Came here to say pretty much the same - the two digital cameras I had before the “half-way decent cameras in your smartphone” age (including one which wasn’t that specific model but a similar one from the same generation) both had a DCIM directory.
The only surprise I had around DCIM was at some point finding out that there was a directory with that name inside my Android phone since I expected everything would end up under Photos.
I think it’s another Windows hangover, I first saw it as a USB Windows spec way back when MTP was a mode as well. Fucking Windows, fucking with the image storage on my android phones 20 years layer.
It’s a DCF thing, not a Windows thing. A bunch of Japanese companies collaborated on a spec in the 90s so most digital cameras would work vaguely the same as far as file storage went and it’s still the standard because it’s a naming convention and there’s not really a reason to change it.
I mean sure it’s kind of a relic from the 90s, but so is the save icon. If you change it you’re breaking backwards compatibility with everything tangentially related to digital cameras prior to <current year>. A ‘photos’ folder might be more intuitive but then you run into the issue of “what about my language’s folder” instead of just everyone worldwide using DCIM.
Sometimes its better long term for people to learn about a standard instead of for the standard to be more intuitive to newcomers. Sure you could just make a new standard but that’s its own problem.
If websites are able to know what language my computer is using, I would expect local apps to have an easier time figuring it out. There’s also the possibility of setting a default folder to save photos in. Right now I can only select DCIM on internal or SD storage.
And regarding standards, I don’t accept the argument that there’s an eternal and objective gold standard. It used to be standard to have 640k RAM. It used to be standard to store images in a DCIM folder for compatibility reasons. Do we need those compatibilities any more? I’d say no.
Sure. Now organize updating the last 30 years of hardware and software for compatability. Or just keep using the slightly unintuitive thing.
You’re conflating two different definitions of “standard”. URLs are more human readable than IPs, but changing IPs into URLs would cost decades of manpower and break everything for basically no benefit either.
I had one of those cameras maybe 20 years ago, it took really good pictures. I used to carry it with me everywhere and always looked for artsy stuff to take pictures of.
Hahah same here, they did take good pictures even with the relatively low res sensor, I suppose all the extra room for camera optics helps as opposed to packing it all into a thin phone.
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Been there for ages I guess, I have a 2.0 MEGAPIXEL FujiFilm FinePix with a DCIM directory.
Came here to say pretty much the same - the two digital cameras I had before the “half-way decent cameras in your smartphone” age (including one which wasn’t that specific model but a similar one from the same generation) both had a DCIM directory.
The only surprise I had around DCIM was at some point finding out that there was a directory with that name inside my Android phone since I expected everything would end up under Photos.
I think it’s another Windows hangover, I first saw it as a USB Windows spec way back when MTP was a mode as well. Fucking Windows, fucking with the image storage on my android phones 20 years layer.
It’s a DCF thing, not a Windows thing. A bunch of Japanese companies collaborated on a spec in the 90s so most digital cameras would work vaguely the same as far as file storage went and it’s still the standard because it’s a naming convention and there’s not really a reason to change it.
Fair enough, interesting wiki read, thanks.
The fact that people revel in the newfound knowledge about why their photos aren’t stored in the Photos folder in 2025 makes me think otherwise. 😁
Eh. :P
I mean sure it’s kind of a relic from the 90s, but so is the save icon. If you change it you’re breaking backwards compatibility with everything tangentially related to digital cameras prior to <current year>. A ‘photos’ folder might be more intuitive but then you run into the issue of “what about my language’s folder” instead of just everyone worldwide using DCIM.
Sometimes its better long term for people to learn about a standard instead of for the standard to be more intuitive to newcomers. Sure you could just make a new standard but that’s its own problem.
If websites are able to know what language my computer is using, I would expect local apps to have an easier time figuring it out. There’s also the possibility of setting a default folder to save photos in. Right now I can only select DCIM on internal or SD storage.
And regarding standards, I don’t accept the argument that there’s an eternal and objective gold standard. It used to be standard to have 640k RAM. It used to be standard to store images in a DCIM folder for compatibility reasons. Do we need those compatibilities any more? I’d say no.
Sure. Now organize updating the last 30 years of hardware and software for compatability. Or just keep using the slightly unintuitive thing.
You’re conflating two different definitions of “standard”. URLs are more human readable than IPs, but changing IPs into URLs would cost decades of manpower and break everything for basically no benefit either.
Ok. Everything not supporting the modern standard is now considered outdated.
Phew, I need to log off after all that cerebral exhaustion.
Your application to work at Microsoft has been accepted.
I had one of those cameras maybe 20 years ago, it took really good pictures. I used to carry it with me everywhere and always looked for artsy stuff to take pictures of.
Hahah same here, they did take good pictures even with the relatively low res sensor, I suppose all the extra room for camera optics helps as opposed to packing it all into a thin phone.