Loading an Image into an FZ20

[Bill Markwick]

What? Loading into the camera?

A friend who wanted one of my images had his SD card, and I had the FZ20 and my laptop, but no card reader. I thought maybe the USB feature would work both ways, and so it did. XP sent an image into the card/camera with no problem. So I have the world's most expensive card reader. :)

There's one caveat: the folder nnn_PANA should exist if you want to see the image on the LCD. If it ends up in the root folder, the camera can't see it.
If there are images on the card, the Pana folder exists. If you get "No Valid Image" in playback mode, it's not there, but taking a picture of anything will create it.

Regards,
Bill

[genece]

While I can not explain the tech part of that ...it has been stated several times and from what I have read it seems, when the file is written to the computer the name changes somehow, and when written back the camera does not recognize the new name.
The tech stuff is way over my head.

[StanStan]

Direct info from "Panasonic Bob": The file system that the FZ20 formats is NOT the same as the file system that Windows uses. The Panasonic system uses INDEX numbers that WILL change if any changes are made to the indexed images. Discontinuous index numbers and DUPLICATE numbers can result!

I have experienced both of the problems: duplicate index numbers and discontinuous index numbers.

I now never change the images on the SD card even in the camera. I copy the images to my internal hard disk and then to my external hard disk and then to CDRs.

Then reformat the SD in the camera before each use.

Stan

[Bill Markwick]

My goodness! On a website full of gadget freaks and tinkerers, I seem to have caused sharp intakes of breath by suggesting that you can fool around with procedures! ;)

To clarify some points:

- True that file systems are different between camera and computer. The computer uses the FAT32 file allocation table for its versatility, while small devices such as floppy drives and cameras use FAT16 (which Windows just calls FAT) for its compact size. But that has no bearing on the topic and doesn't affect things in the least.

- The camera's image number consists of a folder number (the first three digits after the "P") and an image number (the last three digits, max. 999/folder). If you insert another image with a higher number than the existing images, the camera will start renumbering from the intruder's number. You can force an increment, but you can't force a decrement, so you're stuck with the new higher number. If this is important, either avoid inserting images, or use Reset to create a new folder with image #001, or see below.

- If you want to use the camera's SD card to transfer a file, put it in the root folder. The camera will never know it's there.

Regards,
Bill