As you can see in the screenshot below the "Geändert" column ("Modified" in English) shows the date the file (image in this case) was created (you can see it in the filename itself as a proof) while the "Erstellt" column ("Created" in English) shows the modification date (in this case I assume it is the date I copied it to another disk).
Could you please explain what is going on? It is a bit confusing for me.
It is the same with English UI
P.S.: I just noticed in the English screenshot that it still says "JPG-Datei" which should be "JPG-File" I guess...
So "Date Taken" seems to be correct as WindowsExplorer shows the same (greenish arrow).
"Modified" seems to show a wrong value, Windows Explorer correctly shows the modification date of today when I copied the file to another location. It does not make sense here that DirectoryOpus shows the "Date Taken" in the "Modified" column. At least I do not understand at the moment. Can you please explain?
"Erstelldatum" also differs in WindowsExplorer and DirectoryOpus. Why is that?
Could you please double check? I have attached two test pictures that show no private content.
Are those screenshots the same folder in both programs, at the same time?
Are they stable in both programs if you refresh the file display (F5 key) a few times? Or do they change?
In File Explorer, does the Modified timestamp in the folder match the one in the file's Properties dialog? That's the Modified timestamp Opus is showing, and the same one File Explorer usually shows, but you might have a different column chosen to normal, maybe. (File Explorer sometimes has multiple columns with similar or even identical names but different values, as another complication.)
Thank you for your quick response. After going through your questions I found that I really overlooked something:
I had copied the whole directory as a backup as I want to rename the files and accidentally I landed in the copied directory. So now both File Explorer and Directory Opus show the same content in the respective columns:
What remains confusing is that "Geändert" ("Modified") shows the same date as "Aufnahmedatum" (Date Taken). On the other hand "Erstellt" ("Created") shows the "Modified" date in my opinion. There I would expext the "Date Taken", but I guess this means the moment the image was (re-)created on another harddrive?
For my intuition it would be very helpful to be able to swap both. Could I do this with a script? I guess it makes sense to open another topic for that, right?
Anyhow: I am very sorry for the confusion and thank you very much again for caring!
Date Taken is stored inside the JPEG/EXIF data, and usually set (if it exists at all) by the camera that took the photo. It should match when the photo was taken, unless the camera's clock is wrong or it was entered manually with the wrong data.
Modified is a standard timestamp from the filesystem, which all files of all types have. The operating system bumps that timestamp any time the file is modified, unless something explicitly sets it to something else (e.g. to preserve the timestamps when creating a copy of the file; some programs do and some don't).
Date fields in the Opus metadata panel have options to set one date from another:
If you set the two fields to copy from each other, they'll be swapped.
As an aside, while it's probably not useful in this case (since you want to modify Date Taken), the Created and Modified dates can also be set in a similar way via Properties > Attributes and Times on the default toolbars:
Date Taken is NOT A METADATA FIELD.
It is a Windows property that looks at several different EXIF, IPTC and XMP field.
EXIF DateTimeOriginal is the only reliable indicator of when the shutter was pressed on a camera. In DOpus, that column is called Date/Time Original.
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Use the Directory Opus column Date/Time Original.
A photo with no EXIF DateTimeOriginal can still have a 'Date Taken, which is the English name for the field Aufnahmedatum.
I look at Date Taken only when I know all files have an EXIF DateTimeOriginal
I downloaded your sample files and all have proper/intact date metadata.
Of course, the File/System Date Created and Date Modified changed for me, as expected because I downloaded the files.
Working with photos and videos is what I do full time. I rarely have any need to look at the File/System Date Created and Date Modified, and I advise you to not pay attention to those dates.
Think of a file as a package that holds a photo. Depending on how a file is moved or downloaded or exported, a new package for the photo may be need to be created, and so the file would get a new Date Created.
For documents it's different. I often need to compare my business documents and see which file was created most recently or was modified most recently - the latest version.
This really helped a lot and I learned that what I was really looking for (sorting photos after the original moment they were taken) needs the column "Date/Time Original" that reflects the EXIF data.
It is a UI label populated with the date from one or more EXIF, IPTC and XMP fields.
Saying Date Taken is a metadata field is a misleading oversimplification. The fact that people say it's a metadata field contributes to the misunderstanding about photo date metadata.
This was also very helpful and works fine for pictures.
I have many videos that do have their proper creation date (exact filming date) stored in a field that appears as "Veröffentlichkeitsdatum" (="publication date" in English?) in German. Unfortunately I cannot select this field in the dropdown for "set creation time". It is simply not there.
Sorry for being so late with my reply. MP4 in this case. I also have some old AVI files that only have "created" and "modified" in their metadata.
What I am looking for is sorting of all pictures AND videos in timely manner after one column. Date/Time original seemed perfect, but these videos will not be shown in the proper position in time.
The only chance I see is that I read out Date/Time original and then write it back to "created" and then sort after this column, right?
For MP4 files, you need Media Created date, which equals 'Encoded date'.
In preferences, go to Shell Properties and enable the Media Created column.
For AVI files, there is no reliable date field, but if the AVI files have not been moved, either the File Date Created or File Date Modified might represent the correct date.
EXIF DateTimeOriginal (displayed as Date/TimeOriginal in DOpus) is for photos only.
The best way to ensure you can display different media files in date order would be to rename them with the date (using metadata from the appropriate date field) at the beginning of the filename using the format YYYY-MM-DD.
