Whats going on with my file dates - Help

[murdock01]

I have been checking out XYplorer for a week now and I took the jump and purchase it on sale. I have been eval'ing it at work to put it through its paces and have enjoyed it so far.
Now I brought it home and started to use it in the hope it would help me manage the large amounts of files (pics) I have. Well as you can see in the screen shot something is amiss.
These 3 photos were taken on 11/1/2010 as shown on the info that come up when I mouse over the files. But in the modified and created columns the date is completely incorrect.
I checked other pictures both in jpg and raw format and they to are incorrect. I tried changing the date format and a few other things but I am not sure what is going on.
Before I go to far I thought I would post so I do not condemn the software for something I am missing or something stupid I did.
I love the file manager so far and cant wait to start scripting but incorrect dates is really going to put a crimp in one of the main reasons I wanted an advance file manager in the first place.
Please help.

[j_c_hallgren]

I have been checking out XYplorer for a week now and I took the jump and purchase it on sale.

Hi and welcome to the XY forums! And thanks much on behalf of Don for buying it also!

Now, as to your issue...what dates do these files show in Win Expl? And are these files on your hard drive or the camera card? Because sometimes when files are copied from external sources like SD cards to local drives, the files may reflect the dates the copy occurred and not when the pix was taken.

[SkyFrontier]

If the situation described by Hallgren is what is bothering you, perhaps the Timestamping Suite can help you with those issues, Murdock.
Specially the "Timezoned Timestamping from EXIF" script may be of help.
Also, take a look at these XYplorer's own features:

Code: Select all

v9.60.0005 - 2010-10-13 16:22
    + CKS | Miscellaneous | Timestamp: Added command "Set Created Date 
      to EXIF Date". Sets the Created date of each selected image file 
      (JPEG, TIFF) to its EXIF date.
      If no EXIF date is found the Created date is not touched.

v8.20.0006 - 2009-08-13 21:28
    + XYplorer Variables: Coming from a holiday trip with lots of 
      digital photos I decided to add some comfort for photographers,
      and added a variable that resolves to the EXIF (Exchangeable Image 
      File Format) date of the focused image file (JPEG or TIFF): 
      <dateexif>.
      Usage is just as with other XY variables. Some simple examples:
        ::echo "<dateexif>"; //uses general system date/time format
        ::echo "<dateexif yyyy>"; //just the year
        ::echo "<dateexif yyyymmdd_hhnnss>"; //fully configurable format
      It starts getting interesting when you use the variable for 
      renaming or timestamping files. e.g.:
        //set modified date to EXIF date:
        ::timestamp m, "<dateexif>";
        //prefix EXIF date to filename:
        ::rename b, "<dateexif yyyymmdd_hhnnss>-*", p;
      Remarks:
      - The procedure will first look for the field DateTimeOriginal 
        which is defined as "Date and time the picture was taken with the 
        camera".
      - If this field does not exist the procedure will then look for 
        the field DateTime ("Date and time the image file was stored on 
        camera chip").
      - If this field does not exist the variable returns nothing.

[murdock01]

Here is a shot of Win Expl. I am running win 7 and these files are on a local drive that I use to organize and archive. These files were actually copied on 11/3/2010. I had though about the dates getting modified in some way so I did double check explorer before I posted. I also checked the EXIF info and there is nothing about 6/11/2010 anything.

Thanks for the welcome. I hope Don enjoys my money as much as I hope to enjoy his product.

[j_c_hallgren]

These files were actually copied on 11/3/2010.
I also checked the EXIF info and there is nothing about 6/11/2010 anything.

Ok..maybe we have a clue here...sorry I didn't see it before...can't yet explain the 3 vs 6 but how about this: MM/DD/YYYY vs DD/MM/YYYY?

[murdock01]

After some experimenting:
I copied more photos from the camera to the hard drive and the modified and created dates were set to today even though the exif date is 11/1/2010. I guess it makes sense but win explr displayed the date that was most usefull to me.
I did mess around with the date format as suggested but still cant explain why it thinks those pics were copied on the 6th.

I guess I am at the point of - is there a way to display exif info in the columns or a way to add custom columns? I guess this could be posted on the wish list but at the moment I am putting it here.

Also I guess I could use skyfrontier's script, and I am going to check it out, but I might write my own to get my scripting legs so to speak. I write a lot of scripts at work so I am looking forward to this.
I will post my results.

Thanks all for the help so far!

[j_c_hallgren]

I copied more photos from the camera to the hard drive and the modified and created dates were set to today even though the exif date is 11/1/2010. I guess it makes sense but win explr displayed the date that was most usefull to me.
I did mess around with the date format as suggested but still cant explain why it thinks those pics were copied on the 6th.

On this older sys, when I copy pix from SD card to HDD, on output files: the modified date is the date taken and the created date is when they were copied...and as said, I can't explain the 6th but MM/DD vs DD/MM would at least explain part of it.

I guess I am at the point of - is there a way to display exif info in the columns or a way to add custom columns? I guess this could be posted on the wish list but at the moment I am putting it here.

It's already been wished for and is on the Roadmap for future development as "shell columns", I believe.

Thanks all for the help so far!

No problem!
I'd also look at using "Backup" vs Copy, and look at Config>File Opers>Backup : Preserve file dates.

[admin]

Welcome murdock01!

XY shows the Last Modified Date of the file, that's why the column is called "Modified". This is completely independent of the date you have taken the photo.

WE, on the other hand, shows off its dumb-smartness and auto-adjusts its view to photos and calls the column "Date". Which is confusing the users as we just have seen. What this column actually shows is the EXIF date of the files.

Currently XY does not support a column showing EXIF dates but this is planned.

There is however a way in XY to set the modified date of a photo file to the photo's EXIF date. Would that be interesting to you?

[j_c_hallgren]

WE, on the other hand, shows off its dumb-smartness and auto-adjusts its view to photos and calls the column "Date". Which is confusing the users as we just have seen. What this column actually shows is the EXIF date of the files.

That's what I suspected was happening but since my ole OS/WE isn't that smart, i don't see it here...however, how do we explain the 3 days difference in when he says he copied them (on 3rd - taking his word for that) and date showing (6th)?

[admin]

WE, on the other hand, shows off its dumb-smartness and auto-adjusts its view to photos and calls the column "Date". Which is confusing the users as we just have seen. What this column actually shows is the EXIF date of the files.

That's what I suspected was happening but since my ole OS/WE isn't that smart, i don't see it here...however, how do we explain the 3 days difference in when he says he copied them (on 3rd - taking his word for that) and date showing (6th)?

Dunno. The dates are correct. This function never failed.

[murdock01]

I would be interested in anything that would help. I have created a user button that runs a little script: timestamp cm, "<dateexif>".
I am ignoring the couple files with the date of the 6th. Everything else seems to fall in line with what has been discussed. Maybe my wife recopied these files or something.
In general I use the EOS utils to copy the files from the camera to the archive drive, at least on my DSLR. This allows me to automate file naming and directory naming. The jpgs come from my wifes point n shoot. I always shoot raw.
I noticed that the timestamp command will not work on raw (canon raw in my case) files.
I wonder if there will be any future support for photo related files. I dont want to turn a file manager into a photo manager but it would be nice to be able to handle some of the basics of handling photo metadata.
For now I plan to use Phil Harveys Exiftool and some scripting to do what I want. I will post the results if I have lots of success.
Anyone interested in manipulating photo metadata should look info Exiftool - extremely powerful.

[admin]

The problem with RAW is that there are so many formats. Every camera vendor creates his own...

[j_c_hallgren]

The problem with RAW is that there are so many formats. Every camera vendor creates his own...

Correct! And then they sometimes add new items to it over time so it becomes a real maintenance issue...that's why leaving handling of RAW to other more specialized utilities makes more sense from XY point-of-view.