Closed: Ingest alters original file date

[Hayo Baan]

I only noticed now that PhotoMechanic alters the file date of the file upon ingest.  This sounds like a bug to me as I do not alter the file in any way (other than renaming).  If I recall correctly, this didn't happen before either (at least to my knowledge it worked properly with versions up to 4.5.1)

Could this be fixed?

This behaviour is present in the 4.5.2 (almost certainly) and 4.5.3.x Windows XP versions of PM.

[Hayo Baan]

To add to this, ingesting really alters the file; the file sizes are not the same anymore... (what, oh what, is going on here)

Note: I do not apply an IPTC stationary (or else that would explain the behaviour).

[Kirk Baker]

Hayo,

To add to this, ingesting really alters the file; the file sizes are not the same anymore... (what, oh what, is going on here)

Note: I do not apply an IPTC stationary (or else that would explain the behaviour).

I'll look into it and get back to you.

-Kirk

[dennis]

Hayo,

When ingesting, Photo Mechanic will preserve the capture time of the photo as the file system's creation time.  However, the file system's modification time will be set to the time that the file was ingested.  This may differ from previous versions (that may have also reset the modification time) but it isn't a bug.  For example, if you caption a photo after ingesting, the modification time will change to the time you captioned the photo.

The reason the file size changes on ingest is that PM will append its preferences to the end of the file in order to preserve the four digit frame number that is part of the filename (per Exif spec).  Otherwise this useful piece of information would be lost if you did rename your photos on ingest.  Additionally, if you lock a photo in the camera, PM interprets this as "tagging" the photo (a useful feature we invented) and this tag is also stored in the preferences area since there is no other standard place to put this information.  So, you should expect your JPEGs to increase by exactly 2060 bytes when PM ingests your JPEGs.

Additionally, if you have your PM Color Management preferences set to embed ICC profiles to camera JPEGs, then of course we will honor that setting and insert the appropriate ICC profile.  This will increase the file size depending on the size of the color profile you are using.  I personally don't do this because since Exif 2.21 there is now a reliable way to determine AdobeRGB profiles versus sRGB.

Other than the above, your file remains pristine. 

PS - a lot of people find it very useful to embed a default IPTC template during ingest that includes at a minimum your copyright information.  Of course this will modify the file but you shouldn't worry about that because there are literally millions of photos that have been processed this way without a problem.

--dennis

[Hayo Baan]

Hi Dennis,

This all explains the behaviour pretty well.  It was just very unexpected; when I ingest my files, I create two copies.  One is the "original", which I will never alter and just keep for safety sake, and one that I will use to perform my edits.  The original, I intended to keep 100% as shot from the camera.  That's also why I don't add an IPTC stationary at ingest.
You can therefore understand my surprise at the change of the ingested (RAW) files...

While I see your reasoning, perhaps there should be an option to not touch the file in any way?

Thanks,

[mhb]

Hi Dennis

I am busy looking at an alternative to iView and am evaluating PhotoMechanic.

Like Hayo, I was surprised when I noticed that the original file had changed.

Would it be possible to have an option to not modify the original in any way when ingesting?

Thanks
Mark

[William R Wood]

I agree that there should be an option not to modify files in any way at ingest.  I save a separate copy of my images that I regard as "originals" on a separate backup hard drive during ingest.  I do not apply IPTC stationery or rename or make any other changes at ingest because I do not want my "originals" modified in any way.  I don't mind that PM modifies my working copy but the option to preserve an unchanged backup copy is important to me.  In fact I will now modify my workflow and transfer an "original" backup copy to the backup drive manually using Windows explorer before I allow PM to ingest the images.  This extra step will invalidate a principal reason why I bought PM, namely the ability to make 2 copies at ingest - a working copy and an unmodified "original".

I recently purchased PM and have been keeping notes on problems so I could request changes.  This is one of those areas.  My request would be that changes to files (IPTC stationery, renaming, keywords, etc) at ingest should, optionally, be limited to the working copy.  A check box that allows the files saved to the Secondary Destination to be copied without modification would resolve this issue.  This would have the added advantage of allowing me to use IPTC stationery, renaming, keywords etc at ingest for my working copy which I cannot do now without corrupting my "original" backup copy.

Regards

Bill Wood