Design rule for Camera File system.

DCF is a standard developed by the Japan Electronic Industry Development Association (JEIDA). It is designed for direct exchange of images between digital still cameras and other equipment, and it allows viewing images taken on one camera to be viewed on another. Different DCF compatible media can be easily combined and exchanged.

The DCF directories are located under the DCF image root directory ("DCIM") which contain the images. The DCF image root directory itself does not contain any images. The DCF directories and files they contain are named according to a special scheme; directories and files, which do not follow the conventions, are simply ignored.

DCF directories have to follow a special naming scheme:

The name contains always 8 characters. The first three characters build a number between 100 and 999 (the directory number). The remaining characters can be any of the following: a-z, A-Z, 0-9 or underscore ("_"). Moreover, the directory number has to be unique, otherwise all directories with the same number are not considered to be valid DCF directories and are simply ignored.

DCF files have to follow a special naming scheme:

The name consists of 8 characters (plus 3 characters for the filename extension separated by a dot). The first four characters can be any of the following: a-z, A-Z, 0-9 or underscore ("_"). The same holds for the filename extension. The characters 5 to 8 build a number between 0001 and 9999 (the file number).

This directory is the root directory for all picture data and is always called "DCIM". "DCIM" stands for "Digital Camera IMages". It contains the DCF directories, where the pictures (or DCF objects respectively) are stored. The root directory can hold up to 900 DCF directories each containing up to 9999 DCF objects. When creating new DCF directories or files, the directory or file numbers have to be assigned in ascending order.

A DCF object builds up a group of related files. When recording a single picture, some cameras can create several files at once, for example:

• a picture is saved as uncompressed TIFF or CCD-RAW file, and a compressed JPEG thumbnail is created the same time
• a picture is associated with an audio file
• a video file is recorded, and a compressed JPEG thumbnail is created the same time

In this case, the camera creates several files which should always be treated as a group of related files. This grouping is realized by giving all the related files the same DCF file number. That is, all the files which belong to the same DCF object must have the same DCF file number, and different DCF objects within the same image directory must all have different DCF file numbers. The characters besides the file number don't matter for the file grouping.

Abbreviation for Digital Still Camera

The first three characters of a DCF directory name which build up a number between 100 and 999.

Exchangeable image file format for digital still cameras.

A standard developed by the Japan Electronic Industry Development Association (JEIDA). It defines a file format to describe primary image data (compressed JPEG or uncompressed TIFF), a thumbnail and several IFDs (Image File Directories) each containing several metatags holding different types of information about the picture.

The characters 5 to 8 of a DCF file name which build up a number between 0001 and 9999.