Thumbnail and Image don't match.

[Glen1]

Hi all,
I recently bought an Olympus OM-D EM 10, and what a great little camera it is. However, there's a slight problem now when I'm viewing the camera images on my PC with the camera plugged in. See below.



The thumbnail doesn't match the actual image, in fact, the thumbnail is an image I took last week, and the correct image is one from today, up on Munibung Hill. I haven't changed memory cards at all. Maybe there's a setting in camera to change the file name assignments? Help please.

Regards
Glen1

[ameerat42]

What program are you using here? Does it do the same with other programs, like Faststone viewer?

[Glen1]

Hi Am,
I'm just using Windows Explorer, which is what I've always used for my cameras without a problem. Just tried FastStone, and it works fine.

Regards
Glen1

[ameerat42]

Hmm! (Though that's not much help!) I wonder if you've re-started Windows and checked then?

[Glen1]

Yeah, it's been like this for a few days. Might try dumping all images off the card and formatting.

Regards
Glen1

[ricktas]

do you generally format the card after each download to the computer, or do you just delete the images? I would recommend formatting at least occasionally.

However, if this only happens in windows file viewer, then the issue could be with windows.

[bitsnpieces]

Maybe it's time for a disk cleanup too? Since you're going to reformat the card, may as well do some computer maintenance too to do some disk cleanup and defrag - it helps.

[ameerat42]

A thought: what sort of numbering system have you set for your images in the camera.
Usually it's continuous, or it starts off again with each card format.

[arthurking83]

So, as I'm reading it .. the images are still on the card with the camera connected to the PC as the interface?

if this is right, then it could just be conflicting/corrupted thumbs.db file that windows places in the directory to help it generate the thumbnails quickly.

This is a possibility as windows will try to write a new thumbs.db file every time you open the directory to view the images on the card.

So, lets say last week you took some shots and viewed them via Windows Explorer.
On the day you viewed them, Windows generated a thumbs.db file.
The lets say you took some shots again and viewed them again today.
The old thumbs.db file will still be on the card from last week, but now with more images on the card(and being a memory card), Windows has to write a new/updated version of the thumbs.db file to reflect the newly shot images.
So many possibilities as to why it could have corrupted in some way to display this disparity .. but the fix is easy(if this is the situation).

Firstly you need to make sure that you can see all files and folders in Windows .. ie. protected files and folders will also be viewable.
This assumes you are the admin for the PC.
If so, in Control Panel, go to Folder Options and go to the View tab. Once there, you need to untick the Hide protected operating system files. With this ticked it doesn't allow you to see the system files(such as thumbs.db).
Of course wou may now see many system files like .ini files amongst others, you just need to be aware not to manipulate them unless you know what you're doing. But having these files viewable is not dangerous in any way.

So, if you do go through this step, then you need to go to the folder where the images are all stored and look for a small file called Thumbs.db

The creation of the thumbs.db file assumes you are viewing the files in the folder with one of the 'icon' options, where they all display a thumbnail image (as per your screen shot).
If you view the files with the details option instead, the thumbs.db file isn't created(it's not needed!)

Anyhow, after all this .. if you can located this thumbs.db file for any folder where the thumnails have been affected with the issue, you can safely delete the thumbs.db file.(not harm done)
The only thing you may notice is that if you have many images in the one folder it may take a very long time to generate the icons.
That's all this thumbs.db file does .. generates a small database of the thumbnail images needed to show icons and thumbnails.

if you delete one of those files in any folder, the next time the folder is opened for viewing (with the icon option for image files) a new thumbs.db file is generated.
(hopefully one that isn't corrupted)


hope that helps.

[ameerat42]

About that, I thought the s.db file updated each time you downloaded the images to the (?folder) on the HDD. But I suppose you're saying that
while you're looking at the card in the camera and reading an old thumbs.db file, that's where the (possible) confict arises.

[Glen1]

Thanks for all the replies folks, but I'm afraid I rather sheepishly have to admit that I've fixed the problem now. It seems that in my haste to start using the camera, which is only a few weeks old, I forgot to set the date and time in the camera. The file name appears to reflect the date the shot was taken, (eg. P1010019 is the 19th shot on Jan 1). I'm not sure if I can change the file numbering system, but at least it's working properly now. I dumped all the images and formatted the card, and the problem was still there, and that's when I decided to check the date and time.....duh.

Regards
Glen1