Batch Processing EXIF

Post by **Richard S.** » Wed. Jan. 07, 2015 4:41 am

I'm sorting some photos for a relative and they had the date/time wrong on the camera. I need to add 1 year and 12 hours to about 10,000 of them.

Any suggestions for software? I have irfanview but don't see any option for batch conversions and this is pretty specific as I need to add 12 hours so if it's 7:35 PM it has to change the date too.

Post by **Lightning** » Wed. Jan. 07, 2015 10:16 am

I use 1-4a Rename. It has a string variable that you can apply an equation to change names. I'm not sure if it can change the image data though. You might wanna take a look at it. Here's the link..

http://www.1-4a.com/rename/

Post by **Richard S.** » Wed. Jan. 07, 2015 12:53 pm

Thanks but that's not what I need, the EXIF data is embedded in the image.

I did find this and I'm checking it now, looks like it's going to work.

http://www.relliksoftware.com/exifdatechanger/

Post by **Richard S.** » Wed. Jan. 07, 2015 2:16 pm

Just my luck the date range falls on a leap year and this software doesn't account for it very well. Adding 365 days leaves me one day short on dates after the leap day but adding 366 would leave me 1 day too many for dates before the leap date.

I think I got that right.

Post by **Lightning** » Wed. Jan. 07, 2015 3:28 pm

Can they be sorted by date and then split in half so you can count the extra day on the pics that need it?

Post by **Richard S.** » Thu. Jan. 08, 2015 5:08 am

The datetaken is stored inside the photo as metadata, there is all kinds of information like camera model, exposure... You can add titles, subject matter etc. It's the modern equivalent of writing on the back of the photo. Wherever the photo goes that goes with it unless it's edited. The datetaken field is most important date as the other dates you see reported in Windows are file system dates that are never reliable a least as far as the datetaken is concerned. The date created for example is set to today on a copy of a file, the date modified will change if you edit it.

Richard S. wrote:Just my luck the date range falls on a leap year and this software doesn't account for it very well. Adding 365 days leaves me one day short on dates after the leap day but adding 366 would leave me 1 day too many for dates before the leap date.

I think I got that right.

Apparently I was wrong as the dates prior to that are also off that much.

davidmcbeth3 · Post by **davidmcbeth3** » Thu. Jan. 08, 2015 5:10 pm

Retake all the pics , maybe less hassle?

Post by **franco b** » Thu. Jan. 08, 2015 5:14 pm

Why not just add the correct date to the file name? I have batch loaded changes like this using cam2 pc

Post by **Richard S.** » Fri. Jan. 09, 2015 12:51 am

franco b wrote:Why not just add the correct date to the file name? I have batch loaded changes like this using cam2 pc

I'm already doing that in batches to prevent file naming clashes. There is more than 10K images and without reference to the correct date I'll be here forever and in the end the date would be wrong on the image. In any event that program worked well once I was able to wrap my head around the leap year issue.