# What do you copy from your camera card?



## Valvebounce (Dec 29, 2014)

Hi Folks. 
When you copy your images from your camera card, what do you do with the CTG file iN the MISC folder, copy it, discard it, ignore it?
Does it have a use outside of the camera?
Thanks in advance. 

Cheers, Graham.


----------



## Mt Spokane Photography (Dec 29, 2014)

Just leave them there. 


CTG files are officially known as catalog index files. These files are generated automatically when you capture an image on certain Canon brand digital cameras. CTG files do not contain an actual image, but rather information that is correlated to a folder containing photographs you took on the Canon digital camera.


----------



## Valvebounce (Dec 29, 2014)

Hi Mt Spokane. 
If I just leave them there, (on the card?) then they don't have any relevance to the new images that are captured? And are not accessible to the images associated with them, is this correct? So they can be ignored, does discarding them cause any loss of info that affects the image once it has been imported to the PC as I often format the card before re using? 
I have variously copied them to the folder containing the images, ignored them and deleted by format, then I got to thinking, D'oh! ;D

Cheers, Graham. 



Mt Spokane Photography said:


> Just leave them there.
> 
> 
> CTG files are officially known as catalog index files. These files are generated automatically when you capture an image on certain Canon brand digital cameras. CTG files do not contain an actual image, but rather information that is correlated to a folder containing photographs you took on the Canon digital camera.


----------



## Marsu42 (Dec 30, 2014)

Valvebounce said:


> When you copy your images from your camera card, what do you do with the CTG file iN the MISC folder, copy it, discard it, ignore it?



Leave it there, or the poor thing gets all confused about naming the files and folders. 

That's because Canon doesn't embed a continuous number into the image files, but two tags: folder name and picture base name. If you ever want to rename your files to their original numbering (like picture 24123 shot with this specific camera), you have to leave the folder numbering just as it is. If you don't care about a continuous number, you can just delete the ctg and the camera will start numbering the files in the folder with the highest number.


----------



## Mt Spokane Photography (Dec 30, 2014)

If you move the card between cameras, then you should delete it first, or info about image numbers, etc will be transferred to images with the second cameras. The camera will recreate it, and start numbering images from 0001.

We often see posts from users who bought a new camera, and popped in the card from their old camera. They see image 7033 or some high number appear, and think they bought a used camera. Some users do not move cards between cameras in order to prevent the issue.


----------



## Marsu42 (Dec 30, 2014)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> If you move the card between cameras, then you should delete it first, or info about image numbers, etc will be transferred to images with the second cameras. The camera will recreate it, and start numbering images from 0001.



Good point there, quickly popping your card into another camera can really mess up your file numbering. When in doubt, rename the whole DCIM folder before doing so and rename it back afterwards.


----------



## Mt Spokane Photography (Dec 30, 2014)

Since I use multiple cameras and cards, I try to rename the images as I import them into Lightroom. Key wording can also be done at that time, so it side steps the issue as long as it becomes a ingrained habit.


----------



## LDS (Dec 30, 2014)

Valvebounce said:


> When you copy your images from your camera card, what do you do with the CTG file iN the MISC folder, copy it, discard it, ignore it?



You may find this article useful: http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/education/infobank/storage_and_archiving/file_numbering_and_naming.do

Anyway I usually copy images using EOS Utility or Lightroom, that take care of copying only what's useful. And if I put a card into a different camera, usually I format it.


----------



## Marsu42 (Dec 30, 2014)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> Since I use multiple cameras and cards, I try to rename the images as I import them into Lightroom. Key wording can also be done at that time, so it side steps the issue as long as it becomes a ingrained habit.



I do the same, but my LR naming scheme includes a continuous number "image xyz taken from that camera", starting with zero, ending when the shutter fails. That's why I don't try to mess up the card file numbering, otherwise there's no way to recover this number from the file tags.


----------



## Valvebounce (Dec 31, 2014)

Hi LDS. 
Thanks for the link, very informative, though in some need of update as there are 2 versions of 7D missing unless I missed them, and possibly others too! Not that it changes the gist of the article, close the folder and ignore it, pretty clear! 

Mt Spokane and Marsu. 
Thanks for your input, as I have different cards for different bodies I guess I should get in the habit of leaving the file alone, though I tend to copy the images off and format before returning to the ready to use rotation. Seems it is too late to worry about it much as I have already broken the system by formatting the first time! ???

Cheers, Graham.


----------



## LDS (Dec 31, 2014)

Valvebounce said:


> as there are 2 versions of 7D missing



Right. It was updated to include the 5D III, but not other cameras - strange. Anyway, I guess the 7D and 7D II use one of those schemas as well.



Valvebounce said:


> the file alone, format before returning to the ready to use rotation.



Usually it's better to format the card in the camera you're going to use it in. It will ensure the camera firmware will create whatever file/folder clean layout it needs to work with, and ensure file system compatibility. It's better to let the computer software handle camera formatted cards, than viceversa. Usually a computer software is far more comprehensive than camera firmware.


----------



## tron (Dec 31, 2014)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> If you move the card between cameras, then you should delete it first, or info about image numbers, etc will be transferred to images with the second cameras. The camera will recreate it, and start numbering images from 0001.
> 
> We often see posts from users who bought a new camera, and popped in the card from their old camera. They see image 7033 or some high number appear, and think they bought a used camera. Some users do not move cards between cameras in order to prevent the issue.


Me included! :-[ (I saw 500+)

But, many shots later I installed ML and saw the shutter count being around 100.

So it was new. No harm done ;D


----------

