Olympus E-M1 Mark II File Naming Issue

Two ospreys jockeying for the same fishing spot (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, 12-100mm f/4 lens @ 64mm; 1/1600th sec. @ f/13; ISO 800; cropped to 23% of the image

This was an improptu image as the other day I saw 7, yes 7, ospreys hovering over the edge of the western shore of the
James River in midtown Newport News.  At times they appeared to be "flying in formation," they were so close to each other.  There was a strong wind coming off the water and all 7 were relatively motionless in the air hovering and
waiting to grab a fish from below.  At times they were only 25 ft. above me.  I quickly found a place to park, walked over and made some images. I've never seen more than 2 ospreys in the same place. Always carry a camera!

Something strange is happening with image file names on my Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II. They are changing in-camera without me changing them.  Let me explain.

I am one who changes the image file names in-camera to a name specifically for each of my cameras.  In the case of this new E-M1 Mark II, I changed the default image file names from DSC to ones beginning with "MM."  "MM" is for the E-M1 Mark II versus my previous E-M1, which began with a single "M."   I do not name files upon import.

In the Mark II's menu, under the "Gear" icon and sub-menu labeled H1, the two pertinent items are "File Name," and "Edit File Name."  File name allows either of two settings.  "Auto" provides a continuous and sequential naming of files.  For example, if you kept the default file names, your first image, no matter with what card you chose, would be DSC00001.  The second image would be DSC00002, etc.  Even when you reformat your card, or insert a totally different card, you maintain that sequence.

The other option in the "File Name" menu item is "Reset."  If you were to choose that option, after reformatting or inserting a different memory card, your file names would start from DSC00001 again.

In my case, "Auto" keeps my sequence of file names starting with MM00001.

The second setting of importance in this matter is "Edit File Name."  That allows the user to change the file names to something other than default, as described above.  Again, in my case, I changed the first two characters to "MM."  In fact, even though I have my camera always set for the Adobe RGB color space, I also changed it for any images that I might happen to make with the sRGB color space so all files have the same naming designation.  This camera allows you to have different naming conventions for each color space.

I don't like changing the file names upon import for reasons that have to do with my submissions for stock photography.  Additional, due to my file backup system that has been in place since 2001, I use the original file names for reference if there is a failure of the primary Lightroom image hard drive.  Please don't suggest that I change my file names upon importation as I am not willing to do that.  I'm old, set in my ways, grumble at that suggestion and will become overall grumpy.  My wife won't like it if I'm grumpy all the time.  But I digress...

As I have made just over 1500 images with the E-M1 Mark II over the past two months, upon importation of the images, I noticed that the file names had changed on some files but not others. What is with that? They shouldn't change at all except for sequence.

This is how the files should register:

MM00001, MM00002, MM00003, MM00004, etc. all the way up to MM01535, which is currently the last image I have made.  However, are some of the file names I have found over the time I've used this camera as examples:

MM60833, MM8678, MM81204, MM30531, MM41446, etc. I've noticed the camera has inserted 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9  as well as left it at 0 at times.  The third character seems to change randomly. The new third character is not in sequence and some numbers were skipped. And...it didn't do it at any particular place in the file sequence, such as the file numbers reaching another 100.

An example is that I laboriously changed all my files in Lightroom to the correct names, copied a corrected file to my SD card, inserted the card into the camera, then made an exposure, all to get the camera back to what is should be. When looking at some of my latest images, for example, file MM01188 was recorded properly, but then the next file was MM91189.  Huh?  What could be going on here?

Additionally, I had the next characters set in the camera for "0."  I am also now trying the setting that says, "Off" but that has not seemed to make a difference.

After trying to figure this out, physically correcting the file names in Lightroom, I called Olympus America's technical support to ask "the experts" first, why this is happening and second, how to rectify it.  I reached a very nice woman with a heavy accent but she seemed to fully understand my issue.  After putting me on hold for a few minutes, she came back and told me to "change the characters in the menu to an underscore."  That was all the information she could give.  Not a sufficient answer, in my book, from the manufacturer's technical support.  However, it was the only answer I received.

I just wanted to point out this issue to other Mark II users and ascertain if anyone else has experienced this phenomenon and, if so, advise what had occurred and how you solved it.

UPDATE:  I've done some serious experimentation since I originally wrote this post a few days ago.  I think I may have found out why the file numbers are changing when they do, but not why or why random numbers are being inserted.  Let me explain.

For the first time using a digital camera, I have created and am using the C1, C2, and C3 custom settings banks in the Mark II. I have found using the custom banks really helps in rapidly facilitating many camera setting changes.  For example, having a camera set up for landscape photography, then being able to quickly switch all settings for birds-in-flight photography is very easy and takes about 1 second.  I've not availed myself of this feature on any other digital camera I've owned, but in hindsight, I probably should have.  It really is convenient.

Using P, A, S, M or custom setting bank C1 seem to keep the same file naming sequence. However, when I turn the custom setting bank to C2 or C3, the file numbers change as described above.  I have no idea why or how this happens.  Somehow I must have programmed something into the settings that cause the camera to change file names by inserting a random digit.

However, to try to rectify it, I reset both custom settings banks C2 and C3 to default then recreated them with the same settings as before.  Preliminarily, I made a few test exposures and the file numbers seem to remain as I have named them.  No changes.

Obviously, something either I did or the camera did, got "baked" into the custom settings and each time I used one of those two custom banks, the file numbers changed.  However, that doesn't explain why the different, random numbers appeared, how I inadvertently did it or how any of us can unknowingly do it in the future.

I'll keep on this and report as I find out more.  If you are having an issue or know of someone who is, please comment so we can share the info and we all can learn.

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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