Change EXIF in already imported JPEGs

[oli_1967]

Hi all,

I have imported pictures from 2 cameras in LR 6. Later on after I have worked on the pictures I see that the camera times were not exactly in sync and therefore the order is not correct. Therefore I would like to set the EXIF dates (e.g. +2 min) of the pictures of one camera with an external tool. When I do this that is not reflected in LR 6 directly. Is it possible to refresh the catalog so that the new EXIF dates are shown and used for ordering the pictures?

Thanks, Oli

[Neox99]

Sure - as long as the originals are safely stored on your drive(s) and backed up (twice is my recommendation)

Remove them from the Catalog then reimport them.

Lr Classic does have a Capture Time/Date Edit tool

[oli_1967]

Well, I know this possibility but I want to add for example 2 minutes to the EXIF date of about 300 photos. With LR this is not possible, only timezone adjustments. With external tools this is possible. I don't know how LR works internally but it seems that during import some metadata is created in the catalog and this metadata needs to be refreshed.

[Neox99]

May I suggest a Tutorial on using the Lr Change Capture Time tool.

Bulk changing capture times of Images in Lightroom - YouTube

If the tool doesn't do what you are trying to do, I don't understand what you are wishing. You can add 2 minutes to every photo selected.

[oli_1967]

Really seems to do what I need

I will try this later. For me it was not clear that when setting a specific time and press "change all" that it sets the time difference and not the specified time.

Thanks, Oli

[oli_1967]

I tried it but it does not do what I want to. In LR Library the capture times are updated but not in JPEGs. When I look at the JPEGs metadata I see other capture times than I see in LR. I wanted the imported JPEGs metadata to be updated.

[dj_paige]

So you have changed the capture times in LR. Now you have to tell Lightroom to write the changes to your original JPG files. You do this with the menu command Metadata->Write Metadata to Files.

[oli_1967]

That's it, thanks a lot. And my initial idea to set the capture times with an external does also work with "Read Metadata from files" ...

[richardplondon]

oli_1967  wrote

That's it, thanks a lot. And my initial idea to set the capture times with an external does also work with "Read Metadata from files" ...

Note: UNLESS you have first written out any work done in LR - before using such an external utility to change the XMP - reading the modified metadata back into the Catalog will reset (obliterate) nearly all of that work.

Because writing or reading LR metadata to/from disk is all or nothing - involving not just some Library info, but it all - and also everything seen in Develop.

[oli_1967]

I noticed had after I had finished my work, everything was reset

What do you exactly mean with "written out"? Can I save the development steps an re-apply after reading metadata from files?

Thanks for your help,

Oli

[richardplondon]

If you've obliterated all edits using Read Metadata from File, remember your Develop settings are all still there in the prior History step.

In my opinion, by far the best way is to correct capture times inside Lightroom. This affects nothing else but the capture time details stored in the Catalog - which is strictly all you really need to change. Your images now sort in chronological order correctly with other images, plus any output that you make hereafter will show correct information for capture date because LR refers to the Catalog always and not to the XMP records of the file.

Doesn't really matter what the file's XMP shows: once imported, the file's only continued role in your workflow is to supply the actual picture content on which LR is basing its processing, exports, printing etc. Writing LR metadata out to file, to get that XMP up to date ALSO, is really an optional extra - belt and braces.

However for some changes there is no other way than to modify via external XMP, in which case the sequence having applied prior edits in LR would need to be:

• first write LR metadata out to the file, including all latest editing
• then externally modify the specific XMP field(s) that you need to
• then read metadata back into LR - whereby overwriting latest editing, with latest editing, is no loss

As an example, it is not possible in LR to change the lens name, where that has not been auto-detected for one or another reason (say, a legacy or third party lens which the camera itself cannot identify specifically, or correctly). But it is possible to edit that info in external XMP, using Exiftool for example. So e.g. the plugin LensTagger follows the above sequence in order to get changed lens naming into the Catalog while preserving all other image parameters unchanged.

[bob frost]

Part of the confusion about altering Capture Dates is due to the fact that Capture Date (CD) can be stored in different places in a file's metadata, and that it is possible to have different CDs stored in those different places in the same file!

Your camera saves the image details (including CD) to a section of each image's metadata known as 'Exif'. When  a program reads the metadata, it reads the Exif data, and in the case of Lightroom, it stores that Exif data (including the CD) in it's catalog.

Now if the CD that the camera recorded is incorrect (as it was recently when I forgot to reset the camera time when going abroad), you can (as detailed in the above posts) use LR to change it. That change is recorded in LR's catalog, but nowhere else unless you tell LR to write that change out into the jpeg or raw file (for the raw file you do that in Prefs). But in both cases, the change is written, not into the Exif part of the file's metadata, but into another section of the metadata known as 'Xmp'. So you end up with two different CDs recorded in the metadata. LR will preferentially look at the Xmp one, but other programs may look at the Exif one.

So for that reason I don't use LR to change Capture Dates. I much prefer to correct the Exif CD in the Exif section of the metadata and copy that change to the Xmp section so they both read the same. I do that using a utility called ExifGUI or there are LR plugins such as 'Jbcapturetimetoexif'. They use Exiftool as the underlying code, but present a simpler front for those not wanting to do command-line stuff! I like ExifGUI as it shows you what is in the different sections of the file's metadata and is a good learning experience. You can batch alter files (I had thousands to alter after a trip to Japan where I forgot to alter the camera time).

Hope this helps, and if anyone disagrees, please let me know!

Bob Frost

PS Don't confuse the real image Capture Date with the Create Date that your OS will record when you copy the image file to your computer.

[richardplondon]

I agree that there is some confusion and discrepancy over where the capture date is stored in the original file.

But the logic of LR's workflow is, that so long as the capture date is right in the Catalog field that LR is paying attention to, any exports will then automatically show that corrected info in their primary date fields - not just in XMP - and not include other capture dates as present in the original, which might disagree with that.

Yet the option to retrieve the capture date within the original file as it was before being corrected in LR, still remains.

BTW its fatally easy to forget the timezone in the camera. That can be doubly inconvenient if you rely on LR's ability to auto-file images into separate folders according to date taken. Say that the camera's internal clock's "midnight" wrongly ticks past at 4pm where you are: your pictures taken before that moment and since 4pm the previous day will all file together into one folder. And your pictures taken from that moment until 4pm the next day, will all file together into a different folder. Pain in the neck to sort that out afterwards...!