I've been using cam2pc (unfortunately development seems to have stopped) for years and I really like the options it gives your for downloading pics from your camera/flash card.
I have it place the files in the directory:
...\Pictures\<Year >\<Month>\<Day> - <Shoot description>\NEF\
NOTE: cam2pc prompts for a Shoot description for each Day's worth of shots before downloading.
I later put JPEG versions of the RAW files at ...\Pictures\<Year>\<Month>\<Day> - <Description>\
for easy browsing.
The filenames from my camera are:
DSC_xxxx.NEF
NOTE: xxxx is the camera's picture counter, which I don't have it reset
I have it rename the files:
<Year>-<Month>-<Day> [xxxx].NEF
This keeps them in the order they were shot, and prevents me from having to put the whole timestamp down to the second in there to prevent duplicate filenames.
So, in the end I have something like:
..\Pictures\2007\01\15 - The Kids\2007-01-15 [0001].NEF
..\Pictures\2007\01\15 - The Kids\2007-01-15 [0002].NEF
..\Pictures\2007\01\15 - The Kids\2007-01-15 [0003].NEF
I'd love to be able to do all this with MC.
If I want to do it currently, I have to:
1) Use the camera wizard to import the files into 1 directory
2) Fill properties from filename to get the Counter into a custom library field
3) Tag all the files with the appropriate Shoot descriptions
3) Rename files from properties to get the files into the right directories and named appropriately
NOTE: I haven't found the right settings here to get the files named 2007-01-15 [xxxx].NEF, the best I can get is 2007-January-15 [xxxx].NEF.
So, today I still use cam2pc to download the files, then import them into MC later.
-John