Sony ZV1 {snum} change error

[vAfotoriporter]

I'm using Photo Mechanic Version 6.0, build 6245 (14de08a) on OSX 11.4 (20F71) on M1 and ever since the update with photos from the Sony ZV1 the {snum} variable seems to grab an inconsistent variable that changes with every photo - unlike {snum} that should stay the same for all photos taken with the same camera.
Since I use {snum} as a filename identifier of each cameras I use this causes quite some additional work to get my filenames right manually after PM ruins them during the usual ingest.

Original filename in camera:
DSC02152
DSC02153
DSC02154

Correctly renamed by old version:
2202082152v
2202082153v
2202082154v

Current erroneous renamed files:
2202082152+57bc4e+
2202082153+ee260d+
2202082154+5bbc4e+

Rename string used:
{year2}{month0}{day0}{fbas:-4}+{snum}+

(+ is code replacement delimiter for replacing each camera {snum} to a letter in this camera's case v)

I hope you can solve the issue.

I have some sample files for you if you need.

[Kirk Baker]

I have some sample files for you if you need.

We definitely need some samples, please.

if they're too large to post here, contact me personally for FTP server info.

Thanks,

-Kirk

[vAfotoriporter]

I have some sample files for you if you need.

We definitely need some samples, please.

if they're too large to post here, contact me personally for FTP server info.

Thanks,

-Kirk

I sent a PM with download link and some correction.

[dennis]

Does this camera require you to "allow" your serial number to be written to the file?

Sony has purposefully removed the serial number from their camera metadata due to privacy reasons I would guess.

So you now need to set your camera prefs to "expose" your serial number.  Then the serial number will be written into standard Exif metadata.

[vAfotoriporter]

Thanks for the tip, I didn't find any setting to allow {snum}.

I corrected in my PM to Kirk that the {snum} didn't return any value in the past with this camera (neither the RX100), but it resulted the two delimiters next to each other ++ that is easy to "find and replace".

Something definitely changed since the previois versions of PM as previously {snum} returned ++ now {snum} returns a random number that changes from file to file instead of nothing. So this probably cannot be the real {snum} value. Must be something else.

[dennis]

Well I guess the ZV-1 doesn't allow the user to expose their camera serial number at all. The ICLE models (starting with firmware update to alpha 9) allow the user to "expose" their serial number by writing that value to the standard Exif serial number tag.

Apparently Sony has not enabled this for the ZV-1 (or maybe ZV-E10).  There should be a menu option to write the serial number.

If that isn't an option due to Sony's cameras, then you will need to use Hot Codes instead of basic code replacements.  I invented this specifically for the situation where your workflow involves using serial number but you introduce a Sony camera that doesn't support (write to the file) this important metadata.

https://docs.camerabits.com/support/solutions/articles/48000358684-hot-codes

In the meantime, I will disable the code that is introducing the random 6 character string as the serial number.  Obviously this value should not be changing from frame to frame.  If it did not change from frame to frame but remained the same strange 6 character value, then that should be OK anyway regarding workflow (it doesn't have to be THE serial number just consistent and different for each camera).

Hopefully the Hot Codes will solve your problem and also clean up your dialogs.

--dennis

[vAfotoriporter]

Thank you very much Dennis! This sounds great and seems to be a solution to my problem, but it need some time for me to understand how it all works and how to tweak my current workflow to include it. Probably it will be a snap once I manage to fully read and completely understand how it all works.

Thanks for keeping up the great work!