Finder's "Date Created" date is not date photo was taken

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Finder's "Date Created" date is not date photo was taken

I'm losing accurate metadata when I export media from Photos to Finder. Specifically, Finder shows an incorrect "Date Created" for the media. Photos shows the correct date the picture/video was taken, but after exporting, Finder's "Date Created" field for the media shows a date that is not the day the picture/video was taken. I can't figure out exactly how Finder is generating the date, but for every photo before 9/13/19, it shows 9/13/19 as the "Date Created" date. Every photo after 9/13/19 has a "Date Created" date that is a few days later than when the photo was taken. Interesting probably-not coincidence, 9/13/19 is the day I ordered the iPhone 11 Pro. I received it a week later.

I've tried every combination of export in Photos I know of...unmodified original, unmodified original with IPTC as XMP, regular export where edits are baked in, simply dragging from Photos to Finder...I can't figure it out a way to get the "Date Created" field to show the day the photo was taken, so wondering how Finder determines that field.

I have two questions: 1) What determines Finder's "Date Created" date and 2) Is there a way export media from Photos to Finder so it shows the correct date the media was taken?

Thank you in advance!

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.15

Posted on Feb 29, 2020 8:14 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Rysz

Level 8

44,521 points

Feb 29, 2020 8:46 PM in response to brittped

Finder doesn’t display EXIF metadata. It displays the date the image FILE was created, not the date the photo was taken.

The EXIF data is still embedded in the exported file, but you would need a dedicated EXIF data reader to see it. You can confirm that the metadata is still in the file by bringing the exported image back into Photos.

The date the file is created and then displayed by Finder depends on how you exported the image. For example, dragging an image from Photos onto Desktop will be displayed with the time stamp of this action (ie, Finder created a new file on the desktop). If you exported the image out of Photos as original file, the time stamp will be the same as that of the image file in Photos - again, that’s the date the FILE in Photos was created, not the date the photo was taken.

The older date you’re seeing in Finder is likely the date you created your Photos Library, or copied it, or something similar. The other, newer dates indicate the images were imported into Photos a few days after they were taken.

Bottom line, regardless of how you exported the files from Photos, the EXIF metadata is still embedded in them (although there are options/methods for not including it), it’s just that Finder is not how to view it - Finder is for viewing file data.

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

217,312 points

Mar 1, 2020 11:12 AM in response to brittped

You can see the EXIF creation date in the Finder if you choose the columnar view:

With the latest Catalina version the exported file will also show the EXIF created date:

This file was exported out of Photos as a unmodified original. When exported out of Photos as an edited image, whether it has been edited or not, we get this in the file's Info pane:

But in the Finder Column view we get the EXIT date:

So it depends on how your expiring the photo out of the library.

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Answer 3

Rysz

Level 8

44,521 points

Mar 1, 2020 11:27 AM in response to Old Toad

>> You can see the EXIF creation date in the Finder if you choose the columnar view: <<

Forgot about that. Thanks for the reminder!

>> With the latest Catalina version the exported file will also show the EXIF created date: <<

I double-checked this before posting, that’s the file creation date, not the image capture date (although they might be the same day, if imported soon after taking). At least that’s what it is on my b version of Catalina.

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Answer 4

brittped Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 4, 2020 11:01 PM in response to Rysz

I understand the nature of using iCloud, or more specifically, iCloud Drive as a "backup" in that deleting a photo anywhere will delete it everywhere. I travel quite a bit and shoot a lot of video and I used up all 256GBs on my iPhone which is why I opted to "optimize iPhone storage" to free up space immediately. I did not opt to "optimize Mac storage" so my media is full resolution on my Mac. I do hate the slight lag to play a video on my iPhone so want to get back to keeping originals.

I feel like I'm in a constant battle with myself of how best to store and organize my media. One one hand, Photos is really solid and the classic Apple experience. It's neat and easy to navigate, can find photos by date relatively easily which as noted Finder sucks at. "Places" is actually epic and my favorite part about Photos...it's the fastest and easiest way to find photos but Photos can only take you so far cause eventually you'll run out of space. On the other hand is Finder...a pretty basic file manager but it's infinitely scalable with external hard drives which in my opinion is its strongest selling point. With Photos, you're limited to the capacity of your phone unless you optimize storage, but even then you're limited to 2TBs, Apple's largest iCloud storage plan.

Also, I'm still scarred from all the time I wasted organizing in iPhoto and it's not unreasonable to fear the same could happen with Photos so Finder is much more future proof.

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge. It's very helpful to know the EXIF metadata floats around with the media as it's moved around. Would love to hear any organization tips you might have so please share them if you have any.

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Answer 5

brittped Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 29, 2020 10:04 PM in response to Rysz

Great explanation, thank you! It's interesting Finder doesn't display Exif data. More to consider now as I was planning on periodically moving all media off Photos and to Finder. Now I'll consider getting more organized in Photos with Albums/Folders and optimizing iPhone storage for Photos and relying 2 TB iCloud backup...I just hate the delay to download videos when storage is optimized.

I'm still unsure why my iPhone media is not syncing to Photos the same day I take the photos/videos...I've always had iCloud on and use cellular data to sync when Wi-Fi isn't available. Would it help the dates to synchronize accurately if I turned on Photo Stream? To be honest, I've never really understood the point of Photo Stream with iCloud syncing everything already.

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Answer 6

Rysz

Level 8

44,521 points

Mar 1, 2020 9:39 AM in response to brittped

As long as the EXIF data is there, it should not matter. File and EXIF metadata are for tracking totally different data. Both are useful for different aspects and situations. There’s no reason they should “match.” You can do a search for “EXIF” on Mac App Store. There are a few reader utilities, including free.

iCloud syncing is sometimes slow, but generally not as slow as you describe. Could be an Internet connection issue at your end, or you’re running into cellular data limits.

Photo Stream and iCloud Photo Library (iCPL) are alternative syncing methods, not meant to be used together.

You stated you’re organizing your image folders in Finder. If that means your Photos library is Referenced. My suggestion is to change this and let Photos keep all images in its Library file - referenced libraries inevitably lead to problems. If it means you actually go into the Library file in Finder and make changes there, you’re committing a cardinal sin - only make changes from within the app interface, or you’ll end up corrupting the Photos database.

Finally, you referred to iCloud as a backup. iCPL is a syncing service, not a backup. It should not be treated as a backup. Remember that if you accidentally delete any files on any device, the files will be gone from everywhere, including iCPL. A true backup will have saved copies of them, iCPL will not. Best practice is to keep your Mac Photos Library at full-resolution and have a backup of that library on an external drive.

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Answer 7

Yer_Man

Level 10

166,358 points

Mar 4, 2020 11:14 PM in response to brittped

I feel like I'm in a constant battle with myself of how best to store and organize my media.

Couple of thoughts:

Google Photos is a free service that will automatically back up the images on your Phone (and Mac, if you choose). It does mean that you can have the images auto-upload and then clear the phone for space to tale more. Afterwards you can download them to your Mac. Of course, there are data-mining issues (it is Google after all). but that might be something you're okay with.

Adobe's Lightroom (the Cloud version, not the Classic one) offers a more feature complete version of Photos and might also be worth checking out.

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Finder's "Date Created" date is not date photo was taken

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