Photo dates wrong when Importing Photos to Mac from PC

When I view the properties of the same file in the same location using my PC, I see the "Date Taken" field in the list of metadata..

Which application is this screenshot from?

I cannot tell from the screenshot, if the program is simply using the file creation date as the date taken, or if the file has an embedded EXIF tag with capture date.

Could you run exiftool on your PC or use another program that will show all EXI tags on the PC? You can download exiftool here: https://sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/

When I view the files in the Finder, I see Date Created as today (ie the day I copied over the photos), and Date Modified as the date the photo was actually taken. I can’t see any other metadata in the Finder app, or when I right click and “get info”.

That is correct - the finder is a file manager and deals and displays only file metadata - the photo dae is part of the photo metadata not the file metadata, when you use a photo program like Photos or preview you will see the photo metadata

The problem arises when I try to import the photos to the Photos app. The Photos app uses the “Date Created” to timestamp the photos.. so I have thousands of photos dated “today” when I view the photos in the app – even though they were taken years ago.

That indicates that Photos is not seeing correct photo metadata so is using all it has, the file metadata, how exactly are you importing these photos? If you open one in Preview and look at the metadata using the inspector what do you see?

LN

When I view the files in the Finder, I see Date Created as today (ie the day I copied over the photos), and Date Modified as the date the photo was actually taken. I can’t see any other metadata in the Finder app, or when I right click and “get info”.

Photos is using the capture date set by the camera as an EXIF tag.

Only, if the camera set no EXIF tag, Photos will use the file creation date instead.

If you copy files between drives, the file creation date may change. If the image files have been created by a digital camera, the EXIF tag for the capture date should be present. Are your image files perhaps scanned photos without a capture date?

I run through a batch of photos, editing them in Lightroom Classic CC on my PC, and upload them via iCloud and until recently (last week), the same thing started happening to me where it would just keep the date created as when these photos were taken.

So I had to manually go through 100 photos and "Adjust Date and Time" using the time that Lightroom keeps as "Capture Time" and "Capture Date." Also missing was the location information. Also missing was the Camera Info and thus it shows no camera information. I've already got a post on the Lightroom forum but this may be a Photos issue.

I'll keep an eye on this issue and report back if I hear anything.

Sorry to hear about your struggle with your entire photo library. I hope we find a solution to this.

Yes - the EXIF date within the photo shows the creating date as 26 Feb 2018 at 8:15 pm - that is what Photos will use as the photo creation date/time since that is what the photo tells about its creation - if that is incorrect then something earlier in your workflow is including the incorrect creation date

LN

the solution is simple - include the correct information in the EXIF/IPTC data for the photo and Photos will use it - if your workflow includes wrong information then obviously Photos will use that

So the solution is to provide correct information

LN

the information that is there is incorrect in the screen shot you posted

Yes - the EXIF date within the photo shows the creating date as 26 Feb 2018 at 8:15 pm - that is what Photos will use as the photo creation date/time since that is what the photo tells about its creation - if that is incorrect then something earlier in your workflow is including the incorrect creation date

LN