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Arktog
Arktog
Participant
February 3, 2022
Question

How do I sort photos from multiple cameras by capture time?

  • February 3, 2022
  • 3 replies
  • 5467 views

So on my last wedding photography project we had almost 4 different cameras shooting. One D750, one Z6II, One Mark IV and one 6D Mark II. When I import all of these photos in a single catalogue and hit "sort by capture time" what lightroom does is sort the photos by capture date from each camera separtely. That means First It'll sort by capture time the photos from my D750 and then My Z6II. So If I click 500 Photos from my D750 and 500  from my Z6II, Then Two photos taken at the same time from both of these cameras will so far apart in the catalogue. I hope I was able to explain the situation. Please suggest a fix for this in the latest lightroom classic.

3 replies

Bob Somrak
Bob Somrak
Legend
February 3, 2022

The cameras probably have the clocks set differently.

M4 Pro Mac Mini. 48GB
ManiacJoe
ManiacJoe
Inspiring
February 3, 2022

The way I get around the multi-camera names is by renaming the files using the format

yyyymmdd_hhmmss_nnnn

where the timestamp is the EXIF creation date and nnnn is the original file number.

(I don't do this in LR, but LR knows how to do it.)

When shooting only one camera, I will leave out the hhmmss.

 

Prior to the shoot I sync the clocks on the cameras to within 1 second.

Prior to the shoot I format all the cards in the cameras and reset the file numbers to 1.

This gives me unique file names across all shoots and gives me sorting by name = sort by date, which can be helpful when sort by date may not be working for all file viewers.

    JohanElzenga
    Community Expert
    JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 3, 2022

    I rename too, but that does not answer the question. You should be able to sort images by capture time, regardless of the camera. And regardless of the file name.

     

    -- Johan W. Elzenga
      JohanElzenga
      Community Expert
      JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 3, 2022

      This is not how it should work. Sorting by capture time is sorting by capture time, regardless of the camera. Did you perhaps stack the photos by camera? In that case the stacks are sorted, not the individual photos.

       

      -- Johan W. Elzenga
        Arktog
        ArktogAuthor
        Participant
        February 3, 2022

        All the RAW files are in their own folders. For example D750 Files are in a Folder marked D750 and so on. And then I drag all these folders into Lightroom. And then whichever photo I need I mark it as 5 star. And then create a smart collection of 5 star photos. Are you saying that all of the RAW photos need to be in a single folder only and then only it'll show photos taken at the same time next to each other regardless of camera?

        JohanElzenga
        Community Expert
        JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        February 3, 2022

        No, I am not saying that. If you look at the photos in a (smart) collection, then it is irrelevant where they are stored. Just set the sort order of the collection to capture time and all the images should be sorted by capture time, regardless of the camera. Mind you: each collection or folder can have its own sort order, so you do have to set that sort order for the smart collection. Perhaps you did not do that yet.

         

        -- Johan W. Elzenga
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