Participating Frequently

Answered

Sorting of LR photos by capture date/time

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
February 14, 2018
5 replies
44883 views

I have a need to be able to sort my photos by the date and time they were taken. I have already imported the raw files into LR Classic. I need to export them as .jpg in the time they were taken not the file name. I use 2 cameras for events and am randomly using both cameras. When I import them they are sorted by filename. I want to sort them in order of time they were taken to give to my clients in that order. I know I could prior to importing them into LR sort by date and do a batch rename in Windows explorer then import them into LR, which I could then sort in the order of time taken but I have already imported them into LR and done edits on over 500 images. I can't do the sorting after exporting from LR to .jpg because the time stamp is the time they were exported not created.

Anyone know of a solution. I can't find anywhere in LR to sort by time taken prior to export or during the export process.

Help would be appreciated.

Thank you much!

D

Correct answer JP Hess

Will sorting by capture time work for you?

E

edwardm40347990

Participant

I'm not quite certain that this question has been answered. Isn't the request how to sort photos in the Library view by a concatenated version of the "Capture Date" and "Capture Time" fields? I don't quite see why LrC doesn't offer a sort by Capture Date option for a Library view. What am I missing?

Rob_Cullen

Community Expert

"concatenated"- The 'Sort by Capture Time' IS a concatenated sort of both Date and Time.

So I am not sure what you are questioning.

Or you can use the Metadata Filter to show photos by any DATE combination- Year, Month, Day, and then sort the 'Capture TIME' in the Grid as well.

Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.0, Photoshop 27.0, ACR 18.0, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0 .

Germán Herrera

Inspiring

Thank you for your response WobertC, this has not been a problem for a long time.

MacOS 15.1.1 Sequoia>System: Macbook M2 Pro 16Gb

darylj69763446Author

Participating Frequently

Actually I'm wrong. I had the sort option ticked off while in Loupe view. Now all is well...

darylj69763446Author

Participating Frequently

Oh BTW sorting is only visible while in Grid view. It isn't there in Loupe view. Thats why I couldn't fine it. It should be visible in Loupe view also.

Rob_Cullen

Community Expert

It should be visible in Loupe view also.

Why?

You cannot sort ONE image!!!

But OK, for the Filmstrip to be sorted you need to first sort in Grid view. A quick press of G then E toggles from Grid to LoupE.

Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.0, Photoshop 27.0, ACR 18.0, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0 .

S

SimonM1956

Participating Frequently

No, "Capture Time" sort would not be affected by filters.

I can only suggest that the cameras were not set to the same time&date. Check the metadata of some images from both cameras for that. If cameras were set different, you can use Lightroom to correct the sort by changing their Capture Time. (Metadata>Edit Capture Time)

If I understand you are trying to 'narrow' your selection of the "1300 4 & 5 starred" photos, that should be easy by setting attributes on the filter bar to narrow the selection.

With my catalog "All Photographs" will sort correctly by 'Capture Time' irrespective of any camera or attributes.

Taking your suggestion I have checked the Metadata of two example images exposed on the same day and date (6 Aug 2014) the first occurs at #521 in Loupe View and the second image the same date (different camera & lens) appearing at #1284 in Loupe View. I checked the two filter settings (a. sort by 'capture date) and (b. sort by 'star rating' > than and equal to 4*).

I did however note the file type varied between the two camera. The first was a *.DNG and the second a RAW image as *.NEF. Would this account for the difference? If so can it be resolved (ie. post exposure) to meet my objective?

darylj69763446Author

Participating Frequently

Well I just figured out a fix. As it turns out LR does export the file info for the original date and time. In Windows explorer sort all files in order of date/time. That will give you an order of time taken. If it's sorted in the wrong direction just click the button again. Then select all photos, right click on the 1st photo and rename it whatever you want then click enter. The consecutive files will be renamed the same with the addition of a number starting from 1 then 2...3 and so on. Problem solved.

There is however no option in LR to sort photos in the catalog by anything but filename.

JP HessCorrect answer

Inspiring

Will sorting by capture time work for you?

darylj69763446Author

Participating Frequently

Yes that did work Jim. I thought after exporting from LR the files were saved with a time stamp of when the files were exported. They however are exported with the original file date and time which can be then sorted in Windows explorer, renamed and windows assigns a consecutive number to the remaining files on your selected list.

Thank Your Sir for replying.

LR however, dosen't have an option to sort files in the catalog by anything other than filename which is the default.

Thanks

JP Hess

Inspiring

Really? One of the sort options is to sort by Capture Time. You can sort by capture time, file name, added order, edit time and several other options. Where did you get the idea that file name is the only option?

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded