I’m mainly a Lightroom user and I’m recently trying Aperture.
When I import files in Lightroom I rename them to photographers initials, usually mine, but sometimes my wife or a friend) the date as YYYY-MM-DD and then the original file number. E.g. MC_2008-05-08_001234.CR2
I can easily do this in Lightroom as it has the “filename number suffix” option but I can’t find anything similar in the Aperture import rename options.
Am I missing something obvious?
I don’t really want to manually look at the original file name and the input the number as a staring point for the Aperture rename process.
Also, is it possible to see the file type in the filename, eg CR2, NEF, DNG or JPG when browsing files? At the moment I can only see fie file name without the file extension. I can’t find any view option to turn it on
Thanks
Mike
Mike,
Welcome to Aperture! I’m sure you’ll love it.
Renaming on import is a powerhouse in Aperture; I’m confident you can find everything you need. I actually cover this in depth in both eBooks if you want more info.
In the Import window, from the “Import Settings” drop-down in the top right, make sure “Rename Files” is turned on. From the drop-down there, choose “Edit…” to make your own custom preset. Click the (+) icon to start making your own (it will duplicate whatever is selected, then just select all and delete to make your own from scratch).
What you want to build is probably something like this:
(Custom Name) (Image Date) (Master File Name)
That will give you the ability to choose your own name (custom) at the time of import, for example your initials. Note that you can also type characters into that preset window, so you could make a preset for you, one for your wife, etc and have those initials always be there, then save the “custom” for something else. The image date is in YYYY-MM-DD format, and then the Master File Name will keep whatever the file is already called.
As far as viewing the file type while browsing, you have two names for the file you can look at in the Metadata tab in Aperture. If you choose the General preset view, you’ll see both (and you can customize any view to show as much or little info as you want). Version Name will show the name you’ve just created, which will NOT include the suffix. However File Name does show the suffix.
Note that at the time of import, there’s a checkbox to rename the master files themselves, meaning the custom version name you’ve created will apply to both the version name AND the master name (the file itself).
I’ve discussed my own naming strategy at length on this site, and over many years of using Aperture have come up with a long but effective naming scheme that I use, and I do apply this to my masters as well. My naming has _’s instead of spaces so there are never spaces in the file name. Here’s mine:
(Custom Name)_(Image Date)_(Image Time)_(Master File Name)_©JosephLinaschke(Image Year)
So my files have a name like this:
SmithWedding_2010-02-05_13-32-43_IMG1234_©JosephLinaschke2010
This way every file includes a recognizable name, then the date/time print forces the order in the finder across multiple cameras (assuming they are synced, but there’s ways to fix that, too) and includes the original filename in the event of multiple photos fired within the same second (obviously very possible), and finally my copyright and name in the filename itself.
Hope that helps!
-Joseph @ApertureExpert
@PhotoJoseph
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MasterFileName includes the unwanted, at least in my case, IMG part of the file name. Lightroom lets you use just the numeric part of the filename as part of the renaming sequence. In this case Lightroom 2 seems more flexible than Aperture 3
Re the filename suffix, I was hoping to be able to see them as part of the file name shown in the browser view without having to select each individual file to ascertain its file type. It seems odd to me that Aperture won’t just show 1234.CR2 or 1235.JPG or 1236.DNG in the browser. Why hide the file extension?
Mike,
You’re correct that there’s no way to trim the file name on import, however that’s easy to do in the Finder ahead of time, so Aperture only has the numbers to grab. I use a free app called NameChanger from MRR Software that works splendidly for stuff like this.
As far as seeing the file extension, as I mentioned you can customize any view in Aperture. Go to the menu View > Metadata Display > Customize…. You have two views for each area. Viewer is the large view of the photo, Grid is the thumbnails, and List is the list view. There are keyboard shortcuts to toggle these on and off and switch between them. Customize one of these to show the File Name instead of the Version Name, and you’ll have exactly what you want.
@PhotoJoseph
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I used to use ImageIngester to import and rename my photos but then when Lightroom could do exactly what I wanted in one step I stopped using ImageIngester. I don’t really want to go back to introducing extra steps in my workflow to get around what I see as an minor shortcoming in Aperture.
The View > Metadata would seem to allow me to display what I want. I’ll investigate further tomorrow as I’ve probably enjoyed a little too much wine with our evening meal :-)
Interesting to listen to you on TWIP
Thanks
Mike
Mike,
I guess at the end of the day you need to decide if having those three little letters on there (“IMG”) is that big of a deal ;-)
Hope it was some good wine!
@PhotoJoseph
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I have about 50,000 files using my preferred naming convention over the years and it seems a shame that Aperture’s import rename feature can’t cope with it. I can stick with Lightroom importing the files but them I’m more likely to keep on using Lightroom and Aperture, as before, just gets relegated to the occasional book printing task.
Yes, it was a good wine / whine :-)
BTW - I’m not trying to start some silly Aperture v Lightroom argument. I picked Lightroom because my Mac at the time couldn’t run Aperture. Since them I’ve bought Aperture 1, 2 and 3 but still used Lightroom as my main workhorse. I’m currently viewing the lynda.com Aperture lessons with a view to getting more into Aperture but get frustrated at the first hurdle when I can’t import using my preferred naming method.
Thanks again
Mike
MIke,
Well, as I said before, I guess it comes down to deciding if those three little letters really make that big of a difference. My naming convention is consistent but has changed over the years, and I don’t see it as a problem when I come up with a better/different way to name files. If there are features in Aperture that you want to use, then I’d say that you shouldn’t let a little thing like “IMG” stand in your way ;-)
@PhotoJoseph
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I have to agree with Mike.
I too like to start with a couple letters corresponding to the subject matter, followed by the date so everything is ordered by date within the subject matter, THEN keep the original four-digit file number. Keeping the four-digit file number allows me to refer quickly to the corresponding RAW file. I usually only use two little letters at the beginning indicating the subject matter, so repeating the “three little letters” becomes redundant! I also DON’T use underscores, so the automatic underscore out of the camera is equally annoying, but an underscore would be fine WITHOUT the “three little letters”! And yes, Lightroom does solve all that, and I liked that part too. But I will persevere and either get used to underscores and the three little letters or try the renaming software you suggest!
A Smith wedding would be: SM20110511-1234 not SM20110511SMI_1234 Thanks.