RX100 MKV

[Kommunist]

Hi everyone. 
Camera saves video on SD in files with the names as C0001, C0002, ...C000X and so on.
During daily usage I can remove some of this videos. Afterwords if I make a new video Camera reuses names of these removed files. It is expected that new files will take next number, but not previously deleted. 
Is it possible to change it some how?

[IamNic]

Hello @Kommunist,

that is expected - you can ask our expert @darkframe who can tell you an easy way to rename a batch of files with date/time instead of the generic name for XAVC-S files.

- Nic

[darkframe · Accepted solution]

Hi @Kommunist,

@IamNic is right, I've posted some text about how to batch rename those Cxxxx-files in different ways but I did so in German.

Well, maybe this is of help for other people as well so I'm re-typing it in English here.

You could rename a bunch of files e.g. by using software like Rename Expert. There may be other software around but at least I do know that this one is working. When using the trial version you're limited in the number of files which you can rename in one go. The full version is available for 29.95 € presently but maybe you can live with the restriction or maybe there's some other suitable programme available as freeware.

However, with a bit of preliminary work you could batch rename your videos by using the ExifTool (free). The tool is available for MACs as well as Windows PCs. Nevertheless the following description is valid for Windows systems only. On my system I'm renaming MOV and MP4 files with it. For images I'm using a different application (IrfanView).

Well, here's a step-by-step explanation for Win PCs:

1. From the above mentioned ExifTool-site download the "Windows Executable". Unpack the ZIP-file into any folder you like. For my example here I'm using D:\ExifTool
2. Within the ZIP there's only one file which is named "exiftool(-k).exe". You need to rename that into "exiftool.exe" otherwise it won't run when called from the command line. The full path to the file should read "D:\ExifTool\exiftool.exe" thereafter. 
3. Now right-click on any free area of your desktop and chose "New -> Link" from the menu. I hope "Link" is the right word, I'm using a German version of Windows but "Link" should be correct. You'll be asked for the location of the file for which you want to place a link onto your desktop. Hit "search" (or whatever the button is indicating) and navigate to D:\ExifTool\exiftool.exe. Thereafter hit "Continue" and assign a name to your liking. I've called mine "Rename MP4 + MOV".
4. Now you need to Right-click onto the new icon and chose "Properties". We're almost there! You only need to alter the text in the line behind the word "Target" (or similar). In order to prevent from unwanted word wrapping I'm explaining this step right behind this list.

In the properties you should see the following text (behind "Target") in case you've taken the same folder as me:

D:\ExifTool\exiftool.exe

That line needs to be altered like this (the quotation marks are very important!):

"D:\ExifTool\exiftool.exe" -d %Y%m%d_%H%M%S_%%f%%-c.%%e "-filename<FileModifyDate" *.mp4

The easiest way would be to copy the line above and paste it into the icon's properties. Of course you may need to adapt the path to match the location of ExifTool on your system. Finally hit "Ok" and you're done.

In order to e.g. rename all MP4 files within a certain folder you only need to mark them in the Explorer and drag & drop them onto the icon. It might need a few seconds before the application starts working but after having handled the first file it's running fast.

In my case a file named C0022.MP4, taken in Mexico on 13.03.2018 at 14:51 local time is renamed into 20180313_145148_C0022.MP4

I've taken YYYYMMDD (that's %Y%m%d in the command line above) for the date (20180313), followed by the time and finally the original filename.

Hope that this explanation is useful for you and/or others.

Cheers

darkframe