Skip to main content
A
athegn
Known Participant
August 19, 2023
Question

Corrrecting mis-dated files

  • August 19, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 485 views

I have a number of Sony RX100M5A where the year was wrong.

 

I download images from the camera SD card via Breeze Downloader Pro. Downloader Pro also creates a backup on an external HDD at the same time so I can format the card straight away knowing I have two copies of the images. To match my file image folder hierarchy I have to tell Downloader Pro what year it is downloading

 

e.g H:\Mass Data LIVE\General 2023\{b} {T}\{Y}-{m}-{D} NOTE Download Pro only has date as YY/MM/DD whereas I, in UK, try to use DD/MM/YY

 

2023 is for this year; so I got the folder date correct as all the images are in the correct place i.e. 2022. It is the camera setting I forgot; I only got the camera in May of 2022 and only noticed the date when I used it again in September 2022. That camera was lightly used that year; my RX10M3 was used most that year.

 

I use PS Elements 2021 for my images. So after Downloader Pro has done its work I go into Organizer and import and tag.

 

I have a new PC and made a boo boo when setting it up; I was a bit cavalier when organising the various hard disks and move my image files outside of Organizer; have now corrected that and Oranizer now sees all images on the correct disk and folder.

 

However I still have the problem of these mis-dated images. So I downloaded Bridge to see what it could do.

I will show what results I am getting for two images.

 

H:\Mass Data LIVE\General 2022\21-05-19\DSC00001.ARW and H:\Mass Data LIVE\General 2022\21-05-19\DSC00001.JPG

In Windows 11 > Explorer > Properties > Details DSC00001.ARW cannot change Date taken; Read Only NOT checked.

In Windows 11 > Explorer > Properties > Details DSC00001.JPG can change Date Taken to 22-05-19

 

In Bridge > Edit Capture Time I changed DSC00001.ARW to 19/05/2022 ; in Bridge both now show Date Created as 19/05/2022

 

I then rebooted my PC and opened Organizer to find that Information on both images still says 19/5/2021.

 

In Metadata ARW Date Modified 19/5/1921 and JPG 19/8/2023 i.e today.


In Explorer > Details > DSC00001.ARW is still Date Taken 19/05/2021 but DSC00001.JPG is 19/05/2022. I also see that there is a file DSC00001.xmp.

 

I have not changed the folder date, in Organizer, to 22-05-19; I don't see that that would make any difference to the file date?

 

Why does Explorer not allow AWR to be changed. Bridge does allow change but Organizer ignores both changes?

 

Any advice please.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    1 reply

    gregreser
    gregreser
    Legend
    August 20, 2023

    The problem is that file dates are stored in more than one location and Bridge and Windows Explorer work with metadata for RAW files differently.

     

    In Bridge, and most all photo editing apps, when you edit a RAW file, the changes are saved in an .xmp sidecar file that has the name as the RAW file. When you click on a RAW file, Bridge recognized the .xmp file and uses it for the metadata. Windows Explorer does not do this, it only reads metadata from the RAW file. I don't use Organizer, so I can't say how it handles RAW files, but I bet it is doing the same thing as Explorer. There is much less metdata stored in the RAW file and, in general, it cannot (should not) be edited.

     

    What makes this frustrating is that some important basic metadata, like Date Created, is stored in both the RAW file and the .xmp file. As you found, it is not possible to edit the RAW file metadata in Windows Explorer or Bridge resulting in a mismatch.

     

    From my testing in Windows 10, if you change the CreateDate in a RAW file, Windows Explorer will show the new date. This should also work in Windows 11. I don't have Organizer for testing.

     

    Unfortunately, there is no way to edit RAW CreateDate in Bridge, but you could use ExifTool. It is a command line tool, so there is a bit of a learning curve.

     

    If all of your AWR files are off by one year, you could use use ExifTool to increase the year by 1 (2021 to 2022)

    This command will process all AWR files in your folder H:\Mass Data LIVE\General 2022\21-05-19\ It should not change the .JPG or .xmp files

     

    exiftool -overwrite_original_in_place -CreateDate+="1:0:0 0:0:0" -ext AWR "H:\Mass Data LIVE\General 2022\21-05-19"

     

    You should test it on some copy files to be sure it is working correctly. You would have to adjust the folder path in the command to point to different folder with test files.

      A
      athegnAuthor
      Known Participant
      August 21, 2023

      I am now trying exiftool.

      I am doing something wrong.

      I created a new folder H:\Mass Data LIVE\General 2022\21-05-18\ and copied in, from H:\Mass Data LIVE\General 2022\21-05-18\, 2 files DSC00002AWR and DSC00002.JPG then renamed the files DSC70002>AWR/JPG.

       

      I downloaded exiftool-12.65.zip in a folder. I extracted that zip and got exiftool(-k).exe then dragged the AWR file onto exiftool(-k).exe which opened up a command box with all the meta details of the file. The final line said -- press ENTER -- with a flashing corsor on the next line.

       

      I copy/pasted "-overwrite_original_in_place -CreateDate+="1:0:0 0:0:0" -ext AWR "H:\Mass Data LIVE\General 2022\21-05-19\undefined" against the flashing cursor and pressed ENTER; the box disappeared so I assumed the file was altered.

      So I dragged it back on the .exe but it still shows Create Date as 2021:05:19 (in your command you say CreatDate+ in the details it is Create Date?)

       

      Could you please tell what am I doing wrong?

      gregreser
      gregreser
      Legend
      August 21, 2023

      Opening the exiftool(-k).exe window is good for reading metadata, but for running commands you need to install exiftool in the C:\WINDOWS and then open a generic command prompt.

       

      Keep the exiftool(-k).exe file where it is for drag and drop file reading.

      Make a copy of exiftool(-k).exe and rename it to exiftool.exe 

      Move exiftool.exe to the "C:\WINDOWS" directory.

       

      More info on installing

       

      Open the Command Prompt window from the Start menu.


      Begin your command with exiftool in order to call the program.

       

      Paste in this command:

      exiftool -overwrite_original_in_place -CreateDate+="1:0:0 0:0:0" -ext AWR "H:\Mass Data LIVE\General 2022\21-05-19"

       

      Notice this command does not end with /undefined. That was a mistake in my original post.

       

      Here is my test. It's for NEF files, but the process would also work for AWR

       

      Press Enter

      Result:

      You should see the date change for the test files in Windows Explorer immediately.

       

       

      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
      Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices