Copy metadata "Date Modified" to "Date Acquired"

[Barry Small]

I wish to batch copy each file type JPG and video clip MTS their modified date to overwrite EXIF Date Acquired.  I am looking for either an application or command line solution.  The reason for this is that the software I am using will only sort on date acquired so I have to populate this date info before going ahead.

Can you help.

[StarGeek]

The basic command would be
exiftool "-DateAcquired<ModifyDate" FileOrDir

But I have doubts about the actual tags you wish to use. DateAcquired is not a common tag and for a program to be dependent upon it for sorting would be unusual.  The names that various programs use are not necessarily the names of the tags themselves and programs often take data from multiple different tags.  You might want to look at the actual tags in your file with exiftool -g1 -a -s FILE and compare the data with what your program reports.

[Barry Small]

This is the email I received from NCH regarding Photostage Slideshow Producer:

Hi Barry

Our development team has cancelled that bug, indicating that PhotoStage works as designed. Apparently, the date that it's sorting by is the acquisition date rather than the creation date.

Regards

Josh
NCH Software

[StarGeek]

Does Photostage Slideshow Producer show you the timestamp for each image or video in your project?

If not, you can either experiment with the various possible timestamps that can be in images or video, or try to get Photostage Slideshow Producer to tell you what are the exact tags it reads from.

[Barry Small]

Can I create a metadata tag called "dateacquired" for an MP4 file.
Then copy "datemodified" to "dateacquired"

scripts would be appreciated

[StarGeek]

exiftool "-DateAcquired<ModifyDate" FileOrDir

[Barry Small]

I have already posted questions regarding copying "Date Modified" to "Date Acquired" field and this works for JPG files.  It does not work for my MTS video clips though.  If I record using MP4 video clips will EXIF work for this file format.  I am using NCH Photostage and after lengthy discussions they have informed me that their sorting features only work with "Date Acquired".  Why they have chosen this field is beyond my apprehension as it is not a commonly used field.  If anyone can help solve this riddle that would be great.  If it is not possible then can you advise me if other software on the market can sort a mixture of JPG pictures and MTS (or MP4) video clips.  I want to be able to sort in the order of pictures and video clips taken in the field.  Not too much to ask Photostage but they do not seem interested.  Who would use "Date Acquired" as a sort field.  Maybe you can answer this also.