RE:
Does anyone know if there is a way to change the default filename of
film data when it is downloaded from a F5 using photo secretary? Mine
always uses some weird name like 203241.f5. It would be nice if the
filenames were 1.f5, 2.f5, 3.f5 and so on. That would make it easier to
match up the data with the film number.
In your example, the file name is made up of the camera ID (203), which you
can set to any 3-digit number using the software, and the film roll number
(241). Unfortunately, unlike the Photo Secretary for the N90s, the F5
software does not allow you to set the roll number and my guess is that once
you reach roll 9999, it starts over at 0001.
If you have the MF-28 data back, you can easily match up data with film as
follows.
To match up data files with the film, simply enable the Data Imprinting on
Frame #0 under the Shooting Data tab. The film number (in your example
0241) will show up as very small red numbers in the lower right corner of
the frame - you'll need a loupe to read it. The rest of Frame #0 is just
blank. When you take your film for processing, make sure you ask them to
keep frame #0 (otherwise they may throw it away thinking it is unexposed).
The only problem, as I mention, is if you're using more than one F5. Since
you can't set the starting roll / data file number, you could end up with 2
exposed rolls with the same data imprinting and have no way of matching them
up to the proper data file. The data files are different because you can
set different camera ID's (i.e., 203241 and 255241), but since the camera ID
number is not imprinted (only roll number - 0241), it could cause problems.
I had to artificially run up the roll counter on one of the F5's by loading
a roll, shooting a frame, rewinding and repeating until my roll numbers were
far enough apart that they wouldn't overlap.
Fairly nice piece of software, but Nikon obviously didn't do enough beta
testing with the appropriate users. Simply imprinting the camera ID along
with the roll number or allowing one to set the starting roll number would
have solved this problem. Since the software allows the setting of the
camera ID (up to 255 cameras!!), it's clear that they considered that users
would be using more than one F5.
Probably more info than you were asking for, but hope it helps.
Jim Weis
