I have recently updated to High Sierra on my MacBook from El Capitan. Before I updated I exported a number of pictures from Photos using Export Unmodified Originals which meant that the exported pictures had the correct creation date. Now when I try it in High Sierra the pictures have todays date rather then the creation date.
Can anyone help?
MacBook Pro (13-inch Late 2011), iOS 11.0.3
Are you still using the "Unmodified Originals" for your export?
Where are you looking for the creation date?
The Finder only displays the file's creation date, not the photo's creation date. The file creation date is prone to change whenever a new copy of the file is made. The photo's creation date is included with EXIF metadata that is embedded in the file, does not change and can only be read by those apps that can read EXIF metadata.
So don't expect to see the photo's creation date with the Finder. You can check the EXIF metadata of exported photos by opening them up in Preview and using Preview's Inspector:
Thanks Leonie, that's helped narrow down the issue. I have brought photos in from iCloud and directly from my phone and it seems to be an issue with the iCloud photos. Even though they appear to have the same original date information within Photos 3.0 they do not retain this when exported.
Thanks for the reply Old Toad. I am expecting to see the creation date in Finder. This is where it had previously shown it when using Photos with El Capitan. My girlfriend still has El Capitan installed on her slightly older MacBook and I can confirm that exporting pictures through Photos does retain the original creation date when viewed in finder.
When I am exporting the unmodified original in Photos 3.0 on High Sierra, the file creation date is still the same as the original import. Has your Photos library been copied between devices or are you syncing with iCloud photo library and are you using optimize storage?
Even though they appear to have the same original date information within Photos 3.0 they do not retain this when exported.
The original capture date is stored in the EXIF tags of the photo, set by the camera. Any decent photo application will use these tags and understands them. If you reimport the exported photos to Photos they will show the correct date. The file creation date show in the Finder is the date, when the new copy of the image file has been created. Some third party applications can automatically modify the file creation date to the capture date, for example "A Better Finder"or "Graphic Converter 10" can set the file creation date based on the capture date.
Thanks. I think that makes sense. I'll try and make sure they are taken from the camera directly in future.
Export photos with their creation date in High Sierra
