Issues with files having no EXIF (e.g. AVI files)

[drmrbrewer]

Canon P&S cameras produce AVI movie files, and AVI files don't have any EXIF.  This seems to cause some issues with many applications, and I'm trying to work out whether I can avoid these issues when ingesting with PM. 

Issue 1.

Since there is no EXIF, there is no EXIF Capture Date.  So you have to rely on the original file's creation or modified date to preserve the important shooting date/time information (the file modified date is the most reliable, I find).  When ingesting using the standard Canon software, it is clever enough to preserve that information, so that the file's creation and modified dates remain set to the actual shooting date, even after copying onto the local drive... i.e. those dates are NOT set to the date/time of ingest (i.e. when the destination files are actually created).

Not so with PM.  At least, I haven't found the setting to ensure that happens.  The file's creation and modified date is set to the date/time of ingest, thereby losing the only record of the shooting date/time.

Is there any way to preserve the original file's capture/modified date on ingest?


Issue 2.

If I use the "update creation time with capture time" preference, then, because there is no capture time, the file's creation time on the system is blank.  Doesn't seem right?


Issue 3.

My normal naming scheme is to place the date of capture at the start for sorting purposes: 20070419... i.e. {datesort}...

However, this method doesn't work so well on AVI movie files because they don't have any EXIF.  So {datesort} comes out as 19800101.  And {timesort} comes out as 000000.

Is there any way around this? 


I guess these issues are all inter-related, stemming from the fact that an AVI file doesn't have any EXIF.

Finally, is there a variable to extract a file's creation and modified dates/times?

Thanks,

Mike

[Kirk Baker]

Canon P&S cameras produce AVI movie files, and AVI files don't have any EXIF.  This seems to cause some issues with many applications, and I'm trying to work out whether I can avoid these issues when ingesting with PM. 

Issue 1.

Since there is no EXIF, there is no EXIF Capture Date.  So you have to rely on the original file's creation or modified date to preserve the important shooting date/time information (the file modified date is the most reliable, I find).  When ingesting using the standard Canon software, it is clever enough to preserve that information, so that the file's creation and modified dates remain set to the actual shooting date, even after copying onto the local drive... i.e. those dates are NOT set to the date/time of ingest (i.e. when the destination files are actually created).

Not so with PM.  At least, I haven't found the setting to ensure that happens.  The file's creation and modified date is set to the date/time of ingest, thereby losing the only record of the shooting date/time.

Is there any way to preserve the original file's capture/modified date on ingest?


Issue 2.

If I use the "update creation time with capture time" preference, then, because there is no capture time, the file's creation time on the system is blank.  Doesn't seem right?


Issue 3.

My normal naming scheme is to place the date of capture at the start for sorting purposes: 20070419... i.e. {datesort}...

However, this method doesn't work so well on AVI movie files because they don't have any EXIF.  So {datesort} comes out as 19800101.  And {timesort} comes out as 000000.

We found an issue with the Windows version not preserving attributes on non-image files during Copy or Ingest.  It is fixed in a development build and will be in the 4.5.1 release.

-Kirk

[drmrbrewer]

We found an issue with the Windows version not preserving attributes on non-image files during Copy or Ingest.  It is fixed in a development build and will be in the 4.5.1 release.

Thanks, Kirk.

So, the file's date/time attributes will be preserved.  Great.  Some more questions:

Will that also mean that {datesort} and {timesort} will pick up the date/time of shooting for non image (non EXIF) files?

If so, will the info be taken from File Modified or from File Created?  Not relevant perhaps on ingest (when both would most probably be the same), but very relevant when used for renaming later on (when one might well be different to the other).  My experience is that the File Modified attribute is the better bet for preserving the correct shooting date/time for AVI files at least.

Will there be (or is there) a separate variable to extract the File Modified and File Created attributes?

Thanks for the great support.

Mike