Batch Renaming: "Date Created" vs "Date File Created"

Report · May 02, 2019

As a professional photographer and long-time Adobe Bridge / Lightroom / Photoshop user, I have ALWAYS been confused by why there is frequently a one+ second difference between the same image file's "Date Created" and "Date File Created."

-- I am *NOT* talking about "Date File Modified" --

I have searched for the answer to my question online and have not found a satisfactory explanation.

I want to Batch Rename my image files according to the exact HHMMSS I pressed the shutter button and thus the file was created, which should take care of the dreaded _ (1), _ (2), _ (3), etc file extensions 95% of the time.

Is there an option to Batch Rename according to the mysteriously more accurate "Date FILE Created" instead of the mysteriously inaccurate "Date Created?"

Thanks,

Scott

Report · May 02, 2019

Not sure how you are getting only 1 second between those two "Date Created" and "Date File Created". They are two different things entirely. "Date Created" is when the camera saved the raw image to the card. "Date File Created" is when the file on your computer was created when you downloaded the images off of your card.

So if you want to sort and name based on the time when you shot the image, just sort your images by "Date Created", then batch rename them. If you were to rename them based on the "Date File Created", you would be renaming based on the times you downloaded the images.

Report · May 03, 2019

You may see differences if you shoot tethered. Also, file system metadata and EXIF/XMP data are written differently.

You might not be able to get exact second information that is totally accurate and matching between different fields.

Report · May 03, 2019

ScottFin – I must confess that I am somewhat confused by the specifics of your post, I understand the general request.

I have checked raw files from two DSLR's and jpeg files from an iPhone and most of the time I have matching dates/times.

I have raw metadata entries such as:

<exif:DateTimeOriginal>2013-10-13T14:57:13</exif:DateTimeOriginal><xmp:CreateDate>2013-10-13T14:57:13</xmp:CreateDate>
<xmp:MetadataDate>2018-08-01T11:34:09+10:00</xmp:MetadataDate>
<photoshop:DateCreated>2013-10-13T14:57:13</photoshop:DateCreated>

I can easily find "Date Created" in Bridge, but not "Date File Created". Can you provide clear instructions and or screenshots to illustrate?

Can you post screenshots, such as:

A lot is possible with regular expression based string substitutions, such as:

Prepression: Bridge vs. Lightroom Batch Rename Comparison

However explicit metadata fields are required to formulate the required Batch Rename command.

Report · May 04, 2025

I'm confused by this too. I am looking at a raw file saved on my computer and according to the answers you've been given so far, the Date File Created (when it was downloaded to my computer from the memory card) ought to be after the Date Created, when it was shot on the camera. But I've got a file here where the Date File created is almost 13 seconds earlier than the Date Created. Which makes no sense!

Report · May 04, 2025

Edited to add...13 minutes earlier, not seconds!

Report · May 04, 2025

Date Created is that assigned by your camera when the image was taken according to your camera's clock. If you have not edited this time stamp, then is your camera's clock set accurately? Worth checking because this could well account for the time discrepancy you describe if your camera and computer clocks are not synchronised.