Funny values for DateCreated in XMP sidecar files

[Phil Harvey]

I used PhotoMechanic to add XMP to some RAW images.  (I used "Apply IPTC Stationary Pad" to add "City" information only.)  For the images which generated sidecar XMP files (CRW and RAF in my test), the XMP Photoshop DateCreated information was not formatted according to the XMP specification.  (Although it was OK for formats with embedded XMP: CR2, NEF, ERF, DNG, ORF.)  Here is a line from the XMP file for one of the images:

  <photoshop:DateCreated>-11408-40464-28080</photoshop:DateCreated>

According to the XMP specification, the DateCreated format should be one of:

    YYYY
    YYYY-MM
    YYYY-MM-DD
    YYYY-MM-DDThh:mmTZD
    YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssTZD
    YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.sTZD

Also, the Photomechanic TimeCreated is odd format, but since that isn't part of the XMP specification I guess you are free to do whatever you want:

  <photomechanic:TimeCreated>404484043200-25120-25136</photomechanic:TimeCreated>

The original RAF image had an EXIF Date/Time Original of "2005:09:02 17:50:58".  When I repeat the test, I get different values for the XMP DateCreated, but the values seem random as far as I can tell.

Any idea what is happening here?  I'm using PhotoMechanic version 4.4.3.

- Phil

[Kirk Baker]

I used PhotoMechanic to add XMP to some RAW images.  (I used "Apply IPTC Stationary Pad" to add "City" information only.)  For the images which generated sidecar XMP files (CRW and RAF in my test), the XMP Photoshop DateCreated information was not formatted according to the XMP specification.  (Although it was OK for formats with embedded XMP: CR2, NEF, ERF, DNG, ORF.)  Here is a line from the XMP file for one of the images:

  <photoshop:DateCreated>-11408-40464-28080</photoshop:DateCreated>

According to the XMP specification, the DateCreated format should be one of:

    YYYY
    YYYY-MM
    YYYY-MM-DD
    YYYY-MM-DDThh:mmTZD
    YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssTZD
    YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.sTZD

Also, the Photomechanic TimeCreated is odd format, but since that isn't part of the XMP specification I guess you are free to do whatever you want:

  <photomechanic:TimeCreated>404484043200-25120-25136</photomechanic:TimeCreated>

The original RAF image had an EXIF Date/Time Original of "2005:09:02 17:50:58".  When I repeat the test, I get different values for the XMP DateCreated, but the values seem random as far as I can tell.

Any idea what is happening here?  I'm using PhotoMechanic version 4.4.3.

No, not yet, but we're looking into it right now.

-Kirk

[dennis]

Hi Phil,

Thanks for pointing this out.

I just fixed this.  The fields for IPTC date/time weren't being initialized to the capture time for RAF and CRW formats.  This fix will be in the 4.4.3.1 release.

--dennis

[Phil Harvey]

Great, thanks!

- Phil