Renaming sequence oddity...

[big0mike]

I've got a boatload of videos that I'm using PhotoMechanic (5 b18980) to rename so that on import to Premiere all the movies from my phone, GoPros, and Camcorders are all displayed in the order they were taken.

This works:
{iptcyear4}-{iptcmonth0}-{iptcday0} {modtimesort}

This does not:
{iptcyear4}-{iptcmonth0}-{iptcday0} {modtime}

When I say it doesn't work I mean the OK button is grayed out so I can't execute the action. Same thing in the Copy dialog.

I originally tried:
{iptcyear4}-{iptcmonth0}-{iptcday0} {hour0}{minute}{second}
which works but it provides a a time stamp that is not the same as the Modified date. I'm guessing it's the time the file was copied to my hard drive. I know it's wrong because my phone names it's files "VID_20171209_093809.mp4" so I know what the time SHOULD be.

I found a workaround but any thoughts on why that first string of variables will not execute?

Thanks,

Mike

[Jerry H]

Hi Mike,

I've got a boatload of videos that I'm using PhotoMechanic (5 b18980) to rename so that on import to Premiere all the movies from my phone, GoPros, and Camcorders are all displayed in the order they were taken.

This works:
{iptcyear4}-{iptcmonth0}-{iptcday0} {modtimesort}

This does not:
{iptcyear4}-{iptcmonth0}-{iptcday0} {modtime}

When I say it doesn't work I mean the OK button is grayed out so I can't execute the action. Same thing in the Copy dialog.

That's because {modtime} doesn't have a fixed format. You'll need to use {modtimesort} so that the format is always HHMMSS.

I recommend that you use {year4}-{month0}-{day0} if you're needing the creation/capture date of the file. The following rename string should work well for you:
{year4}-{month0}-{day0} {modtimesort}

I hope this helps,

Jerry

[big0mike]

Well, the question of how useful {modtime} is if you can't actually use it aside...

I tried your string again this morning on a different batch of videos that I shot on the 22nd and today, the 27th. For all the MXF files from my Canon camcorder and MP4 files from my Hero4 Silver it worked. For the MOV files outta my 1D.4 the date is coming in as today for all of the files. I wouldn't know if I hadn't shot the video on two separate days. I can right click and view the properties and Created is today, the time it was copied to the server, and the Modified time is correct at either the 22nd or 27th. But, PM is filling that field with 27, today, for all of the files.

I switched it up to {moddate} {modtimesort} {filename} and that worked although the date format is 12-27-2017 which makes it exponentially less useful than 2017-12-27.

Strangely, I then for giggles tried {moddate} {modtime} {filename} which also worked. So, it would appear that {modtime} works fine as long as it's not the last variable in the renaming structure.

So I went about trying to find another combination that gave me dashes in the date. Wound back up at {year4}-{month0}-{day0} {modtime} {filename} and the date was now coming in correctly as the 22nd or 27th.

So, that was 45 minutes of my life I won't get back but it appears to be working. For now...