What do file, EXIF, and composite date/time fields mean, and which should I use to sort photos by capture time?
Asked 10/10/2015
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2 answers
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When viewing image metadata, I see several different date/time fields:
- File Modification Date/Time
- File Access Date/Time
- File Creation Date/Time
- EXIF Modify Date
- EXIF Date/Time Original
- EXIF Create Date
- Composite Create Date / Date/Time Original / Modify Date
I understand the File dates come from the operating system or filesystem rather than the camera metadata. What does each group represent, when do they change, and which field is the best reference for sorting photos by when they were actually taken?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
13
You are correct about the [File] tags, they are info about the file from the underlying filesystem. Create Date/Time is the timestamp for when the file was created. I believe that File Modification Date/Time is changed whenever the the file is opened for a write operation, even when the write is 0 bytes. One of its main uses is to let backup software know that the file has been changed. Under Windows XP, File Access Date/Time was changed whenever the file was read or written to. Later versions of Windows had this turned off by default, but it can be turned back on with a reg edit. I think there are some differences if you're using a Mac or Linux system.
Composite tags are not tags that are actually part of the file. They're created by ExifTool by combining other tags that are in the file. In your example case, they are directly copied from the EXIF tags. But there can be cases where, for example, Date/Time Original doesn't exist in the file, but there may be a DateCreated and a TimeCreated tag. ExifTool would combine these two to create Date/Time Original. This would be unlikely for a modern camera picture, as they usually save such info in the EXIF block. See Composite Tags for more info.
That leaves the EXIF tags. Date/Time Original and Create Date should be the same for a modern camera picture. But if you were, for example, scanning old pictures, slides, or negatives, the Create Date should be the date/time you saved it to the file and then you would alter the Date/Time Original to the correct time, if you knew it. Obviously, few people are going to know the exact time a picture was taken and probably not going to bother.
Modify Date would be the timestamp for when you might alter the image or it's metadata. This is a tag that hopefully would be software controlled, by Lightroom, for example.
IMO, the best tag for sorting would be the Date/Time Original tag. In most circumstances, you could just use DateTimeOriginal in ExifTool, though if you want to be specific, you can use EXIF:DateTimeOriginal. Odds are it'll be same timestamp either way.
Originally by user37960. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user37960
10y ago
0
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Yes: the File dates are filesystem timestamps, not camera EXIF data. They depend on the OS and storage system.
- File Creation Date/Time: when that file entry was created on the current filesystem.
- File Modification Date/Time: when the file was last written/changed.
- File Access Date/Time: when it was last read/accessed; on some systems this may be disabled or updated inconsistently.
These file dates can change when copying, editing, backing up, or simply accessing a file, so they are not reliable for capture time.
For EXIF:
- Date/Time Original: the best indicator of when the photo was actually taken.
- Create Date: usually when the image data was created in-camera; often the same as Date/Time Original.
- Modify Date: when the image metadata/image was last modified in the EXIF record.
Composite tags are not stored as real EXIF tags in the file; they are calculated by software such as ExifTool from other metadata, sometimes adding sub-second precision.
For sorting by shooting time, use EXIF Date/Time Original first. If it is missing, EXIF Create Date is a reasonable fallback. Avoid using filesystem dates for capture-time sorting.
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