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

After I upgraded my os to Big Sur. I found that image capture apps is no longer keep "an original date" when the photo is taken after I download all image to my external hard disk. I already set "Keep Original" in Photos' Setting in my iPhone 11 Pro and, surprisingly, there is no "keep original" menu to tick in three dots button in image capture apps just only "delete after import" (If i am wrong about this menu please tell me, such as there was no this feature before but I remember that it had)

Now I have to use Photo apps in mac to download the image and export original to my external hard drive which it quite very slow compared to image capture.

Please anyone help me how can I make image capture to directly download my images to my external hard drive and also keep the original taken date of every photos.

MacBook, OS X 10.11

Posted on Dec 6, 2020 7:48 PM

Top-ranking reply

DanaTN

Level 1

9 points

Posted on Feb 20, 2021 9:06 AM

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.

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Similar questions

33 replies

May 23, 2021 11:35 PM in response to shethinksaloud

Follow-up note: if you are doing a large batch through ExifRenamer (I am currently running one with 5000+ photos), it takes a while for the files to appear in the folder after the download completes. Be patient and they will turn up in the destination folder, bit by bit.

Helsou

Level 1

4 points

May 26, 2021 9:28 AM in response to Nicolas Nunix

I had the same problem when trying to extract the photos from my iPhone to an external SSD. However, when I set the destination folder being the native Pictures folder, the dates are preserved. It's an extra job doing it, but it's better than loosing all the dates reference. Shame on Apple for narrowing even more the flexibility to manage my own files.

ninjapig

Level 1

18 points

May 26, 2021 1:55 PM in response to Nicolas Nunix

SOLUTION: the issue is with your hard drive format. Some formats do not support metadata that others do. Metadata is sometimes saved separate to the file - not always "inside" the file, so when you transfer to a hard drive that doesn't support how the metadata is saved - it is simply lost.

Definitive answer: Find which HD format is working for you, then reformat your non-working drive to the same format as the working drive. In my case, Apple File System (APFS) works, but when I transfer a photo to my external hard drive formatted as exFAT - the metadata is lost. I will reformat my external hard drive to APFS (use Google to find how to reformat your hard drive).

Jun 25, 2021 5:53 PM in response to DanaTN

Thank you, DanaTN! This worked! I really appreciate it.

If anyone is struggling with this same issue, you can disregard all of the comments about formatting your hard drive, or the notion that the metadata is there but that you're not seeing it; these might be the case, but if you're doing the same thing you did before Big Sur, it's the new Image Capture, not you. Scroll up to what DanaTN posted. They worked with Apple Tech Support and they came up with a workable solution to a real glitch!

Yer_Man

Level 10

163,824 points

Dec 29, 2020 11:20 PM in response to saljadeff

Videos don't have Exif metadata so that's no help.

What format is your external drive?

Dec 30, 2020 5:27 AM in response to Yer_Man

The videos are straight from my new iPhone 12pro. I’ve been using this same system to move images/videos to my external drive for years, and it no longer works. I’ll contact Apple directly.