renaming files if not based on shooting date anymore

[Dynamic_hearted16B7]

Hi all,

is it only me or with the latest versions of LrC ( > v. 12.2 if I remember correctly) if I rename files inside LrC doing the following:

Date_shootname_sequence 

now the date is not the shooting's date anymore but the day when I actually rename the file. Is it a bug or what? This way of renaming is totaly useless to me! I have to use Bridge to do the job! 😞 😞 

[Suzanne Mathia]

If Lightroom does not see a valid capture date in the image's metadata, it will use the file modification date (which would often be the import date). So you need to verify that the images that you tried to rename do indeed have a valid capture date .

[JohanElzenga]

I agree with @Suzanne Mathia . Lightroom Classic 12.5 still renames my images correctly, nothing has changed. What must have changed for you is your images...

[johnrellis]

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

To verify whether a photo has a valid capture date in its metadata, in Library, select the image and in the Metadata panel, select EXIF. If the field Date Time Original is blank, then the photo doesn't contain a valid capture date:

In that case, LR will use the current file last-modified date (which changes each time LR writes metadata back to the file).  

You can set a valid capture date using the command Metadata > Edit Capture Time.

[Dynamic_hearted16B7]

Sorry but this is not my case: 

Date is correctly read in LrC : 14th Sept 2023 but when I try renaming with the Import pane in LrC what I see is this:

So I have 20th Sept 2023 ! Which it's never occured to me in the past. 

[johnrellis]

Upload a problem photo to Dropbox, Google Drive, or similar and post the sharing link here. We can examine the photo and detail and diagnose the issue.

[Dynamic_hearted16B7]

Now I'm on the go, but I will asap, but I might have found the bug! 

In the meantime please check the following: try renaming one original raw file during the import process (right column on the import pane - Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+i) and not afterward.  

If you rename the file after the import (Menu Library->Rename photos - F2), the rename template will work as expected on the very same file; while it won't work correctly during the import process. 

[JohanElzenga]

I always rename during import. No problem at all.

[johnrellis]

1. Are importing via a USB cable, from a card reader, or from the hard disk?

2. In addition to uploading a smplae photo, please do the LR menu command Help > System Info and copy/paste the entire contents here so we can see exactly which versions of hardware and software LR thinks you're running and important LR options that are set.

[Dynamic_hearted16B7]

1) I import direct from the internal hard disk where I've previously copied the SD cards.

2) sample photo 

3) System Info 

Now you have everything! Thanks

[johnrellis]

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

When I import that sample photo (or any photo) with Copy As DNG, Copy, or Move, the Sample file name displayed in Import's File Renaming panel shows today's date:

But when the photo is actually imported, LR correctly uses the photo's capture date for renaming:

I tested LR 12.0, 11.0, and 10.4, and the Sample file name always used today's date.

After you let the Import finish, does the photo end up being renamed with the correct date?

[Dynamic_hearted16B7]

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

When I import that sample photo (or any photo) with Copy As DNG, Copy, or Move, the Sample file name displayed in Import's File Renaming panel shows today's date:

But when the photo is actually imported, LR correctly uses the photo's capture date for renaming:

I tested LR 12.0, 11.0, and 10.4, and the Sample file name always used today's date.

After you let the Import finish, does the photo end up being renamed with the correct date?

By @johnrellis

Yes... as I wrote if I rename the files after the import everything is as expected and I have the correct shooting date on file. 

I've asked to a friend of mine to dao the same with one of his photos and the result is the same (LrC 12.5): 

 this is the import template's pane during the import process. While this is: 

while this is the rename template's pane (F2) after the import process. 

So this is clearly a bug! I don't know how to tell Adobe about it.

[JohanElzenga]

Don't look at the example in this dialog, look at the result when the photo is actually imported and renamed during import. The example is just to show you how the name will look (so you can check for mistakes you made). Todays date is just as good to do that as the capture date of some random photo.

[johnrellis]

"as I wrote if I rename the files after the import everything is as expected and I have the correct shooting date on file. "

Right -- my question was, if you use the file-renaming template during import and let the import complete. do the files in fact get renamed with the correct date?

[Dynamic_hearted16B7]

Right -- my question was, if you use the file-renaming template during import and let the import complete. do the files in fact get renamed with the correct date?

By @johnrellis

oh ok, I miserunderstood. 

You are right! if I complete the import the date will be the correctly assigned to the shooting date, so it's only a cosmetic bug. Still it's misleading because you can't interpret rightly, especially considereing that the rename pane after the import show the right date even in preview.

[johnrellis]

"it's misleading because you can't interpret rightly, especially considering that the rename pane after the import show the right date even in preview."

I agree -- I was confused initially too. I suspect the issue is that at the time of import, a photo's metadata isn't yet stored in the catalog, and so the renaming preview code needs to access the capture date metadata using a different mechanism. That would be straightforward to program, but evidently Adobe hasn't done it.

[C.Cella]

Unfortunately the LrC sequence doesn't reset with each new day.

E.g

10 Photos taken 2023/09/22 and 10 photos 2023/09/23

Select them all and rename with YYYY/MM/DD + sequence (can be done on import).

The sequence would not reset with each new day and you will end with a sequence that goes form 1 to 20  but it's two different days.

So is best to never rename on import with sequence but select each day after import and rename.

Another long standing bug/limitation that has never been fixed.

.

[JohanElzenga]

Please do not highjack this thread. The problem the OP claims to have is not with the (known issue with) the sequence number, but with the date that is used.