quicktime time stamp vs creation date

[humanchaos]

Hi all,
It seems that the "creation date" timestamp in some of my quicktime movies got messed up. Exiftool shows the proper timestamp hidden in the quicktime metadata (2006-01-08). Is there a chance I can bulk access such stamps (for multiple files) and overwrite the messed up clip timestamp?
(For details see attachment)
Thank you for helping
Markus

-------------------------

[ExifTool]      ExifTool Version Number         : 10.37
[File]          File Name                       : 01.01.2000 01-00-46.mov
[File]          Directory                       : /Users/mmooslechner/Dropbox/Camera Uploads/defekt 11-30
[File]          File Size                       : 3.5 MB
[File]          File Modification Date/Time     : 1999:11:30 01:00:00+01:00
[File]          File Access Date/Time           : 2017:02:07 23:16:12+01:00
[File]          File Inode Change Date/Time     : 2017:02:07 22:23:04+01:00
[File]          File Permissions                : rwxrwxrwx
[File]          File Type                       : MOV
[File]          File Type Extension             : mov
[File]          MIME Type                       : video/quicktime
[QuickTime]     Preview Date                    : 2006:01:08 12:58:14
[QuickTime]     Preview Version                 : 0
[QuickTime]     Preview Atom Type               : PICT
[QuickTime]     Preview Atom Index              : 1
[QuickTime]     Preview PICT                    : (Binary data 8140 bytes, use -b option to extract)
[QuickTime]     Movie Data Size                 : 3706880
[QuickTime]     Movie Data Offset               : 8176
[QuickTime]     Movie Header Version            : 0
[QuickTime]     Create Date                     : 2006:01:08 12:58:14
[QuickTime]     Modify Date                     : 2006:01:08 12:58:14

[Hayo Baan]

I don't understand your problem. The metadata you listed shows the 2006 date for all relevant metadata tags, so what tags do you want to have changed?

[humanchaos]

osx finder seems to only take file creation/modification time stamps into account and not the ones in quicktime. So whenever I have my workflow, file movies into year/month/day subfolders, the subfolders take their date information from the wrong source.

[Hayo Baan]

The file date attributes are a horrible source of metadata as anytime you copy or edit a file they get changed. Having said that, having exiftool update the modification date is easy. E.g. use exiftool '-FileModifyDate<CreateDate' FILESorDIRS. This will set the modification date to the QuickTime create date.

HTH,
Hayo

[humanchaos]

thank you Hayo.
Just out of curiosity: what would be the proper way to employ Metadata? Which ones would I rather use?

[Hayo Baan]

thank you Hayo.
Just out of curiosity: what would be the proper way to employ Metadata? Which ones would I rather use?

The thing is that you are using software (Finder) that is not written to handle image or movie files specifically, it only knows about the file and associated dates like access date and modification date. What you want to do is browse based on the metadata inside the files. For that you'll need software that is written for image/movie handling. For instance Adobe Bridge or Lightroom or Photo Mechanic from Camerabits. That software will let you sort (and view) on e.g. creation date.

That said, as I too like to be able to view the (creation) dates of my images in e.g. Finder, I actually have all my images and movies named to the date and time of capture. That way I have the best of both worlds

[camner]

I use Graphic Converter (a great piece of software in its own right!) for this (setting the file modification/creation date based on metadata/tag info).  It has a great option involving right clicking (or control-clicking) on an image file (or multi-selected files) and choosing the EXIF item from the contextual menu.  See screenshot.

[Phil Harvey]

Yes, GraphicConverter is great.  Note that ExifTool is bundled with this app.

- Phil

[jrgarrigues]

exiftool '-FileModifyDate<CreateDate' FILESorDIRS works wonders on jpgs and pngs also; thanks a ton Hayo Baan!