Questions about ExifTool

I'm just wondering how many people here uses ExifTool with one of the GUIs available? If so, which GUIs do you recommend? I find the command-line feature of the ExifTool itself is too complicated for me to use. I want to use the tool to adjust the capture time of my RAW files.

http://www.sno.phy.que​ensu.ca/~phil/exiftool​/

Are the changes made by ExifTool recognized in other programs like Adobe Bridge CS4/Photoshop CS4?

AFAIK you can't change RAW times using EXIFTool. Bibble does it, so does Lightroom. Google will tell you more.

tim wrote in post #7233762
AFAIK you can't change RAW times using EXIFTool. Bibble does it, so does Lightroom. Google will tell you more.

On EXIFTool's page, this is one of the highlighted feature:

"Shifts date/time values to fix timestamps in images"

Have you tried it in the latest version?

I do have LR, but the problem is I'm not sure if the changes to the RAW capture time is permanate. I also don't like the idea of importing the pictures to make the changes which is why I'm looking for a different solution.

I used ExifTool command line only. I could have sworn I've adjusted the date/times of some Raw files in the past. I will take a peek at some of my scripts.

OK, the command line works fine.

Had I just followed your link above, I would have been done in 20 seconds...

You posted a link to the offset datetime function (put a + or a - in the date/time). You can specify an exact date time as well.

exiftool "-DateTimeOriginal=2008:​10:30 6:05:13" _MG_1931.CR2

I tried the above line on a copy of a raw file and then checked the exif data after and it worked fine.

Date/Time Original : 2008:10:30 05:13:00

Note, that if you want to set the Create Date as well, you need another parameter:

exiftool "-CreateDate=2008:10:30 6:05:13" _MG_1931.CR2

Create Date : 2008:10:30 05:13:00

Soooo.

The command line to use is:

exiftool "-CreateDate=2008:10:30 6:05:13" "-DateTimeOriginal=2008:​10:30 6:05:13" _MG_1931.CR2


Of course, you would put in the actual date/time in place of the date time I chose. You would also specify the actual filename.

If you want to apply the same date/time to all the raw files in your folder, use "-ext .cr2 ." in place of the actual filename (please note that final dot.

By default the above commands will save the original file as 'filename.original' which can get confusing. If you have faith in exiftool, you can specifiy '-overwrite_original' which will eliminate that 'filename.original' nonsense.

Hope this helps.

lsquare wrote in post #7234172
On EXIFTool's page, this is one of the highlighted feature:

"Shifts date/time values to fix timestamps in images"

Have you tried it in the latest version?

Interesting, didn't know it worked on raw files, thanks

GSansoucie wrote in post #7234552
OK, the command line works fine.

Had I just followed your link above, I would have been done in 20 seconds...

You posted a link to the offset datetime function (put a + or a - in the date/time). You can specify an exact date time as well.

exiftool "-DateTimeOriginal=2008:​10:30 6:05:13" _MG_1931.CR2

I tried the above line on a copy of a raw file and then checked the exif data after and it worked fine.

Date/Time Original : 2008:10:30 05:13:00

Note, that if you want to set the Create Date as well, you need another parameter:

exiftool "-CreateDate=2008:10:30 6:05:13" _MG_1931.CR2

Create Date : 2008:10:30 05:13:00

Soooo.

The command line to use is:

exiftool "-CreateDate=2008:10:30 6:05:13" "-DateTimeOriginal=2008:​10:30 6:05:13" _MG_1931.CR2

Of course, you would put in the actual date/time in place of the date time I chose. You would also specify the actual filename.

If you want to apply the same date/time to all the raw files in your folder, use "-ext .cr2 ." in place of the actual filename (please note that final dot.

By default the above commands will save the original file as 'filename.original' which can get confusing. If you have faith in exiftool, you can specifiy '-overwrite_original' which will eliminate that 'filename.original' nonsense.

Hope this helps.

Thanks a lot for the detailed post! I feel intimiated by the command-line only programs. Have you used any of the GUI front-ends before?

When you changed the capture date, did the modification date changed as well?

What's the difference between the capture and create dates? Are both dates filled out in the Exif when the file is created within the camera?

lsquare wrote in post #7234774
Thanks a lot for the detailed post! I feel intimiated by the command-line only programs. Have you used any of the GUI front-ends before?

I have not tried any of the GUI front ends, sorry can't help you there.

lsquare wrote in post #7234774
When you changed the capture date, did the modification date changed as well?

"Modification Date" is ambigious:

File modification date will change to the date time that I ran exiftool, however, there is a way to change the file's modification date using exiftool (I run this script a lot when scanning in images).
exiftool "-DateTimeOriginal>FileModifyDate" _MG_1931.CR2

This above command is setting the actual File's Modification Date/Time to whatever the Exif DateTimeOriginal is set to.

(I'm on a Mac, Windows Dir will be a tad bit different)

-rw-r--r-- 1 glen staff 12367600 Oct 30 2006 _MG_1931.CR2

If you mean the Exif Modification Date, you just specify that tag on the command line:

exiftool "-ModifyDate=2006:10:30 6:05:13" _MG_1931.CR2

Modify Date : 2006:10:30 05:13:00

You can add all of those separate commands together on a single command line to make things easier.

lsquare wrote in post #7234774
What's the difference between the capture and create dates? Are both dates filled out in the Exif when the file is created within the camera?

From what I can tell, yes.

FYI: If you are ever bored and want to know what tags you can set, you can run "exiftool -list", it is a large list. I usually pipe this to a text file and then open the text file whenever I forget a tag.

Also, I keep a running text file called "Exiftool What Works for me.txt" and I paste in various command line options & descriptions that I know work. I always consult this file to see if I have either tried something or if I need to get something done that isn't already in a script (or drop action) somewhere.

I know this may be a bit dumb to ask, but I'm still hoping someone have tried out ExifTool GUI.

http://freeweb.siol.ne​t …foto/exif/exift​oolgui.htm

From the screenshot, it seems like I just need to set the "shift amount" and as long as those date and time fields are checked, then when I press "execute" the time on the EXIF will change?

I'm trying to copy one value to another using ExifTool on my Mac. Specifically trying to put the "Shutter mode" value into the "Comments" field. I've tried the following but it's not working.

Shutter mode is available in the RAW:
[Track4] ShutterMode: Mechanical

I can access it with

exiftool -shuttermode 1.CR3

exiftool -Track4:shuttermode 1.CR3

exiftool -comment<shuttermode 1.CR3
-bash: shuttermode: No such file or directory

exiftool '-comment<shuttermode' 1.CR3
0 image files updated
1 image files unchanged

AntonLargiader wrote in post #19476349

exiftool -comment<shuttermode 1.CR3
-bash: shuttermode: No such file or directory

exiftool '-comment<shuttermode' 1.CR3
0 image files updated
1 image files unchanged

Try this.

exiftool '-comment<${shuttermode}' 1.CR3

The '<' operator redirects input from a file called shuttermode. You don't have that file. You need the ${} syntax to turn shuttermode into a variable and get its value.

That command only writes the value of the tag. If you want the tag name and the value, you could use this:

exiftool '-comment<SHUTTER MODE = ${shuttermode}' 1.CR3

Thanks. Unfortunately that didn't work. Tried it with and without the Track4 part.

exiftool '-comment<${shuttermode}' 1.CR3
    0 image files updated
    1 image files unchanged

exiftool '-comment<${Track4:shuttermode}' 1.CR3
    0 image files updated
    1 image files unchanged

Hmmm? When I was playing with it earlier I was working on a .jpg file and it worked fine. Now when I try it against a .CR3 or .tif, no dice. I've never tried writing to an exif tag, so my knowledge just ran out.

The ${} syntax did get rid of your "no such file or directory" error.

I think it's the apostrophes that fixed that. Seems that without them, the shell tries to interpret parts of the command as a shell command. There is some documentation of the ${} syntax at the exiftool site; seems that it should be avoided if possible but sometimes it's necessary.

The documentation is, I'm sure, quite thorough but for a newbie it's an impenetrable wall of stuff with no structure or index. It's inconceivable to me that no one has offered to write a user-friendly manual, so I assume it's not a welcome contribution. I'd be happy to take a stab at it once I learn my way around, though.

Reading a bit more, it seems that ExifTool currently has limited abilities to write into CR3 files. According to a post of Phil's last month, the info in the Timed Metadata section cannot currently be modified. The origin of this problem is that the CR3 file is structured after a video file whereas the CR2 was structured after a TIFF file. Search for something like "CR3 edit exif" to find better descriptions.

I may still register and ask directly about this specific field, but I think the fact that it shows up in that "Track4" group suggests it's handled like video.