing you to separate the RAW from the jpgs from the card, that I mentioned an alternate method using bracketing.

The right way to do it is in my previous post.

Fred

Fred
Placing the raw files in a sub-folder  is not really an option with our workflow , as others have to view the files on a network and they are VERY set in their ways  >:(. At the moment I copy everything into one folder, sort by file type and move the jpgs - not a great inconvenience and probably easier than altering the settings each time. I may be just being lazy  :D

Brian

Brian,
I remember when the automatic transmission arrived on the car scene.
Talk about set in their ways!!   
Few wanted to accept the easier way to do something that was ingrained; a clutch!
The object of that Auto Trans was to make driving easier and safer for many people who were learning to drive.
So is Flashpipe. It is showing an easier way to upload files from the mem cards, and one has to try it out with an open mind, instead of "I am used to the clutch, and I can't drive an automatic!"
 :D :o ::)

Fred

That doesn't work setting it to other ignores the CRWs and just copies everything else. I end up with paired files in different directories. I can set the path for other files to "Raw" and have it put them in the same place, but I end up with a few extra meta files and it's not really the right way of doing it and definitely not the most elegant way.

It does when you set to photos and then to other in the file type. You can either do it in 2 operations or set up 2 operation lines, one for photos and one for other, both with the same destination folder.
I do this regularly when updating a backup hard drive with FP after creating raw qrs files and possibly jpeg's in Qimage.
Brian's idea to separate, in the operations table,  "Photos" into types, eg. "Raw" and "non-raw photos" seems a good suggestion to me.
Terry.

Thank you Terry.
As you said, you can make two rows and accomplish moving Raw and Other with one click of GO, or make one row set to Photo, click GO, and then chenge that PHOTO to OTHER, and click GO.
Very easy stuff.
Fred

Right one can do it, but it's really not the right way of doing it. There are a couple of problems, first off, that's not expected behavior. THM and CRW files belong together, as they each have information that the other needs most software I've used treats them as one file. And second it requires a person to specifically set it up in a way which doesn't necessarily notice if only half the files are being copied.

That depends on your point of view. FP is flexible enough to suit many situations.  8)

What I expect is what the program says it does. To say that "other" files must go in the same folder is wrong. There are some raw converters that put their "sidecar" files into a separate folder. That is relevant when updating backup drives and the like. FP gives you the option to do either. For a program to "assume" where other file types should reside could lead to all sorts of problems and to base the way it works only on THN and CRW files would make it a rather limited in application.

Well, it's all there in front of you in the Source section of the FP window, as soon as you insert a flash card or browse to an input folder: a complete inventory of the files available to copy.
Once you have set up output lines, you leave them there for re-use, switch them on or off as required and maybe edit the sub-folder name.
Terry

Two cents worth more.... THM files are created in the camera as thumbnails mainly for the user to be able to see the images in the rear screen of his camera.
I have a Canon D 60 that makes THM files, and frankly, I don't want them. I delete them, since they are clutter to me.
I am very happy to be able to keep them away from the CRWs.
Qimage as well as all the other apps that I hear people use to moderate their images create their own set of thumbnail files anyway.

Seems like the perfect simple answer.
If you want the THM files from the card, you set a row with OTHER activated and the same destination folder as the CRWs.
If you don't want the THMs in there with the CRWs you don't activate the row with OTHER.

Fred

Eh, I don't agree. The two files both come from the camera and they belong together. The THM is where the writable meta data gets stored, and it's definitely more than just a thumbnail. That's where a lot of the information is stored and while you can regenerate them, you'll be missing potentially important information. It's also the place where applications often times store meta data since they aren't normally supposed to be able to do so with the raw file itself.

Hence, why I said that it isn't the right way to do it, the THMs are not supposed to be separated from the CRWs as that leaves you without the ability to edit any of that information without taking unnecessary risks.

If Mike doesn't want to make it default to doing that sort of thing, this really ought to be at least an option under the settings dialogue, just because of the potential for causing issues with image management.

I have to disagree with you in general terms, as my other camera 20D, plus all the ones that I have tried recently within the last 4 years do not generate THM files.
Even on the old D 60, the metadata is carried in the RAW file and can be easily read.
I did some reading and found old articles written in 2003 referencing the need for the THM file; essentially pointing out that some browsers do not generate thumbnails, and use the THM for a thumbnail.
The only valid reason I could summon for the D60's need for the THM was the need to alter the metadata.
IPTC data can be written to the embedded JPG from the raw file if need be, but the THM is a tiny JPG file. 160 x 120 pixels. These were designed for viewing in the rear of the camera.

I will have to agree with you though, that a person who needs the facility to alter metadata or has a need to preserve that data in double file settings, should keep the THMs.

On the other hand, since most (can't say all. Didn't research all) cameras no longer generate any THM file, it would be a reasonable assumption that is was deemed unnecessary by the camera manufacturers.

Mike didn't leave you high and dry, though. You can still copy the THM files using the "OTHER" control and place the THMs in the same folder with your CRWs.
Simply make another ROW that is set to OTHER. The destination folder can easily be set to the same as the RAW by right clicking on the RAW destination setting and select make all destinations folders the same.
This does not alter the Drive or the main folder... so it becomes a one click deal.

Fred

I'm fine with it being in some fashion optional but I really do think that it should default to downloading both of them to the same folder since it's a lot easier to delete files that exist than it is to recreate files that don't and the size of the THMs is typically small.

And of course I can do that and am, but I don't think that it's really the right way of doing it. While it's unreasonable to expect a set of defaults that everybody is perfectly happy with,  the defaults should be sane and tailored in some fashion to minimizing the downside. Given the relative small size of THM files, I'm not sure why it shouldn't just default to copying them over as well.

BTW, the article I read on it was from 2007, not that there's really any reason to update the content, as really very little has changed since then. There may be some programs that have reverse engineered the format sufficiently that they can do it. And it's really not a good practice to go monkeying around in RAW files, they're really meant to be read only, which is why QImage is so great for using it's own sidecar files to store the filters. Which is in and of itself one reason why I was so surprised that FlashPipe isn't aware of those files.

Just to come back on this one:
I have a couple of CRW samples with their associated THM's so I thought I'd check the CRW's to see what is actually stored in the embedded jpeg raw file, extracted by Qimage. I use this method with my CR2 raw files when I need to copy any data to another file.
As far as I can see, using PhotoMe, Exifer and Irfanview, the data in the THM is identical to that in the embedded jpeg. Not surprising I suppose but it does show that Fred's attitude to THM files (he ignores them) is not the end of the world. As long as the CRW raw image is safe, so is the original meta data.  8)
Terry.

Especially, I might again add, that the old Canons seem to be the end of the THM era, and raw files are currently saved without buddy files.

Fred