Skip to main content
S
siobhanp18048166
Participating Frequently
August 19, 2019
Question

Capture date lost when I export photos from Lightroom CC

  • August 19, 2019
  • 4 replies
  • 2543 views

When I export my edited photos from Lightroom as JPEGS the original metadata gets lost. I select 'include all metadata' when exporting, but the date and time is changed to the date and time they're exported from Lightroom, putting them all out of sync.

Is there a way to stop this from happening?

Thanks, H.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    4 replies

    heathersmedia
    heathersmedia
    Participant
    October 1, 2022

    I'm having the same issue.  

     

    I imported the NEW Jpegs into a NEW LR cataglog and all the original meta data capture date is gone.   

     

    I've beeen using LR for over 5 years and never ran into this issue.  I've exported over 30,000 images and never once has the capture date disappeared and changed to the export date. 

     

    johnrellis
    johnrellis
    Legend
    October 1, 2022

    [This post contains formatting and embedded images that don't appear in email. View the post in your Web browser.]

     

    @heathersmedia, to test my understanding, you're exporting a photo from the LR catalog as a JPEG, and the exported JPEG is missing the capture date, which you've verified by importing that exported JPEG into a new LR catalog.

     

    Initial troubleshooting steps:

     

    1. Select one of the problem photos in Library Grid view. 

     

    2. Post a screenshot of the entire Metadata panel with the EXIF tagset selected:

     

    3. In the Export window, post a screenshot of the Metadata section of the Export settings being used:

     

    4. Attach the exported JPEG to your reply here.

     

     

      johnrellis
      johnrellis
      Legend
      November 4, 2019

      I just imported and exported the sample photo you attached, and my LR 8.4.1 / Mac OS 10.14.6 preserved the capture date in the exported photo's metadata. 

       

      You wrote, "the date and time is changed to the date and time they're exported from Lightroom, putting them all out of sync". I should have asked before -- how exactly where you viewing the capture date of the exported photos?  

       

      If you were using Finder, its Date Created and Date Modified columns show when the file was created or modified by an application, which in general are not the same time as the capture date (as you may have discovered).

       

      That's interesting about the new Content Created field in Finder in 10.15 (Catalina). Unfortunately, this appears to be only visible in Column view of Finder, and you can cannot add it as a column in List view or sort by it.

       

      So in general, there remains no way in Finder to sort photos by capture date.  (Windows File Explorer is more flexible on that score.)  The best you can do is to include the capture date in the exported filename, or export the photos in capture-date order with a file renaming that preserves that order, and then rely on Finder to sort the files by filename.

       

      [Use the reply button under the first post to ensure replies sort properly.]

      S
      siobhanp18048166Author
      Participating Frequently
      November 5, 2019

      Thank you @johnrellis 

      Yes, I was just viewing the the capture data via Mac Finder. It's very frustrating when you're trying to sort and view photos in chronological order that you can't sort them by their actual capture date. I'll start naming my individual files by date and time from now on.

      johnrellis
      johnrellis
      Legend
      November 1, 2019

      Attach one of your photos (the orignal, not the exported version) to your reply here, and based on what I see in its metadata, I can recommend a workaround.

       

      To attach a photo here: After posting the reply, click More > Edit Reply at the bottom of the reply. Then click the little paperclip icon in the lower-left corner of the reply box. Then click Apply Edits.

       

      [Use the reply button under the first post to ensure replies sort properly.]

      S
      siobhanp18048166Author
      Participating Frequently
      November 4, 2019

      Here's an example. I've actually found that with updating my operating system to Catalina my Mac nows shows me more information in the Finder - before I was only seeing 'Created' and 'Modified' date. Now it is also showing me 'Content created' which seems to be nearer to the correct original date. Below are screen shots of the info from the original and then the modified image.

      ManiacJoe
      ManiacJoe
      Inspiring
      August 19, 2019

      Which NUMBER version of Lightroom?

      Mac or Windows? Which version?

      Can you show us some screen shots (or EXIF data dumps) of the data in the before and after pictures?

      A
      atomcze
      Participant
      September 22, 2019
      I'm having the same problem right now! I'm on Mac Mojave 10.14.6 and LR classic version is: 8.4.1. In LR you can see all the metadata correctly, but after export it's wrong. Exactly as siobhanp18048166 wrote
        Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
        Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices