Camera A's date is 1 year behind, can I change the EXIF data?

Saturn2888 · 2007-03-04 16:10

I sent an e-mail, but then read the part about the forums being faster so here I go:
I have camera A and B. A is set for 2006. Why? I don't know. Camera B expresses the correct date. I took pictures one night with both cameras and now I can't use ReNamer to just plop the pictures in and have the be organized correctly by time. My solution to this is to then figure out a way to use ReNamer to change the EXIF data from 2006 to 2007 but make sure not to change the date the pictures were taken (which is correct). Any ideas?

den4b · 2007-03-04 21:15

There are several ways it can be done:

1) Simply use replace rule to replace 2006 into 2007, after inserting the EXIF tag into the filename;
2) Use PascalScript to add one year to the dates which are in 2006 (a bit complicated);
3) Use jhead program to change the EXIF date in the actual photos. More info: jhead usage, changing jpeg exif.

I would recommend the very last way...

Saturn2888 · 2007-03-05 00:32

That's neat. Cool! Btw, ReNamer is like the command line interface in GUI form. I've not seen this done more than a couple other times. Thank you very much!

Another question though, do you know if it's possible to have the AVI video files from that day also be arranged properly? I hate having my video files end up at the end of a a line of numbers. It doesn't say in the video file when it was taken though.

This is what I'm trying to do, I rename files like this: Number - Name
For one event, what I was going to do is use the EXIF data and ReNamer to sync of the pictures from two cameras.
Video files are named in the series IMG_0354 as MVI_0354. I manually go in and change these, but I just realized I can use ReNamer. What I mean is, the images are named in a series and the videos are named with the same number, just different starting name. I change that so it fits in the series of images correctly. Now that I am using 2 cameras, I can just plop all of the files in to ReNames and say go because the series numbers differ. Basically, the problem occurs because the video files have no EXIF data.

Sorry I made that wordy, but with the above-mentioned example, is there any way to account for video files in the same way? Luckily, in this case, video was only taken from one camera, in the case of video being taken from two cameras with indefinitely increasing series numbers, I could get video MVI_0486 and MVI_2869. Is it possible to be more complicated and organize those videos from both cameras in chronological order?

den4b · 2007-03-05 19:36

Hmmm... I've read your post several times, but still don't really understand the problem or/and what you are trying to achieve. The more I try to think about it - the more confusing it becomes. Can you give few examples? How can you sync movies and images chronologically if you don't know when the movie was taken? When you said that you have IMG_0354 fro image and MVI_0354 for movie, does it mean that they were taken at the same time? I'm really confused now...

Saturn2888 · 2007-03-05 21:37

Oh, no, I renamed the movies from MVI to IMG. What the camera does is this:

IMG_1
IMG_2
MVI_3
IMG_4

So basically, the only way I know how to order them is to do rename the MVI to IMG and then run it through ReNamer because AVI files have no EXIF info. That's easy enough, but then I have to also now rename all of the 2006 values to 2007. That will displace the movies from the images.

Example:
//This
IMG_1
IMG_2
MVI_3
IMG_4

//I want to be this (.img and .vid are just made up)
Fun 1.img
Fun 2.img
Fun 3.vid
Fun 4.img

//But since I have to make them go to 2007, I'll get this:
2:22 2007 Fun 1.img
2:23 2007 Fun 2.img
2:24 2007 Fun 3.img
Fun 4.vid

//Then there's an even bigger problem
//Now that I have 2 cameras, I'm going to start out with this:
IMG_1
IMG_2
MVI_3
IMG_4
IMG_100
IMG_101

//So then, first thing I do is change MVI to IMG so I can run it through ReNamer
IMG_1.img
IMG_2.img
IMG_3.vid
IMG_4.img
IMG_100.img
IMG_101.img

//I need then to be able to organize those properly, but then the output would be (pretend the camera says 2007 now)
2:22:00 Fun 1.img
2:22:01 Fun 2.img
2:23:00 Fun 3.img
2:23:01 Fun 4.img
2:24:00 Fun 5.img
Fun 6.vid

//See, the video is now kind of left out there all by itself.
//The only reason I'm organizing by the EXIF time data is because I want to organize the pictures in the order they were taken, not have it be Camera A's 1-10 and then Camera B's 1-10, it would be a mix in chronological order. After I've done that, I'm just going to go back and rename them 1-20.

Example:
//I'll have this
2:22:00 Fun 1.img

//I'll make it this when I'm done putting them in order
Fun 1.img

See what I mean now? If you need, I have a Skype or AIM account to explain this better. I not only need this for personal use, but for a job I'm in, so it's becoming more of an issue for me now rather than just a challenge.

Last edited by Saturn2888 (2007-03-05 21:38)

den4b · 2007-03-09 11:59

I was thinking about your problem, and here is what I came to.... have a look at the scenario below.

Will ascending numbering order from original names of the images will always correspond to the date order? i.e. if the images (straight from the camera) are ordered by numbers in their names, will that mean that they will be sorted chronologically?

Anyway, if this is the correct or close to correct scenario, I can write a small pascalscript that will simply insert exif date into the name, and if exif date does not exist - than inherit the date from the previous file that did have exif. Will that work for you?

--------------------------------------------------------
1) Images/movies from camera A and B

Camera A:
IMG_1
IMG_2
MVI_3
IMG_4

Camera B:
IMG_100
IMG_101
MVI_102
IMG_103

2) Put the together in the list

IMG_1
IMG_2
MVI_3
IMG_4
IMG_100
IMG_101
MVI_102
IMG_103

2) Sort by numeric order

IMG_1
IMG_2
MVI_3
IMG_4
IMG_100
IMG_101
MVI_102
IMG_103

3) Renumber and change name

Fun 1.img
Fun 2.img
Fun 3.vid
Fun 4.img
Fun 5.img
Fun 6.img
Fun 7.vid
Fun 8.img

4) Insert Exif date into images

2007-02-12 12-34 Fun 1.img
2007-02-12 12-35 Fun 2.img
Fun 3.vid
2007-03-12 12-36 Fun 4.img
2007-03-12 12-40 Fun 5.img
2007-06-12 12-50 Fun 6.img
Fun 7.vid
2007-07-12 12-56 Fun 8.img

5) Assign dates to movies from previous image in the list??

2007-02-12 12-34 Fun 1.img
2007-02-12 12-35 Fun 2.img
2007-02-12 12-35 Fun 3.vid <- inherits from Fun 2.img
2007-03-12 12-36 Fun 4.img
2007-03-12 12-40 Fun 5.img
2007-06-12 12-50 Fun 6.img
2007-06-12 12-50 Fun 7.vid <- inherits from Fun 6.img
2007-07-12 12-56 Fun 8.img
--------------------------------------------------------

Saturn2888 · 2007-03-10 02:05

Wow... That's pretty neat! The only thing is, if Camera A's pictures and Camera B's pictures were taken within the same hour's time, meaning, book cameras were taking pictures at the same time, would this still filter them correctly? It seems like it would. We could always try and see. How's that sound?

den4b · 2007-03-10 18:48

Here is the script, put it into pascalscript rule as it is (replacing whats in there already).
You can change the date format in the Settings. And don't forget to tell me how it went, ok?

var LastDate, Date: String;
begin
  Date := CalculateMetaTag(FilePath, ':EXIF_Date:');
  if Date = ''
    then Date := LastDate
    else LastDate := Date;
  FileName := Date + ' ' + FileName; 
end.

P.S. Make sure you use the latest version!

Saturn2888 · 2007-03-11 00:35

That script didn't work for 2 reasons.

#1, one of the cameras is saying 2006 instead of 2007, and there might be some timing issues with the cameras from when these pictures were taken. I have synced up the cameras now so it's not a problem anymore, but with the last couple albums, the problem is going to be tough to fix.

den4b · 2007-03-11 13:29

I'm more than certain that script works perfectly, because I tried it my self, and it does produce the results shown in my example (above). "Script doesn't work" and "script doesn't achieve what you want" - are completely different sentences, and perhaps your case is the second one. "2006 instead of 2007" - we already solved that problem, simply replace 2006 with 2007, thats it, or you can use JHEAD program to change the exif date on the images... I really don't see whats not working for you.

As I said before, script "simply inserts exif date into the name, and if exif date does not exist - than inherit the date from the previous file in the list that did have exif". It does not take care of 2006 problem, but the replace rule will.

den4b Forum

#1 2007-03-04 16:10

Camera A's date is 1 year behind, can I change the EXIF data?

#2 2007-03-04 21:15

Re: Camera A's date is 1 year behind, can I change the EXIF data?

#3 2007-03-05 00:32

Re: Camera A's date is 1 year behind, can I change the EXIF data?

#4 2007-03-05 19:36

Re: Camera A's date is 1 year behind, can I change the EXIF data?

#5 2007-03-05 21:37

Re: Camera A's date is 1 year behind, can I change the EXIF data?

#6 2007-03-09 11:59

Re: Camera A's date is 1 year behind, can I change the EXIF data?

#7 2007-03-10 02:05

Re: Camera A's date is 1 year behind, can I change the EXIF data?

#8 2007-03-10 18:48

Re: Camera A's date is 1 year behind, can I change the EXIF data?

#9 2007-03-11 00:35

Re: Camera A's date is 1 year behind, can I change the EXIF data?

#10 2007-03-11 13:29

Re: Camera A's date is 1 year behind, can I change the EXIF data?

Board footer