Duplicate photos - which is the original?

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Level 1

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Duplicate photos - which is the original?

Hello, I'm trying to delete duplicate photos on my Mac, originally taken on my phone.

Some it's clear which is the original, others it's not.

For example, I have two files of the same photo, IMG_0396.JPG and IMG_0371.JPG, indistinguishable in Photos with Get Info

When you export them, you can see IMG_0396 has a later file modified date.

For some reason, IMG_0371 file modified date is different from the file created date. For most of the other duplicate sets usually at least one photo has the same file created date as file modified date.

Next I downloaded an app called Photos Duplicate Cleaner, v1.7, which described additional metadata

I don't know how Photos creates their folder structure, but it looks like 0396 is in an earlier folder than 0371.

Also, what is Editing Software referring to there?

So comparing IMG_0396 to IMG_0371 I would say the original is

By filename: 0371

By file created date: same

By file modified date: 0371

By capture date: same

By stored folder: 0396

By editing software: 0371

The app suggests 0396 as the original and deleting 0371.

It makes sense if it was imported first and created earlier and therefore has an earlier folder, but why the discrepancy with a later filename, a later file modified data, and later editing software version?

Another example of 3 copies is even more complex

So here by

Filename: 0352

File modified: 0563 (the first one)

Folder name: 0352

Looking into it more, I think the File modified date is somewhat meaningless as I may have edited or done something to the file so it's not reflective of its age. I also understand the file metadata is different from the image exif data. Which may mean that the folder name is the most reliable to use. But what about the image number and editing software version?

Photos Duplicate Cleaner will move the duplicate photos into a duplicate album in Photos, and you can delete from there in Photos. Is it safe to let it this third party program alter the Photos Library?

Lastly, I want to move all photos to an external hard drive and have them only reside on the drive and not the main hard disk. Is the best way simply to move the Photos Library?

Thanks all for your help.

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Nov 16, 2016 5:21 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

léonie

Level 10

197,037 points

Nov 18, 2016 10:53 AM in response to wk!

If you are having look-alike photos with different filenames, you might have saved a normal JPEG and a HDR version of the same photo. Then the filename numbers may be one number apart. Or taken a burst photo with several shots.

In that case there would not be an edited version or and an original, just two different shots of the same scene. Keep the version with the largest pixel size, if the pixel size differs, or keep the version that looks best.

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Answer 2

wk! Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 19, 2016 12:37 PM in response to léonie

Thanks, these replies are very helpful.

Yes, I think what happened is I took all photos with Camera!. There is a setting to automatically export these images to Camera Roll, or not. I ddidn't have them autoexport in 2012, so I had to do a manual export to Camera Roll to get the images onto my computer. Once you export though, if you don't delete the images from Camera!, you can end up exporting them again, and I may have done more than one manual export.

If the images are named when they come into Camera Roll, that might also explain why there's a big gap in the image numbers 371 to 396. I tested exporting a test photo from this app to the camera roll, and imported this into Photos, and it does have a new image # than the previously autoexported image.

The earlier software version seems a decent proxy for which is the earlier file, but comparing 371 to 396 it doesn't explain why the folder is a later folder.

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Answer 3

LarryHN

Level 10

106,117 points

Nov 17, 2016 7:22 AM in response to wk!

Those are not duplicates - they are two different photos taken at different times (image 296 is a totally different image than image 371 - it may be of the same thing but it is not a duplicate photo, it is a different photo) - Photos does not look at Photo content, PhotoSweeper for Photos does

LN

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Answer 4

wk! Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 18, 2016 12:03 AM in response to LarryHN

How do you know they aren't duplicates? Because they have different image #s?

Almost all photos were taken with the app Camera! rather than the native iPhone camera app, from there I don't know if exported multiple times or imported multiple times but both possible.

The photos themselves look exactly the same and are the same exact file size, and are detected as duplicates by Photos Duplicate Cleaner.

The capture dates (which don't seem to be available in Photos or Finder) as described by Photos Duplicate Cleaner are also the exact same, down to the second. So it's highly unlikely I snapped these two photos twice.

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Answer 5

LarryHN

Level 10

106,117 points

Nov 18, 2016 8:49 AM in response to wk!

Different file names are different photos - it is that simple

And if you used third party software to take the photos then you probably need to contact the developers for help with their product - it looks like for some reason the third party app is saving two different copies of some photos

LN

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Answer 6

wk! Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 18, 2016 12:45 PM in response to léonie

I do have one photo where I have a HDR version, and there the filename numbers are exactly 1 apart (IMG 5 and IMG 6). The photos look the same but the HDR version is 500 KB larger than the non-HDR version.

So those are 2 different photos as the file size is different. I understand the burst photo scenario also.

The sets I showed above is neither of those scenarios however, as file sizes are the exact same. It is possible they were exported to the Camera Roll from Camera! more than once, which I suppose would create another duplicate photo with a different image number. But if that's the case, which was exported first?

Any idea what 'Editing Software' 5.1 vs 6.0 refers to?

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Answer 7

LarryHN

Level 10

106,117 points

Nov 18, 2016 1:24 PM in response to wk!

You are not getting it - you have two totally different photos - Image 0396 and 0371 are not duplicates - they are two separate images with no relationship to each other - duplicates would be 0396 and 0396-1, not different numbers so something you are doing is creating this istuation - it can be HDR, it can be bursts, it may be due to third party software you are using but it is not duplicates

and it is not a result of exporting or importing - it is the result of two different photos being taken and recorded - how that happened is only known by you

LN

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Answer 8

léonie

Level 10

197,037 points

Nov 19, 2016 12:10 AM in response to wk!

Any idea what 'Editing Software' 5.1 vs 6.0 refers to?

The capture date of your photos is early 2012. At that time the most recent version of iOS was iOS 5.1 and later that year iOS 6 has been released.

When I look at my photos taken with iOS devices from 2012, I am seeing the EXIF tag "Software" 5.1 or 6.0. My guess is that you have taken both photos with your iPhone, while you were still running iOS 5.1, but edited one of them later after you updated to iOS 6.0. Both photos have the same capture date, within the same minute: IMG_0396.JPG and IMG_0371.JPG

If you have been using a third-party camera.app or external editors, the software might be referring to the version of the software you used.

I don't remember how the iPhone treated duplicating a photo in 2012 and which filename has been cretaed if you saved an edited duplicate to the Photo Stream

Usually the filenames "IMG_xxxx" will created successively the moment the photos are taken and saved to the camera roll. If you edt a photo in an external application and save it again, the filename will be different, but the capture date will remain the same, as shown in your first example.

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Answer 9

léonie

Level 10

197,037 points

Nov 20, 2016 6:22 AM in response to wk!

it doesn't explain why the folder is a later folder.

The folders in the Masters folder in Photos, iPhoto, or Aperture are created, when the photos are imported. A different folder means a different import session. It is hard to say now, when you imported the different copies of the photos to iPhoto.

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Answer 10

wk! Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 18, 2016 7:32 PM in response to LarryHN

Where or at what point are the filenames IMG_0396.jpg or IMG_0371.jpg created?

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Answer 11

LarryHN

Level 10

106,117 points

Nov 19, 2016 8:20 AM in response to wk!

By the camera when it takes the photo

LN

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