DateTimeOriginal_2 and DateTimeOriginal_3 creeping in...

[Mac2]

I allow my users to configure which ExifTool tags they want to see in the front-end. Most users configure Composite::DateTimeOriginal to see the date and time an image was created.

For a number of files, mostly RAW files, ExifTool returns an empty DateTimeOriginal tag, but produces additional DateTimeOriginal_2 or even DateTimeOriginal_3 tags which hold valid date and time information. I'm sure that this is logical and not a bug in ExifTool.

Nevertheless, my user see no data in the user interface and file bug reports. The created date is shown by other applications.  Changing the user interface to also show DateTimeOriginal_2 and DateTimeOriginal_3 is a work-around, but breaks the layout and also a lot of other functions (e.g. sorting by date and time which is internally using the real Composite tag).

Is there a way to get a "common" DateTimeOriginal for files which exhibit this behavior? A tag which is always filled and writable?

Why is DateTimeOriginal empty but DateTimeOriginal_2 is filled? Something with the options I use to extract the data from the file maybe? I use -MWG and extract the data to an XML file via -X.

[Phil Harvey]

If you mail me a sample I'll take a look.  My email is philharvey66 at gmail.com

- Phil

[Mac2]

Thanks Phil.
I will select a few samples and upload them for you. I'll send you an email.

[Phil Harvey]

Thanks for the sample.  I can reproduce this, and I will update ExifTool 9.26 to remove these index numbers in the -X output for duplicate Composite tags.

- Phil

[Mac2]

This is great!
Thanks, Phil