Metadata Capture Date- Lightroom Classic: When I import a pic the Metadata tab "Capture date" it states the day I actually took the picture. But when I edit the pic the Metadata...

johnsnap1947 Loc: New Fairfield, CT

When I import a pic the Metadata tab "Capture date" it states the day I actually took the picture. But when I edit the pic the Metadata capture date changes to the edit date. Thats not good. That actual capture date should always be saved to something like "original capture date" and then add a new category for edit date. Or is there something i'm missing?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

johnsnap1947 wrote:

When I import a pic the Metadata tab "Capture date" it states the day I actually took the picture. But when I edit the pic the Metadata capture date changes to the edit date. Thats not good. That actual capture date should always be saved to something like "original capture date" and then add a new category for edit date. Or is there something i'm missing?

I think you're confusing the sort filter, where one option is to sort by edit time. Change to capture date, and that remains unchanged unless you navigate into the menus that let you explicitly change the capture date/time.

johnsnap1947 Loc: New Fairfield, CT

Tried it but the capture date remained the same (2018) The pic was taken in 1970. I never change the capture date myself but I have edited the pic. On most of my edited pics (9,000) the capture date seems to have changed when edited. I don't understand... Thanks for the info.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

johnsnap1947 wrote:

Tried it but the capture date remained the same (2018) The pic was taken in 1970. I never change the capture date myself but I have edited the pic. On most of my edited pics (9,000) the capture date seems to have changed when edited. I don't understand... Thanks for the info.

There's several dates in the EXIF data of an image. Typically, images prior to widespread digital photography, say starting at / about 2000, these 'old' images don't have all the EXIF data properly populated as you'd expect as the output for a digital camera.

So, for an image 'taken' in 1970, how was this 'date taken' value populated into the specific image EXIF?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

CHG_CANON wrote:

There's several dates in the EXIF data of an image. Typically, images prior to widespread digital photography, say starting at / about 2000, these 'old' images don't have all the EXIF data properly populated as you'd expect as the output for a digital camera.

So, for an image 'taken' in 1970, how was this 'date taken' value populated into the specific image EXIF?

1970? Maybe the date it was scanned?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Longshadow wrote:

1970? Maybe the date it was scanned?

We can guess. Or, we can have the OP clarify. Hopefully, we don't have to tease out each important detail on a one question at a time basis.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

CHG_CANON wrote:

We can guess. Or, we can have the OP clarify. Hopefully, we don't have to tease out each important detail on a one question at a time basis.

I haven't played 20 Questions in a long time....

johnsnap1947 Loc: New Fairfield, CT

Think I realize the issue that now that I think about it most of my older pics were actually "scanned in" then imported into LRC. I believe that's the issue. Thanks for your input and concern....

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

I have several ideas on how to help, but we need to understand the exact problem that needs to be solved. I have thousands of scanned images from the 70s and 80s that are loaded into LR, typically using the LR metadata editor to adjust the original shooting date from inside LR. I also actively shoot film today and find a command-line tool like EXIFTOOL, or a commercial tool like EXIF Date Changer, to be more practical for updating the JPEGs from the scanning process with the shooting date EXIF, prior to importing into LR.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

johnsnap1947 wrote:

Think I realize the issue that now that I think about it most of my older pics were actually "scanned in" then imported into LRC. I believe that's the issue. Thanks for your input and concern....

You can adjust the shooting date from inside LR, see comment above. Most of my scanned film from the 70s / 80s have a general idea of the shooting date, but not the exact date and time except for specific items like St Patrick's Day 1983 that I can verify from a calendar. There's also batch tools that help batch-update files before importing into LR, or adjust the files outside LR and re-import / update the metadata in LR.

johnsnap1947 Loc: New Fairfield, CT

Got it!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

One can also change the Date Taken in Explorer, at least Win 7. I can't imagine them removing that ability in 10+.
You can do them one at a time or shotgun a bunch at once, but I believe the format requires MM/DD/YYYY (at least M/D/YYYY). Unfortunately it won't let you put in only month/year or just year, which is what I would like to do since I usually do not have a precise date for many old photos.
If you put in "0" as the day, it changes the day to the last day used in the field but keeps the month and year. Same with month. If you put in only two digits for the year it makes it 20xx.
Guess the programmer(s) didn't think of people not knowing the actual WHOLE date.....

https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-711637-1.html

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

CHG_CANON wrote:

You can adjust the shooting date from inside LR, see comment above...

I have a lot of (scanned) photos and documents for which I changed the date in LR to reflect my estimate of the original date (back as far as 1822, naturally that's an estimate). It helps me keep my family photos arranged chronologically.

I started digital in 1999, but it was 2001 before I got a digital camera that stored EXIF data. (Some photos with a borrowed digital camera in 1996 also did not have EXIF data). I started using a scanner in the early '90s, and those files have a creation date (the date the scanner recorded the digital file) but that is essentially useless. I usually try to put a good date on the image as a creation date, but of course I wasn't there for most of the old photos, and even if I were, my memory for dates is notably bad.

Thank technology for my smartphone. As I age, there are more and more birthdays to remember. I can't, but the smartphone can.