Changing Photo Time Stamp, Bulk Editor - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Hain · 01-11-2008, 08:51 AM

I need a program that will go through a set of photos and change the time stamps of the photos in a specific way. After a vacation with various cameras snapping photos, one of the cameras had the wrong date and time. It is only a few hours off, but there are sets of pictures that go from one day to the next, and there are a bunch to do.

Any recommendations for programs that can add X-time to the time stamp of photos properly?

Thanks to Byrnison, the program Exifer does exactly what I need.

Byrnison · 01-11-2008, 10:24 AM

I was about to suggest something...then realized you are asking about incrementally changing the timestamp, which is in the EXIF data of the pics, not the filename . Did a little digging, and found a bunch of for-sale programs that look nice and polished, but then stumbled across a freeware program called Exifer:

Exifer

The author states that he stopped working on it 5 years ago, but I just tried it out and although its clunky it does work to batch-change the timestamps with increments of time that you choose. I also discovered that there are multiple date fields in the picture data, so you might want to test it small scale to make sure you change the right ones. Might it do what you want?

(Edit: it's a Windows prog in case you are using a different OS)

Hain · 01-11-2008, 03:12 PM

I have tried may combinations of the EXIF data editor in Exifer and it does not perform as desired. Either it makes all the pictures have the same updated time stamp OR even worse, it adds my additional time to each picture starting from the first, so each one gets 1 hour 6 minutes added from the previous photo's time (e.g. the first photo is taken at 12:00, then the next says 13:06, then 14:12, 15:18.... etc).

Byrnison · 01-11-2008, 03:32 PM

Gah, I didn't realize that in my small test set, and now that I tried it on a larger set I see it as well. *sigh*

I'll keep looking. All I've found so far is not share/freeware.

Edit:
I tried it again, but this time did NOT check the "Date", "Time", or "Incremental" boxes.
I selected 5 pics, put +1(AM, dunno if that matters) in the date/time offset section, ran it, and it added one hour to each of the pics.
Did you try it this way as well? If not does it do the trick?

Hain · 01-11-2008, 07:42 PM

Yes I tried this as well. It made all the pictures the same date and time yet the 10 pictures are from 3 different days.

EDIT: Those ten pictures are just my small test, I have a great deal more waiting to be processed.

Hain · 01-12-2008, 08:55 AM

All right! Thanks Byrnison. I had a feeling something was wrong, and it wasn't the program but Windows was having an off day. Exifer keep crashing when I was experimenting with it, and I figured it was a problem with it. However, other things were screwing up, I ran ccleaner on the registry, and all is well.

I changed all the dates and the pictures are all in chronological order.

Redlemon · 05-29-2008, 10:24 AM

Just an update to this thread, in case it helps anyone else out there....

I just had the same issue; I copied a bunch of photos from a friend, and found out that her digital camera was set 12 hours off from reality. This is easily fixed on a Macintosh running iPhoto '08 (and perhaps earlier versions, but I don't have those to test).

Select the range of photos.
From the menu, choose Photos: Change Date and Time...
The dialog box will show you the date and time of the first photo. Adjust the time to what you want. The dates for all selected photos will be changed using that time offset.

01-11-2008, 08:51 AM	#1 (permalink)
Hain has a plan Location: middle of Whywouldanyonebethere	Changing Photo Time Stamp, Bulk Editor I need a program that will go through a set of photos and change the time stamps of the photos in a specific way. After a vacation with various cameras snapping photos, one of the cameras had the wrong date and time. It is only a few hours off, but there are sets of pictures that go from one day to the next, and there are a bunch to do. Any recommendations for programs that can add X-time to the time stamp of photos properly? Thanks to Byrnison, the program Exifer does exactly what I need. __________________ ////\\// IRONSKY.NET \\//\\\\ Last edited by Hain; 03-30-2008 at 05:50 AM..

01-11-2008, 03:12 PM	#3 (permalink)
Hain has a plan Location: middle of Whywouldanyonebethere	I have tried may combinations of the EXIF data editor in Exifer and it does not perform as desired. Either it makes all the pictures have the same updated time stamp OR even worse, it adds my additional time to each picture starting from the first, so each one gets 1 hour 6 minutes added from the previous photo's time (e.g. the first photo is taken at 12:00, then the next says 13:06, then 14:12, 15:18.... etc). __________________ ////\\// IRONSKY.NET \\//\\\\

01-11-2008, 03:32 PM	#4 (permalink)
Byrnison Crazy Location: Los Angeles, CA	Gah, I didn't realize that in my small test set, and now that I tried it on a larger set I see it as well. sigh I'll keep looking. All I've found so far is not share/freeware. Edit: I tried it again, but this time did NOT check the "Date", "Time", or "Incremental" boxes. I selected 5 pics, put +1(AM, dunno if that matters) in the date/time offset section, ran it, and it added one hour to each of the pics. Did you try it this way as well? If not does it do the trick? Last edited by Byrnison; 01-11-2008 at 03:57 PM..

01-11-2008, 07:42 PM	#5 (permalink)
Hain has a plan Location: middle of Whywouldanyonebethere	Yes I tried this as well. It made all the pictures the same date and time yet the 10 pictures are from 3 different days. EDIT: Those ten pictures are just my small test, I have a great deal more waiting to be processed. __________________ ////\\// IRONSKY.NET \\//\\\\ Last edited by Hain; 01-12-2008 at 07:47 AM..

01-12-2008, 08:55 AM	#6 (permalink)
Hain has a plan Location: middle of Whywouldanyonebethere	All right! Thanks Byrnison. I had a feeling something was wrong, and it wasn't the program but Windows was having an off day. Exifer keep crashing when I was experimenting with it, and I figured it was a problem with it. However, other things were screwing up, I ran ccleaner on the registry, and all is well. I changed all the dates and the pictures are all in chronological order. __________________ ////\\// IRONSKY.NET \\//\\\\

01-11-2008, 10:24 AM	#2 (permalink)
Byrnison Crazy Location: Los Angeles, CA	I was about to suggest something...then realized you are asking about incrementally changing the timestamp, which is in the EXIF data of the pics, not the filename . Did a little digging, and found a bunch of for-sale programs that look nice and polished, but then stumbled across a freeware program called Exifer: Exifer The author states that he stopped working on it 5 years ago, but I just tried it out and although its clunky it does work to batch-change the timestamps with increments of time that you choose. I also discovered that there are multiple date fields in the picture data, so you might want to test it small scale to make sure you change the right ones. Might it do what you want? (Edit: it's a Windows prog in case you are using a different OS)

05-29-2008, 10:24 AM	#7 (permalink)
Redlemon Devoted Donor Location: New England	Just an update to this thread, in case it helps anyone else out there.... I just had the same issue; I copied a bunch of photos from a friend, and found out that her digital camera was set 12 hours off from reality. This is easily fixed on a Macintosh running iPhoto '08 (and perhaps earlier versions, but I don't have those to test). Select the range of photos. From the menu, choose Photos: Change Date and Time... The dialog box will show you the date and time of the first photo. Adjust the time to what you want. The dates for all selected photos will be changed using that time offset. __________________ I can't read your signature. Sorry.