Does anyone notice that Image Capture Apps (OSX) is no longer keep an original date after upgraded to Big Sur

I have an iPhone XS (14.2) and recently moved from MacBook Pro 2009 El Capitan (32-bit Extended Journal format encryption) to a MacBook Pro Big Sur (64 bit APFS File Vault Mac Encryption).  

I had reached an issue where I could no longer get all my photos off my iPhone XS.  Some wouldn't export out with Image Capture (or using the export with Preview app method) and I figured it was my updated OS on my iPhone situation and my older El Capitan Mac incompatibility.   

So I decided to get a new MacBook Pro (64bit) thus my issue with getting photos off my iPhone XS to a portable hard drive would be solved.  NOT.... 

Using Image Capture, if I drag the file from my iPhone XS to my portable hard drive (formatted to Fat32 so I can use on a PC or MAC) the file date is switched to current date/time.  I loose the source date / metadata.

SOLUTION:  I discovered if I create a folder on my MacBook Pro (Big Sur) and drag the file from my iPhone XS directly to that folder (using Image Capture) ... if you watch closely you will see the date on that file (within the Mac folder) show today's date/time and then switch to the original metadata (source date/time of when the picture was taken).  Wait a bit of time for the Mac to do this conversion.  I can then copy that file from my Mac to my portable hard drive (Fat32 formatted) and I am able to keep the original date my picture was taken.  

Going from the iPhone XS straight to the portable hard drive with Fat32 there is no technology to keep the source metadata.  The above solution uses an "APFS File Vault Mac encryption" technology to handle this.

I hope this helps someone.   I reached out to Mac support and through a discussion and troubleshooting with the technical supervisor we discovered this solution.  It's not the fastest method to get files to a portable hard drive but for me keeping the source metadata was very important and is a doable solution for me.  

Thanks Apple tech support for bearing with me until we figured out a solution and pardon my notes if I called something the wrong thing but at least someone will have a solution.

I'm having the same problem and it's super frustrating. Pre Big Sur, the metadata under the column "Date" from the Image Capture application would show up as the "Date Modified" (also for "Date Created")in the destination folder. This no longer happens. Instead, it shows the date that I exported the photos/videos to the destination folder. I cannot find the image capture data that was previously available, and the main reason I use Image Capture. Without this data, there is no easy way to organize my photos/videos on my external drive. I also noticed that the "Import" button has changed to "Download", which I thought was strange before I even noticed the metadata issue. PLEASE HELP!!

I had this same issue and was very frustrated, since it used to work fine before Big Sur - photos imported through Image Caoture would show the date the photo was taken in the "Date Modified" field. I finally downloaded ExifRenamer to try to implement the workaround that others have suggested and just rename the files to have the exif data so I can sort by file name (instead of Date Modified as I used to do) to get my photos in order by when they were taken.

To my delight, when I send my files straight from Image Capture into ExifRenamer, not only does it rename the file to reflect the exif data, but it ALSO somehow makes it so that the "Date Modified" for the file shows up as the date the photo / video was taken, rather than the date & time of upload! (In other words, it does what it used to do, which clearly those of us who liked to organize our photos in this way preferred.)

I highly recommend this solution, as it is very simple and, once you have downloaded ExifRenamer, works almost exactly the same as it did back in the "good old days." Basically, after downloading, when you go to Image Capture, instead of selecting the file location where you want to "Import to:", you will select Other>Applications>ExifRenamer:

Then you will see a pop-up:

Click on Preferences. Check "Show advanced options". Toggle to select "Move all renamed files to the destination folder." Then down below, click the "Choose folder" button and select the location where you want to save the files. I also recommend you uncheck "Confirm each file" down at the bottom:

Once you've done that, close out of the Preferences window with the red x, and then hit "Download" in Image Capture. After a little while, you should see your renamed, properly dated files appear in the selected folder. Magic!!

If you want, you can also edit the file name format by clicking the "Edit Styles" button at the top, then clicking "New" and creating a new version. You can even just type "%O" and then you will get the original file name, if for some reason you want to keep that rather than renaming with date / time -- because when you do it this way, the Date Modified will reflect the date and time taken so you can just keep using that to sort as you used to do, rather than needing the file name workaround!

I hope this helps someone else! I was so disappointed by the problem, and so delighted to find this easy solution. :-)

Hi everyone, I too have the same problem but I have noticed a different behavior on two BigSur macs.

I believe this is a bug on machines with native BigSur (installed from scratch), not updated from previous OS.

I have two iMacs:

- 27inch 5k ed. 2019 - BigSur updated from Catalina: Image Capture correctly imports "date of shot" as "creation date" for every file.

- 27inch 5k ed. 2020 - BigSur native: Image Capture assigns the "import date" as the "creation date", so if I import the 11,000 photos from my iPhone I get 11,000 files with the same date!

Had this problem too. DanaTN's fix solved it for me. Transfer to your Mac's internal HD first (mine has APFS formatting). Then transfer from your Mac's HD to external hard drive for storage. When I transferred directly to my external HD (ExFAT formatting) - the "Date Created" data was overwritten with today's date/time.

The comment before me have indicated that the Image Creation date is kept, but inside the file. If you set the view to be Columns land the View Options to insecure the preview you'll be able to see the Image Creation (EXIF) date:

Here's the info from Photos:

And here it is in the Finder:

NOTE: screenshots are from Big Sur.

Again:

You need to distinguish between the file metatdata (information about the file) and the image metadata (information about the image in the file)

If you copy a file the copies creation date will normally be set to the date the file was copied. The image metadata inside the file (which you can view in preview with the inspector window, iptc tab) will show the image capture date.

Summary:

The File metadata is kept in the file system, and represents when that copy of the file is created or modified

The image metadata is kept inside the file, as exif and IPTC data. This won't change when you copy / move the file.

You can also see the two different dates in finder, as shown in the screenshot with finder in column view. This is from an image I exported from photos in july 2019 - so the file has been created and last modified then, but the content creation date is still showing 2011...

There are two kinds of metadata involved when you consider jpeg or other image file.

One is the file data. This is what the Finder shows. This tells you nothing about the contents of the file, just the File itself.

The problem with File metadata is that it can easily change as the file is moved from place to place or exported, e-mailed, uploaded etc.

Photographs have also got both Exif and IPTC metadata. The date and time that your camera snapped the Photograph is recorded in the Exif metadata. Regardless if what the file date says, this is the actual time recorded by the camera.

Photo applications like iPhoto, Aperture, Lightroom, Picasa, Photoshop etc get their date and time from the Exif metadata.

So, when you speak of the date are you referring to the file metadata or the exif metadata?

Are you using iCloud Photos on your iPhone? Then all bets are off with respect to the "Creation Date" of the files on the iPhone. The iPhone or iPad will download regularly new files from iCloud and it will be a game of chance, what the creation date is of the iCloud download copy of the original file on the iPhone. I am seeing the same in Photos for Mac - most of the original image files in my Photos Library are now having a file creation date of December 2020, when I downloaded the library again from iCloud.

The EXIF data is intact: it is the creation date of the file that is wrong.

Then, strictly speaking, the file date is not wrong as the copy was made when the transfer occurred. And this is why you need to use an app that's aware of Exif metadata for managing photographs, and the Finder is not Exif-aware.

I routinely copy image and movie metadata date (the most important date) to the filename and file creation & modification dates so they should sort correctly in all lists. If some of those dates happens to be wrong it is then easy to copy the correct date to it.

I use GraphicConverter to rename based on EXIF date or sometimes based on file creation or modification date. GC uses exiftool for that and running exiftool via the Terminal has lots of extra options for that. Sometimes I do this vice versa and edit metadata dates based on filenames.

Matti Haveri wrote:

I routinely copy image and movie metadata date (the most important date) to the filename and file creation & modification dates so they should sort correctly in all lists. If some of those dates happens to be wrong it is then easy to copy the correct date to it.

I see you mention this workflow in the past, though I don't know why you do it. It's all extra work for photos when that info is already in the Exif. Video it makes sense for.

OMGosh! This is further scaring me! I am needing to export photos from my iPhone 12 Pro Max--because of iCloud going over my 50GB limit and I'm indignant about having to pay more to Apple for increased storage. But, Yes, my photos on iPhone are in iCloud, right? iCloud really confuses me. I just want to move them to my MacBook Pro 13" (2020) or my external back-up hard drive. I do not get why I have all these MOST UPDATED products from Apple and purchased with higher GB for more than ample storage--on both devices--and then have these iCloud issues. I just want my photos to keep their original dates--to save me hours of my life that I may not have so many left and would much rather do things I enjoy! Yardwork, pruning, landscaping and cooking!!

well thanks, but I've checked both methods of viewing you show here and they just have the date that I imported it twice and still nothing indicating when I actually took the picture.

everyone here is talking about file types and stuff that I do not understand but I just wanna know if there's a way to show the original date and if so, how?