ral7
Level 1 (9 points)
Mac OS X

Q: In my Macbook Air, why won't Finder sort my photos by the date/time shown in the EXIF data?

In my Macbook Air, why won't Finder sort my photos by the date/time shown in the EXIF data?

 

I use 2 cameras, Canon 60D and a Nikon P7700. I want to keep all of the photos taken with these cameras in one folder. I need all of these photos sorted by the date and time the photo was taken which is shown in their EXIF data.

 

I bought into Apple products with the understanding that they were primarily used by creative people. (Whereas MS leans more towards business types.) So why doesn't Apple software recognize and utilize EXIF data?

 

Does anyone know of a reasonably priced software to use for this purpose?

 

Thank you!

iPhone 5, Mac OS X (10.7.3), I do not have iWork

Posted on Aug 10, 2013 1:41 PM

Close
ral7

Q: In my Macbook Air, why won't Finder sort my photos by the date/time shown in the EXIF data?

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by sberman,Helpful

    sberman sberman Aug 10, 2013 2:04 PM in response to ral7
    Level 8 (39,632 points)
    Aug 10, 2013 2:04 PM in response to ral7

    I can recommend a free application to do just what you want.  And you already have it!

     

    iPhoto does just what you are trying to do.  If you don't see how, simply type "Sort" under "Help" in iPhoto's menu bar.

     

    Yes you will have to import all your photos into iPhoto's library, and export them again if you want to do something external to Apple with the photos.

  • by g_wolfman,Helpful

    g_wolfman g_wolfman Aug 10, 2013 2:36 PM in response to ral7
    Level 4 (1,141 points)
    Aug 10, 2013 2:36 PM in response to ral7

    EXIF data is metadata related to the photo (the content of the file), and therefore relevant to photography applications.

     

    The Finder isn't a photography application, it's a file system browser.  It's really only concerned with file metadata.  And really, anything else would be out of scope...if the Finder was to be capable of sorting by EXIF date/time data, then why not demand it be sortable by music ID3 Tag metadata, or who knows what?

     

    As mentioned, the best way to sort photos by photo-specific data is to use a photography application like iPhoto.  Or, if you want to spend a bit and get more professional features, Aperture.  And of course there all all sorts of other third-party applications at almost every price-point imaginable.

  • by ral7,

    ral7 ral7 Aug 11, 2013 9:50 AM in response to ral7
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 11, 2013 9:50 AM in response to ral7

    Thank you for your responses. I've had trouble learning how to use iPhoto but will give it another try. Thank you both!

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Aug 11, 2013 11:25 AM in response to ral7
    Level 9 (71,175 points)
    iTunes
    Aug 11, 2013 11:25 AM in response to ral7

    Information.

     

    iPhoto

  • by Michael Meier-Schulz,

    Michael Meier-Schulz Michael Meier-Schulz Jan 6, 2016 1:57 PM in response to sberman
    Level 1 (35 points)
    Jan 6, 2016 1:57 PM in response to sberman

    This is not correct.

    iPhoto sorts by date of import the photo into iPhoto.

    It DOES NOT SORT by date of photo taken.

    EXIF data are not used by iPhotos sorting algorithm.