Change photo creation date/time for Lightroom

I have just been batch processing of holiday photos from 2 cameras which had different time bases. I use Adobe Lightroom for most photo processing but prefer to bring timestamps into line before importing into Lightroom so that other photo viewing/editing applications still show correct local time. All 800 odd photos from my wife's camera needed to be adjusted by approx. 8 hours because of time zone changes that had not been applied to her camera.

I used Dopus 11.19 to make the changes in the metadata pane for all files in the first photo directory. The four date/time values (Date created:, Date modified:, Date digitized: and Date taken) were all adjusted to the same (corrected) value. However on importing into Lightroom the old uncorrected date/time showed up. How could this be?

I have another application "EXIF Date Changer Pro" which simply adjusts all EXIF time values in all photos in a single directory by a set amount which I then tested. Its date/time changes were reflected in Lightroom so I assumed there must be other metadata that Dopus is not touching.

I then used ExifTool 10.33 to examine all the metadata held within a Canon HS230 Jpeg. In the IFD0 section, which covers basic camera information, is a field "ModifyDate". On changing this value in the metadata Lightroom now gives the correct time and photos can be logically sorted.

Given that Lightroom is probably the pre-eminent photo handling application for serious photographers, I think the pre-eminent file handling application Dopus should be able to inspect and edit important metadata fields. How about adding this important field to the metadata roster?

ModifyDate doesn't seem to be listed here: exiv2.org/tags.html

Are you sure that isn't ExifTool's name for the filesystem modified date? Is that being set as you expect, or is it set to something else (e.g. the current time)?

If you make the change in Opus, then close and re-open the metadata panel, are all the timestamps still showing what you expect them to be?

That field actually seems to be called "DateTime" in the EXIF spec, not "ModifyDate". It's tag value is 0x132.

We might just make it so Opus sets that field to the same as the file's modification timestamp automatically. I can't see the point in adding yet another date/time field.

Thanks Jon & Leo

I came to pretty much the same conclusion about the tag at offset 0x0132 being the source of the problem. EXIFTool developer and guru, Phil Harvey, calls this tag ModifyDate but notes the EXIF spec calls it DateTime.

sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exi ... /EXIF.html

Using EXIFTool I can confirm that this tag is populated for all JPEGs in my collection going back to 2003 from several Minolta/Sony, Canon and Panasonic cameras. I think I have demonstrated that this tag is used by Lightroom to set a photo's Capture Date & Capture Time so it would be appropriate for Dopus to be able to modify it in some way. Jon's suggestion seems fine to me and would involve no change to the Dopus GUI. Looks like I will have to invest in v12

I'm on DO v.12.6 now and the issue is still unresolved (first requests were filling acres of forum space 5 years ago!!!),.
How come that:

  • DO reads 'Date Taken' (picture matadata) OK when it has been updated in other apps (Lightroom, Photoshop, ACDSee, Windows Explorer', BUT...
  • When 'Date Taken' is updated in DO almost nobody wants to read it: Windows Explorer will, but others won't. Lighroom is particularly stubborn.
    Changing 'modified date' in DO is no good - it satisfies Lightroom only for a while - any edit to the file outside or inside Ligtroom changes the 'modified date' to the moment of edit and Ltr displays that as 'captutre date'.
    Has anyone cracked it yet? HOW TO CHANGE 'DATE TAKEN' in DO and have it recognised properly in Lightroom??? (The same goes for 'digitized date').

Opus 12.3 included the change Jon talked about above:

When using the metadata panel to set an image's last modification timestamp, Opus now sets the EXIF DateTime tag to the same value automatically.

If you're having problems with tag inconsistencies between programs, please upload some example images, with versions of the files before & after changing the tags, and details on what to do to the files and what to look for for what's wrong in different programs.

Also make sure the other programs are looking at the EXIF tags and not something else which may also exist within the file and need to be cleared. There are a lot of tag formats, as well as a lot of overlapping tags, as image tagging in general is a jumble of different standards. For images, Opus edits EXIF tags (in general), which are the most common type.

Leo asked for some images, so I told my problem story in pictures (below). In essence if DOpus wrote changes made in it in all three standards (EXIF, IPTC, XMP) as GeoSetter does, there would be no problem. The Lightroom, excellent as it is, gives the user no choice what to read - we have to comply with its expectations (which I assume are XMP, thought in case of pics from digital cameras it does read their EXIF section. Why doesn't it do it for scanned files???).
[View the image below at 100%]

I meant sample images for us to use to reproduce the problem, since the issue may only happen with files created/processed via a particular program or workflow before being modified in other software.

Here it is - straight from the scanner. Try to change the 'Date Taken' in DOpus and then bring the photo into Lightroom. The latter will not see the change and will continue displaying system's 'modified date' instead. Although this date can be changed in DO as well, but this is not a solution - 'modified date' will change every time the image is edited, while the 'true' 'Date Taken' date should stay with the image for life. [I had to zip the file as the forum will not allow me to uloada a TIFF). MyBoy202.zip (1.7 MB)

It sounds like Lightroom doesn't support EXIF tags. Opus will only write XMP/IPTC tags if they exist already - otherwise, we only write EXIF since it's the most widely supported (and to keep the file size down).

Perhaps the way to keep everybody happy is to give user a choice (through 'Settings'), which blocks should be written (XMP, EXIF, IPTC). With my workflow (starting with a scanned pic) it doesn't make sense to go elsewhere first to create the XMP and IPTC blocks, then go to DO to change the data and then go again elsewhere to work on the pictures. I might as well do the lot elsewhere (GeoSetter does it without any problems). I appreciate that DO is not particularly focused on image metadata, but making these changes (plus allowing multi-line entries in the metadata panel where appropriate) would give you a great following among photographers rather than just making them angry and frustrated. Adding a mapping module (geo-tagging) would be a cherry on the cake... [NB: I don't buy your argument about the file size - with pictures these days weighing many megabytes (or tens of megabytes - some TIFFs easily top 100 MB) just a few extra UTF-8 characters won't may much difference to size of the file.]

You could say that there is a lot not to like about Adobe, but you cannot take away the fact that they make the best and most widely used image manipulation programs used by imaging professionals across the world. Thaa fact gives them some clout.

I would say that if they have chosen to power their metadata model with XMP then organisations like Opus should fully support it.

As a photographer I just love Opus. I can add metadata and arrange my pictures and then FTP or email them to clients all from the same application.

But I agree with apzemek, this can be a frustrating experience, especially when you add metadata in Opus and then you can't find it in Adobe products - or worse, your clients cannot.

Please guys just make Opus image metadata totally compatible with the Adobe XMP standard. You will have our undying gratitude. I'd willingly settle for larger file sizes, but how much data can XML really add to a file size?

I have been following this thread spasmodically and re-looked at my own situation. I currently use DO v12.6 for my observations. My Sony camera produces a raw (.ARW) file as well as a .JPG file. My wife's small Canon produces .JPG files only. DO Metadata shows only for the jpegs, no information is shown for the raw files. I realize that there are many variations in specs for raw files and don't expect DO to be able to handle them all. (would be nice though)

I have just changed "Date digitized" and "Date taken" in the DO metadata Picture Properties section for a jpeg. This change was not reflected in Lightroom 5.7.1 as expected from the changes noted above for DO v12.3. Using EXIFToolGUI I can see that the tag at 0x0132 has not been changed. Has this modification been lost since 12.3?

I have had a look at apzemek's tiff file and obviously coming from a scanner it has no metadata at all. So the issue is to find a program that will create the metadata and incorporate it in the tiff. DO won't allow me to do this because of a file violation error. You can do this in Lightroom and the DateCreated tag is stored in the XMP-photoshop metadata section as you would expect an Adobe product to do. DO can't see this tag. It is theoretically possible to create new tags using the command line version of EXIFTool but here is a new program to learn and it is probably beyond my pay grade.

As for incorporating all XMP tags in DO - forget it. If you don't believe me have a look at www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/TagNames/XMP.html
What a pack-a-poo-ticket. Sorry for my Aussie slang.

My bad

On reading through the thread I realized that the changes to the metadata at offset 0x0132 were being made after the file system "date modified" had been adjusted. I have tried this and note that the tag is being updated. However I think it is more logical to make the change at 0x0132 after the "Date digitized" and "Date taken" are updated.

I agree with bhutch, nobody would expect Opus to cope with all the tags in XMP as revealed in the document he pointed too. By the time you had filled in all that metadata you would be an ex-photographer.

However I do think that when you open a picture in Photoshop the mainstream metadata that has been added in Opus should be viewable in Photoshop.

Some clients use Photoshop exclusively to look at metadata. If I have added an important comment (e.g. a legal warning concerning the picture) it is important that they can see that warning.

Currently I cannot make any comments I add via Opus metadata SETT ATTR appear in the comment field in Photoshop.

And apzemek's problem with dates is another example. This isn't the most important thing in the world, I agree, but it would make Opus so much more useful for photographers.

Incidentally, I find I can add metadata to any tiff file without problem, and as comprehensively as any JPEG. I use many LZW compressed Tiffs for masked images and adding metadata ikn Opus is no problem.

It does seem somewhat crazy if Photoshop can't read EXIF tags, but that's so crazy I can't believe it would be true.

Is the problem that the files have EXIF and XMP data, and Photoshop ignores (or deprioritises) the EXIF if the XMP is there?

If Photoshop cannot read EXIF data then we are all in trouble. As you know EXIF is a method of transferring info from digital cameras into an image metadata stream. It covers things like exposure time; f-stop and, most importantly the date and time created. In my view this EXIF data is inviolate and you should not be able to edit it. But that is only an opinion, of course.

I am sure all this discussion and heartache is based on the old "you say tomato and I say tomato". It is how various programs plug metadata into images and where exactly they plug it.

Whilst all pictures taken on a modern digital camera will have EXIF data when they are created this data can easily be lost. Download any group of pictures from web sites and look for the EXIF data in them. If you digitize an image via a scanner, of course i will have no EXIF data. You will have to create it yourself. And,although it goes against the grain, somewhat, I can see the logic of Opus allowing you to add your own image creation date in these circumstances. That would, presumably, solve apzemek's problem.

In general Opus makes a really good fist of writing metadata to fields that correspond with Photoshop. I have spent months learning the rudiments of Visual Basic to make use of the wonderful forms facilities incorporated into V12.
I have been able to save hours a week adding image metadata to my work - and that is a great credit to Opus and the guys who made it.

I have taken the trouble to take one of my images and take screen shots of all the relevant Photoshop metadata panels. You will see that the match between Opus and Photoshop is pretty darned good. I also include in the zip file the metadata as seen by ExifTool.

There does remain one anomaly - COMMENT. This seems to be the field that got away. And I am sure is a tomato thing, too.

In Photoshop Comment appears in the Audio section of the metadata panels. In Opus I am not sure. I have to read the data from from usercomment and write it to comment in order for it to appear in Opus metadata panel. It is no big deal once you know, but the problem is, as far as I can see it appears nowhere in the Photoshop metadata.

To a professional photographer pushing his work to picture desks, libraries and magazines, it is vital to be able to leave notes on your pictures. These notes could easily include pointers to potential legal problems with the picture, or all manner of things.

My suggestion around this problem is have the comment field in Opus written to the Instructions field of Photoshop.

Sorry to rant on, but this small matter is important. It could potentially keep my out of chokey.

Alstroemeria-6. Metadata.zip (1.4 MB)

Opus uses the UserComment and XPComment EXIF fields for the comment in EXIF-supporting formats (like JPG). The fact that Photoshop gives you a comment field only in the audio category suggests to me that it doesn't support these two tags at all, but instead is offering another comment field (maybe an ID3v2 comment, perhaps). As far as I know EXIF is only for image tags, not audio.

I suspect you are right, Jon. The request I was trying to make in my rambling was was that Opus could provide a way of writing comments in an image file that would be understood by Photoshop as this facility would be very useful. The IPTC Special Instructions filed was one commonly used when I running electronic picture desks some years ago. Is it possible for Opus to support writing to and reading from that field?

The Description field seems to work perfectly well across both programs, for a JPEG initially created in Photoshop CC 2017:

We're probably trying to tackle too many things at once in a single thread, given this one started about date/time fields in Lightroom and now is about comment/description fields in Photoshop...