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transfer iphoto without losing create date

I have a MacBook Air. Just upgraded the OS.

How can i transfer photos out of i photo and into my external hard drive without losing the create date? I don't want the pictures in i photo at all. I've tried cutting and pasting, dragging and dropping, one picture and multiple pictures at a time. Sometimes create date stays, sometimes it changes to today's date. Please help.

thank you!

MacBook Air

Posted on Nov 5, 2014 8:39 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 3, 2017 12:34 PM

I want to sort my photos in Finder by the date they were created, but that date was changed to the date I moved the file. I don't really want to open them in an app unless I have to.


Sent from my iPhone

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Jul 16, 2017 4:45 PM in response to LarryHN

What that person needs is simple steps.


I have the same problem, I want to transfer photos taken by iphone to my AirMac and next to an external drive. I don't care what EXIF data is, I just want to know the steps like : open that app, select this, click here etc.


Can anyone help by providing steps for Dummies.


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Nov 15, 2017 12:49 AM in response to léonie

I'm working with Photos. Using Photos Export the Exif tag "CreationDate" (as opposed to the file modification date) showed today's date as described many times above.

I made a directory in desktop and dragged the image from Photos to it. Exiftool now shows the CreationDate to be the date the photo was taken even though I had previously edited the photo using Photos.

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Nov 5, 2014 10:53 PM in response to Kara-Bode

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.


When you export from iPhoto to the Finder new file is created containing your Photo (and its Exif). The File date is - quite accurately - reported as the date of Export.


However, the Photo Date doesn't change.


The problem is that the Finder doesn't work with Exif.


So, your photo has the correct date, and so does the file, but they are different things. To sort on the Photo date you'll need to use a photo app.

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Nov 6, 2014 3:02 AM in response to Kara-Bode

I've tried cutting and pasting, dragging and dropping, one picture and multiple pictures at a time. Sometimes create date stays, sometimes it changes to today's date. Please help.

thank you!

If the creation date will stay, will depend on whether you edited the photo or not. Dragging, cutting and pasting will export edited versions, and they will have to be rendered a new image files from your original files.

Only "File > Export > Original" with "Kind: Original" will export the original untouched image file without any changed file creation dates. But as TD and LarryHN explained, the file creation date will tell you, when the file for the edited version of a photo has been created, not the EXIF capture date. The dates on the files are there to compare which version of the same photo is the newer one, not when the photo has been taken.

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Nov 5, 2014 9:10 PM in response to Kara-Bode

They do not lose their date - you are simply confusing the photo date embedded in the photo EXIF data (which is easily viewed by photo software like Preview or iPhoto) and the file date which has nothing to do with the photo and is easily viewed by file software like the finder


Every time you create a new file the file date is new - the photo date remains constant


LN

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Nov 6, 2014 5:58 AM in response to Kara-Bode

Do you think Iphoto is the best way to organize photos? I'm used to a filing system in a windows format.

It depends what you want from a photo library.

iPhoto (and Aperture) are perfect for storing your photos and retrieving them for you based on metadata, like titles, keywords, capture time, camera type, etc. It will let you organize albums for several purposes and use the same photo in many albums without duplicating the photos. It will keep track of the edits you are doing the photos, and group your edited versions with the original, so you can always find all versions of a photo or revert to the original.

If you store your photos in files, you will have to do all that on your own.

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Sep 18, 2016 1:59 AM in response to RonG12

There are 9 different versions of iPhoto and they run on 10 different versions of the Operating System. The tricks and tips for dealing with issues vary depending on the version of iPhoto and the version of the OS. So to get help you need to give as much information as you can. Include things like:


- What version of iPhoto.


- What version of the Operating System.


- Details. As full a description of the problem as you can. For example, if you have a problem with exporting, then explain by describing how you are trying to export, and so on.


- History: Is this going on long? Has anything been installed or deleted? - Are there error messages?


- What steps have you tried already to solve the issue.


- Anything unusual about your set up? Or how you use iPhoto?


Anything else you can think of that might help someone understand the problem you have.

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Nov 26, 2016 8:12 PM in response to Kara-Bode

From IPhone or IPad to PC

After transferring photos onto a PC (Win 7 Pro in my case) by copy/paste, drag/drop, etc., you will notice the date created and modified on the PC will be the date/time you transferred the photo(s) onto the PC and not when the photo was taken....

However, if you;

1. Right Click in the new PC folder your pictures were copied into.

2. Select View.

3. Select Details.

2. With various columns of file details now displayed, right click anywhere in the columns name row.

3. Select More from the pop up window.

4. Scroll down to and Check the "Content Created" box.

5. Select OK.

Date and Time picture was taken will now be displayed in the new "Content Created" column you have just added to the Details View of the file folder.

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Nov 26, 2016 9:38 PM in response to alandfrompc

From IPhone or IPad to PC


Ok - But transferring from an IOS device to a PC has nothing at all to do with this thread which is about exporting photos out of iPhoto for Mac and has been fully answered with detailed explanations as to what is happening and how to handle it


LN

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Jun 3, 2017 10:40 AM in response to sidonnagwynne

If you want to organise your photographs like files, then use the Finder. That's what the Finder is for. The weakness is that the Finder makes no distinction between what the files contain - music, photos, text, whatever. Plus, there's that whole non-destructive editing thing.


Every photo application of any value at all ignores the file data and works with the exif, because it's more useful and more accurate.


So, why do you want to maintain trivial data? Surely the important stuff is the Photo's date not the file's date.

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Jun 3, 2017 3:28 PM in response to sidonnagwynne

I want to sort my photos in Finder by the date they were created


There is a contradiction there.


You want to sort your Photos by the date they were created. That's recorded in the Exif metadata


You want to sort them in the Finder, but that works with file metadata, not the same thing.


So, pick one: Photo date or File Date. They're not the same thing.

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Jul 16, 2017 3:07 PM in response to OliAir

SO this is what I have found:


1. Open iTunes - (I'm not sure for what, but this is what they said on Apple page)

2. Plug in your iPhone

3. Open Photos App - (the one with a colorful flower as an icon)

4. Make sure you have a full screen, if not then in the middle of the screen on the top you should see Albums / Import / Photos / Projects etc.

5. Choose Import

6. Wait until all photos from your iPhone will load into this app. It might take a while.

7. Choose which photos do you want to transfer and click Import Selected at the top of the screen - if you don't have much space on your Mac - like me - you will have to keep selecting bunch of photos and transfer them, then delete them when they are safe on your external hard drive and keep on doing that until you have all that you need. You can click on delete photos - so when they will import, it will automatically be deleted from your iPhone and Photo App.

8. Change on the top of the screen from Import to Album - there are your imported photos. Select them all.

9. Go to the very top of the screen (black menu) - choose FILE - Export - Export unmodified originals - click to tag Export IPTC as XMP - File name: use file name - subcathalog : Moments / Memory name. Click Export.

10. Choose your externadl harddrive - and file where you want to save it. Click on Export oryginals.

11. Go back to Photo App. Select all photos that you have just exported to your External hard drive. Select them and delete them.

12. Choose Delete at the top menu instead of Album and Import - and also delete them from there or empty your trash bin in Photo App (not on your Mac).

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transfer iphoto without losing create date

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